Vanessa Croft holds a Bachelor’s in Education in English Literature from the University of the West Indies as well as a Master of Arts English Language from the same institution. She has had a love for language and creative writing since she began writing poetry at the age of six. Always an avid writer, her poetry is published in Where I See the Sun: An Anthology of Anguillian Poetry. She is a long-time winner of the Malliouhana Poetry Competition with numerous first prize placings for Spoken Word from 2007 to 2018. She represented the literary arts in Anguilla as a Spoken Word poet at the 2017 CARIFESTA in Barbados and again in 2019 on the island of Trinidad. Vanessa spoke as a panelist at the 2018 Anguilla Literary Arts Festival where she presented her experience running a blog. In 2018, Vanessa also received the National Youth Award for Outstanding Performance in the Literary Arts. She was nominated at the same ceremony for Recognition in Volunteerism for her work teaching Literature to inmates at Her Majesty’s Prison as well as her pioneer efforts in promoting reading for pleasure amongst adolescents.
Previously, Vanessa held the position of Head of the English Department at the Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive school where she taught English Language, Literature and Communication Studies to secondary school students. She also lectures for the Anguilla Community College’s teacher training program and teaches a continuing education course in Creative Writing at the University of the West Indies, Open Campus. Vanessa joins the Omololu team with many years’ experience in writing and literary instruction. She prides herself in having developed a uniquely intuitive teaching style which allows classic content to be transferred to 21st century students in relevant ways.