Sharon Turner

Known for her poignant and hard-hitting style of journalism, Sharon Turner is a writer, and inadvertent social activist. She is determined to do her part in correcting some of the social issues that continue to negatively affect the Bahamas. Her part, as she sees it, is to bring awareness to the issues and to shed light on the facts that are often intentionally buried.

When Sharon started writing she had no idea that she would be standing on this societal soapbox.

Her path to this soapbox has been long and winding. She actually started out studying chemistry, then studied psychology and classical voice. “I’m a classically trained singer,” she said.

“When I came back home it was difficult finding work at that time and then a spot opened in one of the media houses – and I thought, I can do journalism.”

About six years later, Hubert Ingraham, then in opposition and preparing his re-election strategy, asked her to manage the public relations end of his campaign, “and so that’s how I got into politics,” said Sharon.

She says her writing now and what it has become wasn’t premeditated. “I didn’t plan on becoming a ‘voice’. One night… it was about 2am and I thought, I’m going to start a blog. I’m going to start writing about things that are happening that mainstream media doesn’t want to speak out about and that the average person doesn’t want to talk about because they’re scared. And now, people tell me all the time that they appreciate what I’m doing.”

Her motto is “Unbought, Unbossed and Unequivocally Unafraid”.

“I don’t care about what the government likes or doesn’t like about what I’m saying. My only concern is that it is the truth, it’s accurate, it’s precise and it’s responsible, once it meets that criteria, if you get angry, then get angry.”

Funny enough, when meeting her, you get the sense that she really isn’t all that confrontational. She is humble, modest, polite and reserved. But she has a powerful belief in what is right and wrong and she is willing to stand up for it. In her arsenal she has intelligence and confidence. She also has a firm grasp on the truth and the ability to articulate her opinions in a way that not only relays the strength of her message, but also strikes a chord within the reader.

“It is important to me that what I write is relevant. There are a lot of talking heads out there, but I always hope that what I am writing is going to benefit somebody, particularly with the more socially conscious topics, like child abuse. If one parent reads what I wrote and goes home and asks their child the question that either they never thought to ask or were afraid to ask, and if one child gets rescued, then my blog has served a purpose. If one person benefits then it’s worth doing it. There are things in society that nobody wants to talk about and everyone just wants you to shut up but no, I’m not going to shut up.”

Things are happening and some one has to speak up. As she states on her website – if not now, then when?