Beverley East MGA, CDE, CAM, DPGA
Black Cultural Archives, London
Wednesday 21st June 2017
Beverley East MGA, CDE, CAM, DPGA After 14 years in the private and public sector in London she made an unusual career change to study Handwriting analysis. She established her company Strokes & Slants in London in the late 80’s. She has practiced the science of Forensic Document Examination for over twenty eight years becoming a leading expert in a male dominated field. She is the only woman of colour worldwide court qualified expert, many government agencies retain her expertise in areas of fraud and Money Laundering matters.
She is a member of several professional organisations, and was appointed to the Ethics committee of the International Association of Document Examiners in 2015. In 2009 her opinion was used in a television documentary by National Geographic’s on the Anthrax letter, “Uncover History – Hunting the Anthrax Killer which aired nationally and internationally. Another significant examination resulted in a $4.5 million settlement for a DC lawyer from Troutman and Saunders from the Smithsonian for authenticating the 18th century explorer Alfred Wallace’s 1,700 item collection.
Her first book “Finding Mr. Write” (Random House) was an international best seller after appearing on “Good Morning America” with Diane Sawyer. In 2003 she returned to Jamaica to research and write “Reaper of Souls.” During her sojourn she discovered not only her family’s history but a niche market in the area of white collar crime. She now dominates the Caribbean region examining documents in Trinidad, Turks and Ciaos, Antigua, Bahamas, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St Kitts.
Beverley hosts accredited sold out seminars through the General Legal Counsel. She designed an 18 month course in Document Examination and trained members of the Jamaican Constabulary Force Technical Division in 2012. She trains Bankers and Insurance brokers hosted by the Jamaican Financial Institute Services. She has been a motivational speaker at colleges and conference, the House of Commons and The World Bank. She provides profiling for recruitment selection for major corporations in the US, Brazil and Jamaica. A request from the Washington Post came in 2014 to analyse signatures of historical figures such as Fredrick Douglass for the National Archives exhibit.
She was interviewed by several media networks earlier this year to analyse Donald Trump’s signature She has received many literary accolades and another fellowship was received from VCCA the Virginia Centre for the Creative Arts VCCA, where she completed her third book “Bat Mitzvah Girl – Memories of a Jamaican child” She is currently working on her fourth book a Mystery Series based on some of the cases she has solved as a document examiner.
Further achievements and volunteer work experience:
Beverley has worked in ministry all her life and focused on the personal development of others to assist them professionally to set goals and stay on target.
She wrote a column in the Sunday paper “Writefully Yours” for ten years which addressed career and lifestyle balance.
She worked as a grief counsellor for various organisations over 25 years in the UK and US.
1. worked with SIDS in the UK – grief counsellor for mothers of still born births
2. Set and ran a support group for Mothers of Murdered children in Washington DC when DC was the murder capital of the world.
3. Direct and personal experience with mental health issues with two members of my family
4. Befriended and have counselled a young woman on death row in Texas for over twenty years when she was suicidal
5. She has been apart of many support groups and organisations as a speaker/facilitator on wellness and health workshops including the Pampering Club in the UK
6. She was a buddy for the Lighthouse and Black Liners assisting especially in the black community young adults affected or dying of aids.
Tickets: www.iywellbeing.eventbrite.co.uk
