Samantha Hazlewood-Ermay

Samantha Hazlewood-Ermay, resides in the beautiful gem of an island, Barbados.  And is a passionate philanthropist and Communicator.  She has over 20 years’ experience in the Communications arena, working her way up from a Communications Assistant, to presently holding the post of Group Marketing & Public Relations Officer at the Barbados National Oil Company Ltd group of companies. 

Her passion for the communication field started at 11, where she realized she had a way with words and she would often write a number of poems, prose pieces and short stories.  It was only natural that her passion for English Literature and Language propelled her into entering the Barbados Community College, where she studied for her Associate Degree in Mass Communications.   Shortly after college, she started her first communication job, where she was exposed to internal communications, inclusive of employee engagement and a taste of external stakeholder communication and management.  She made the decision in 2011 to pursue her Masters in Mass Communication, with the University of Leicester, UK.   Completing that, gave her the confidence to open her own Consultancy in 2015, FreeSpirit Communication.  The consultancy is geared towards assisting small businesses and nonprofits with their marketing, communication and social media strategies. 

In 2020 Samantha founded the charity ThenWhat? which is geared at assisting vulnerable single parents with special emphasis on males.   The Charity has grown by leaps and bounds and it also incorporates an empowerment component which assists persons with educational scholarships/ job opportunities and mentoring.

Samantha’s philosophy is to never stop learning, there are always new ways to do things and she is keen on sharing her knowledge so the field of communications lives on.