Waterman is the founder and director of the East Flatbush Village, Inc. She has resided in East Flatbush, Brooklyn for 32 years.
She is married to Eric Waterman, and they have four magnificent children – three girls and one boy: Eynique, 13, Erique, 11, Eynee, 8, and Erynn, 6. Waterman’s mother is from Barbados, and her father is from Jamaica.
Waterman obtained her Master of Business Administration General Management in 2004 and continued on to pursue her Ph.D in Leadership in Higher Education while working as a professor at Berkeley College and Taylor Business Institute.
She began her civic engagement by creating a scholarship fund for her family in 2003.
From 2004 to 2005, Waterman served as Block Association president for East 29th Block Association, which comprises four blocks from Glenwood Road to Newkirk Avenue in Brooklyn.
During that same time, she organized the East 46th Street Block Association and also coordinated multiple community block clean-ups since 2004.
Waterman was a major contributor to anti-violence initiatives to assist with the growing epidemic in East Flatbush. She served on the Community Board 17 Youth Committee in 2005.
She also had the privilege to serve her community by being a Civilian Advisor for the New York Police Department (NYPD) 67th Precinct from 2005-2006.
Waterman served on the Parent Teacher Association for her children’s school PS 135 (1st Vice President) and Brooklyn Jesuit Prep HS (PTA President.).
She had the honor of working for Council Member Jumaane D. Williams in District 45 in 2012 -2013.
This year, Waterman is on the School Leadership Team at her children’s school, PS 135. As a newly appointed Community Board 17 board member, she is looking forward to making a greater impact on the community.
COUNTRY OF ORGIN:
Born in Brooklyn to Barbadian mother and Jamaican father
EDUCATION:
Ph.D in Leadership in Higher Education
OCCUPATION:
East Flatbush Village, Inc., founder and director
PERSONS I ADMIRE MOST:
“I admire my grandparents, Ethan and Doriel Chandler who migrated here from Barbados in 1965 with seven children and later had their eight child once settled in Brooklyn, NY,” she says. “They were able to work and obtain a two-family house to raise their children in East Flatbush and later was also the home for my mother, brother, sister and me.
“My grandparents are the backbone to my family and along with my mother, Yvonne Chandler taught me about caring for my family, community, working hard, being honest, and a good business woman,” she adds. “My grandmother always took care of our neighbors and family by cooking, watching everyone’s children and just looking out for the community as a whole. My grandfather worked very hard to ensure we got everything we need. My grandparents was very instrumental in raising us while my mother worked three jobs.”
FAVORITE QUOTE:
“One hundred years from now, it would not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much money was in my bank account, nor what my clothes looked like. But the world maybe a better place because I was important in the life of a child” – Margaret Fishback Powers
