He has a distinct voice and a unique reporting style. After more than ten years working as a journalist in Trinidad and Tobago, Latin America and the USA, Kejan Haynes continues to add his bit of flavour to the media landscape. When he left mainstream media in 2019, he used his Twitter account as the place for news, facts and a bit of humour through his snarky and sarcastic comments. At the height of the pandemic, he hosted one of the country’s first and most-widely engaging Twitter Space discussions. Now, he’s back in the newsroom as manager of NEWSat7TT, where he is once again aiming to change how news is presented. Here is this QRC old boy’s story and how he landed in “this journalism thing” :

I had a pretty awesome childhood, I can’t lie. My parents were never married but I’ve always said they should teach classes on how to co-parent. I grew up as an only child in that golden age when there was one TV station so when not watching TV, I went outside to play cricket in the street or ride my bike, as long as I was home when the street lights came on. My neighbourhood was (and still is) very safe and quiet.

I went to primary school at the now-defunct Amoco Galeota School in Mayaro. It was based in the “country” but it definitely wasn’t traditional country living. I mean, the school had AC, a pool and a tennis court on the compound. It was established primarily for the children of expats who came to work at Amoco (the precursor to BP).The students came from all over the world. A lot from Texas but also from Egypt and even Azerbaijan. My mom was a teacher there, if you’re wondering how I ended up there. My interaction with these students made me curious about the world from a young age. I wanted to see everything that they had seen and were speaking about.

“You become part of something bigger”
After primary school, I went on to Queen’s Royal College (QRC). Anyone who has heard me talk about my time at QRC, would think that it was the most important time in my life. That’s just indoctrination talking. Seriously, it really does start from day one! Honestly, that indoctrination should be applied to every aspect of life in T&T. Once you put on that QRC uniform you become part of something bigger. You represent not only yourself but everyone who wore the uniform before you and everyone who will wear it after you. The school teaches you a lot about honour and respect for institutions. I loved my time there. It may be a shock to many but I was an average student; mainly because I didn’t try too hard. I leaned into subjects that either came easy to me or I had a teacher that inspired me enough to care. Otherwise as long as I passed, I was ok. I joined Scouts and the Scout Band while at the school. The skills and values taught in those groups definitely came in handy later.

“Don’t make life decisions the way that I do”
I won’t recommend anyone to make life choices the way I do. I’m a fly by the seat of my pants guy. My mother wanted me to do Spanish for CXC. I dropped Spanish on a whim as I was filling out the form in the guidance counselor’s office. Principles of Business just seemed cooler… there was literally no other reason. I also studied French up to A-levels. While applying to universities in the US, I got a random brochure in the mail saying “Study in Spain.” After some thought, I said, “meh, why not” …and that’s how I ended up at St Louis

University’s campus in Madrid, Spain, not speaking a word of Spanish. Luckily all my classes were in English. I wanted to study Psychology, but it wasn’t available at the Madrid campus. I wanted to stay in Spain so I switched majors to Communications and English. So if you’re keeping track, I studied French for seven years, then moved to Spain to study English. (Again, don’t make life decisions the way I do.

Never say “never”
At university, journalism classes were actually merely an elective. I started writing for the school newspaper because no one else was interested in doing so. I remember a member of one of the Admissions staff came up to me and said, “Kejan I don’t know what you want to do in this life but whatever it is, you have to keep writing.” I laughed and said, “Never”.

“This journalism thing”
The administration at the time was described as a dictatorship. One man made all the decisions and no one dared cross him. That was until he unilaterally made changes to the work-study hours of several international students (and well, we needed that money). I wrote a tongue-in-cheek Op-Ed about why I was afraid to write about what was really happening in the school because I knew I’d be punished (He moved me from my apartment where I was a Resident Assistant). I wrote several more pieces, which encouraged others to write more and speak out. Eventually, teachers started speaking out. Which led to the Vice President of the University flying from St Louis to Madrid to meet with me and others about what was happening. After an investigation that man was removed. I thought, “ok there’s something to this journalism thing.”

After graduating and returning to Trinidad, I worked at the Caribbean New Media Group (the successor to the then TTT) and TV6. They were eye-opening, character-building and enriching years. After some time, I needed a break.At the time, I thought studying abroad and doing a postgraduate degree was the best way to get out of Trinidad and get a job in the US. On the advice of a former professor, I applied to Columbia University to do a Master’s degree in Journalism.

Going to graduate school doesn’t guarantee you a job. Even if you graduated from COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY with a Master’s degree in Journalism. However, things worked in my favour and after graduating, I worked at NY1 (a 24-hour hyper local news station) for a year as a writer. But they didn’t sponsor my visa. It was a company policy not to sponsor visas unless they were top talent or a manager. As much as I tried to convince them I’d probably end up being both, they turned me down. I had to leave the US and return to Trinidad. I wasn’t nearly as sad as I thought I’d be. I still had a job in TV6 waiting for me; and truthfully, it was my return, and the opportunities that followed like hosting Morning Edition and hosting my own show In Conclusion, that made me who I am today.