"Miss Peggy"

FOR more than 30 years Leila Graham, known to most as “Miss Peggy”, has been the amiable vendor, making sure she has fresh supplies of fruits and vegetables for her loyal customers each week, giving them a flash of her winning smile as “brawta”.

It was this cheerfulness that a few years ago drew the attention of scouts searching for talents for advertising campaigns for telecommunications company Digicel — the most recent of which was rolled out this month on the company’s new calling plans.“It was a gentleman with locks that just walk straight up to me and said, ‘I can see that you are the right person, I can feel it’. So, any time Digicel needs me to do anything I am here,” she said with a chuckle.She said her most recent work — filmed in the renovated Coronation Market — has brought much joy for her friends and relatives.“[Since the] ads just came out I’ve been getting calls from all over the place — Clarendon, St Thomas and all this morning a call came in from St James, to tell me that them see me in the paper, it really felt good,” she beamed.The Digicel team is also thankful for the relationship it has formed with Graham.“She has been an absolute joy to work with; her positive, vibrant and genuine personality brings life and colour to the set. And you know this is how she is as a person, you can’t help but love her,” says Nadia Nivens, Digicel’s senior advertising manager.Born and raised in Kingston, Graham has been selling since 1979. She started off on the sidewalk of Chisholm Avenue before setting up her own stall in the Papine Market a year later, but still travelled to Coronation Market for her supplies of fruits, vegetables and ground produce.“I used to reach Coronation from all 4:00 in the morning, because even if you reach at 5:00 am the housewives come and buy up all the good things,” she said. “I would stay up all night down by Coronation to look out for the trucks that are coming in from country; that is how you have to do it if you want the good things to buy,” she advised.Having done business for a number of years at Coronation, Graham recalled how the market fell in a state of disrepair before Digicel’s intervention in 2010.“There was a time when a part of the market was open, as in a part of it never had any roof,” she said.In 2010 Digicel committed US$1 million for a massive renovation of the popular market. The works involved the replacement of fire-damaged structural steel frames, installation of a new roof, flooring, and water system, which included the collection of rain water for re-use.“Since Digicel come and fix up the place, the market looks more up-to-date and appetising, but is up to the people who work down there to keep it clean,” she remarked.In keeping with its commitment to the rejuvenation of downtown Kingston, the Digicel Foundation also refurbished Redemption Market with the assistance of the United States Agency for International Development at a cost of US$500,000. For its recent Labour Day Project, the Foundation also renovated 16 cottages at the Denham Town Golden Age Home, which is also in downtown Kingston. GRAHAM… any time Digicel needs me to do anything, I am here

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"Miss Peggy"