Marie R. Gill’s story is inspirational in multiple ways. It showcases her resilience, determination, and ability to overcome challenges to carve out a distinctive place for herself in a country far away from home. From her humble beginnings in Jamaica, she has risen to become a successful entrepreneur and community leader in the U.S. Today, as the Founder and CEO of M. Gill & Associates, Inc., she is empowering minority, women-owned, veteran, and disadvantaged businesses, helping them to grow and succeed in competitive markets.
Marie is the first woman, the first Black individual, and the first person of Caribbean origin to win the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency’s contract to provide technical assistance services to minority businesses in Florida – a role she has successfully fulfilled for the past 30 years. She has received numerous awards and accolades, including the Badge of Honor for Meritorious Service from the Government of Jamaica in 2024 and recognition as the Inner City 100 (IC100) 2024 Honoree. She has an M.B.A. from the University of Toronto, Canada, where she graduated summa cum laude with a double major in Marketing and Finance. Additionally, Marie is a licensed Real Estate Sales Associate in the state of Florida. And she is Founding President of the Jamaica USA Chamber of Commerce.
The Growing-Up Years in Jamaica
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Marie grew up in communities in the Parishes of Kingston, the nation’s capital, and Clarendon, a rural parish. She recalls that while her Kingston neighbors may not have been affluent in material terms, they possessed above-average love and care for one another.
“Amenities and resources were few and far between,” Marie recalls. “Schools, shops, and markets for ground provisions were many miles away, and I did a lot of walking, as did other children in my community.” As a child, she observed the entrepreneurial spirit of her mother, Miss White, who raised her. Together, they planted crops such as corn, okra, callaloo, tomatoes, sorrel, peppers, chocho, and gungo (pigeon) peas, selling whatever was in season to the community. According to Marie, they also raised livestock, including goats, chickens, pigs, and a cow named Rose, and they always had dogs. Marie remembers that she learned to keep a record of what they grew, how much they sold, who their customers were, and who had paid or still owed money. This experience proved to be helpful when she founded her firm.
“At the time, we lived near GGR Sharp’s Property, an unused land,” Marie says, “Miss White used it to build her business.” Despite having very little formal education, Miss White had remarkable street smarts – Marie eventually taught her to read and write. Even though there was no TV then, and the radio broadcast was limited to Rediffusion, she still knew everything that was happening in Jamaica and in the U.S.
“She had a love for the U.S. and always told me, ‘You are going to go to America and make us famous one day’,” Marie says. “So, I started dreaming of coming to America from an early age.”
When Marie moved to Clarendon, she quickly adapted to the country lifestyle. She recalls her first day at Moravia Primary School – she got into a fight and was beaten badly. To her surprise, she later found out that one of the kids who teamed up with friends to beat her was actually her cousin. Afterward, their parents and teachers intervened, bringing them together. They soon became her friends and her “posse” – no one could touch her from then on.
“In Clarendon, I learned the skills of country living,” Marie says. She went to the field with the adults to plant and reap various ground provisions. However, as her school was nearly two miles away, Miss White decided to return to Kingston. There, Marie attended a primary school that was among the best, known for producing students who won government scholarships to high school. “I eventually earned a government scholarship, which allowed me to attend high school,” Marie says. “I did well enough to be accepted into the University of the West Indies. where I earned my undergraduate degree in Economics.” She later obtained an M.A. in Mass Communications from the same university, specializing in Public and International Relations.
Values and Principles Guiding the Career
Marie’s career has been guided by a strong set of values and principles. She realized quite early in her career that she was destined for a life of service. One of her key guiding principles is: staying true to her mission to be successful by helping others to succeed.
Marie also believes in surrounding herself with people whose knowledge and expertise are greater than her own. In addition to that, she sets goals, tracks outcomes, and rewards performance. “I also collaborate and partner with resources to achieve mutual goals,” she says. “I respect and hold my internal and external customers accountable.”
A practitioner of servant leadership, Marie is always willing to listen and be led, without compromising her values. She continually upgrades her skills, stays informed about current trends, and strives to be a value-added leader and coach.
Marie is driven by the principle of giving back. She believes in giving back without compromising her integrity.
Competition and Challenges
Gill & Associates is a full-service management and economic development consulting firm, established in 1990. Marie makes sure that her firm remains ahead of the competition by keeping up with emerging industry trends. She also ensures that staff and contractors are engaged with appropriate and helpful resources. And she establishes new relationships and maintains existing partnerships to boost their ongoing performance.
Marie has encountered several challenges as CEO and Founder of M. Gill & Associates. One major challenge she faced was when, due to a system glitch, they were unable to submit a bid proposal. She shares that after having won and operated the MBDA’s Business Center Program – the firm’s largest, most consistent contract – for 15 years, they organized their bid proposal and were ready to respond to the rebid via upload to Grants.gov. “But alas! The system would not allow us to ‘submit’. In other words, the SUBMIT button would not activate,” Marie points out. “We made phone calls and tried and retried until we ran out of time. We could not submit our proposal and lost that opportunity.” The MBDA did all they could to determine the cause of the problem, but Grants.gov did not accept that there was an issue.
Marie and her team then turned to their resource partners and collaborators and reached out to a new group of clients with more financial resources to pay for their services. “After many tears and sleepless nights, we seamlessly continued to reach out and provide services to the clients whom we had helped over the years and to resources that had benefited from our relationship,” according to her.
Additionally, Marie and her team submitted a bid for the MBDA’s newest initiative at the time – the Florida MBDA Export Center. M. Gill & Associates emerged as one of the four winners of the MBDA’s new national Export Initive and was one of only four Export Centers established nationwide. “And boy, did we bounce back! After five years’ operating the Florida MBDA Export Center, we emerged as the NUMBER ONE Performing Program in the MBDA’s Network,” Marie says.
They have now operated that Export Center for 24 years and are the Number One performing Center in the MBDA’s network. In 2021, they also won their MBDA Business Center back. In addition, they were recently awarded a new, four-year Capital Readiness Program. Marie informs that both their current Miami MBDA Business Center and Florida MBDA Export Center Programs are Number One in Performance among the MBDA’s Network of 131 Programs Nationwide.
The MBDA Programs operated by M. Gill & Associates have served over 20,000 businesses in Florida and the U.S. Territories. Those services have helped to facilitate $7.2 Billion in contracts and financing for their clients, resulting in the creation and retention of over 18,000 U.S. jobs.
A Leader’s Responsibilities and Typical Day
As Founder and CEO of M. Gill & Associates, Marie leads the goal-setting process for the performance of staff and independent contractors. She helps write, review, and submit funding and contract proposals. She is also responsible for fiscal oversight of the company’s budget and grant programs. Additionally, she delegates responsibilities to ensure fair distribution of work and performance goals, and updates, maintains, and obtains input and agreement for M. Gill’s SOP.
Marie is an early riser, waking up between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Her morning routine includes prayer, a shower, and a light breakfast of coffee or juice, and fruit. She then takes a walk and feeds her dog, Princess. Afterward, she checks her emails, meets with her administrative assistant to review the day’s events, and attends scheduled meetings. Her day involves working on items related to project goals, making or returning phone calls, replying to emails, and often attending an evening business event – sometimes even two. She usually retires for the night between 9:00 and 11:00 p.m.
Over the years, Marie has learned to delegate more often. She empowers her staff and uses her principles of collaboration and partnership. According to her, she now places importance on “Me Time.” As a member of the Jamaican Folk Revue, a group that practices and presents the Jamaican Cultural Experience to the American community, she engages in singing, dancing, and acting in local theatre. “It keeps me centered, as I am a follower in this group – not the leader,” Marie points out. She shares that she volunteers on local community boards as well.
Marie, a vegetarian, believes in taking better care of her personal self. She is trying to work out more. “I am sleeping well, but I am still awake early to get a jump-start on Miami’s traffic,” she adds. “I walk the walk and not just talk the talk with my team!”
Qualities of an Exemplary Leader
Marie is an exemplary leader, open to listening and learning from those who lead and serve. She sets goals and delegates activities where possible — remembering that one needs to delegate duties and not the responsibilities.
She also stays on top of her business finances, acknowledges and rewards accomplishments, practices good writing skills, and documents and celebrates her achievements. And, most importantly, she prioritizes self-care.
Supporting and Mentoring Young Women
Marie informs that M. Gill & Associates has formed the M. Gill*HER Foundation – www.mgillher.org – with the theme: “Empowering Women Worldwide.” Its focus is on Productivity, Profitability, Perseverance, Passion, and Power! The M. Gill*HER Foundation, according to Marie, is a nonprofit organization designed to empower, educate, and provide funding support to businesswomen. It helps them to succeed and scale in the U.S. and global markets, thereby holistically enriching the lives of women worldwide.
The M. Gill*HER Foundation is set to host the annual Women Mean Business International (WMBI) Conference. Marie informs, “We will also be celebrating our 15th Anniversary on March 28, 2025, under the theme: ‘Phenomenal Women: Empowering Voices, Inspiring Change’!” During the event, Marie and her team will honor three trailblazing women and award six startup grants of $1,500 each to women business owners.
The M. Gill*HER Foundation is also a sponsor of the annual Bullish on Minority Businesswomen (B.O.M.B.) Magazine, which features the activities and success stories of women business owners and student groups.
Impacting the Next-Generation Women in Business
Marie is a perfect role model for the next generation of women in business. She wishes to make an impact on them through her work and platform – showing young girls the importance of pursuing entrepreneurship. She believes that most women will see her and other women business leaders as examples, a goal for themselves to follow. This, in turn, will enhance diversity and inclusion in the business world. The next-generation of women entrepreneurs will become leaders in their own right and inspiration to others, and thus keep the momentum alive for future generations, according to Marie.
As she helps create a more diverse and inclusive business landscape, Marie believes that her work is creating future role models for women leadership. It is contributing to their economic stability and job opportunities within the community, and potentially promoting social responsibility and sustainable practices in their business decision-making.
“I believe my work and resulting accomplishments will be an inspiration to encourage young women to pursue leadership opportunities in nontraditional fields such as construction, engineering, science and technology, logistics, and healthcare,” Marie says. “This will pave the way for greater gender equality in the world of business, as well as inspiring future generations of female leaders.”
Message to Aspiring Women Leaders
“Stay true to your beliefs” is Marie’s advice to aspiring women leaders looking to make their mark in the business world. She encourages them not only to be strong but also to be sincere. “If possible, choose a business field that allows you to do what you love; what gets you up in the mornings,” she says. “Be empathetic – but not a pushover!” “And be courageous, the hills are not nearly as steep as they seem!”
