Women in Bahamian History: Netica Symonette

"Despite the adversity which I faced in accomplishing what I set out to do, my story is truly meant as an inspiration to those generations after me which may feel there is little hope of advancement, achievement or recognition in their own country. Persistence and your own sense of self-worth are critical to your success and accomplishment.”

- Netica Symonette

Nettie is a historian, artist, cultural activist, and entrepreneur, who comes from a background in hospitality. She was born May 16, 1934, on the island of Rock Sound, Eleuthera in 1930 and later moved to New Providence and attended Government High School as a teenager. In the late 60s and early 70s, she worked at the Beach Inn Hotel. In 1976 she was crowned the Most Outstanding Woman in Business. Nettie is a natural-born storyteller. As a child, she would sit at the feet of the elders in her native Eleuthera and listen to their stories; it was the only time she and her ten siblings were permitted to stay out late. Otherwise, curfew was sunset. She captures this spirit in her memoir, which reads like an old-time storytime.

Nettie became the country’s first Bahamian hotel manager and the first Bahamian woman to own a hotel. In the 1990s, she developed an idea for a Family Island eco-resort and established Nettie’s Different of Abaco, at Casuarina Point in South Abaco. Hoping to introduce guests to everything authentically Bahamian, including food, flora and fauna, and history, Different was spread over 100 acres of land and boasted native trees; replicas of Lucayan artifacts, and huts and bone fishing flats. It was a hit, but closed sadly and suddenly in 2006. In 2002 she was named a living legend by the local branch of Zonta International. She is a lifetime director of the Bahamas Out Island Promotion Board and the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association. While she currently owns and operates her two hotel brands, Nettie’s Different of Nassau and Casuarinas, she is primarily invested in her writing, art, and other creative and cultural pursuits.

Nettie had two solo exhibitions at the Central Bank of The Bahamas in 2009 and 2016. Having authored her first book, ‘A Girl Called Nettie’, she continues to pursue her inspirational art, a gift given to her in 2004 by a higher power when all the walls seemed to be closing in around her. More of her work can be viewed at Nettie’s Cultural Retreat on Cable Beach. Pioneering the nation’s first ecotourism resort, she received national and international awards including NABHOOD, Zonta Living Legend, Dollars & Sense, Griot Woman of Wisdom, Justice of The Peace, Order of Merit, Order of the British Empire, first Cacique Award for ecotourism, Golde, Helmsman International, Director for Life- Bahamas Hotel Association and Bahamas Out Island Promotion Board, and The Bahamas First Hotelier of The Year among numerous others.