(GIS) —Two newly-recruited Caymanian communicators, Yvette Cacho and Stephon Johnson, round out the staff at the offices of Government Information Services.

Yvette Cacho joins this week as an Information Officer, assigned to provide communications assistance to the Ministry of Community Affairs, Gender and Housing. She graduated from Florida International University in 2006 with a double-major in Management and Marketing. There, she was an active member of Alpha Kappa Psi fraternity, which is business-focused.

Yvette is already accustomed to the civil service as, for two years, she worked with the Constitution Secretariat during the preparations for the new Cayman Islands Constitution. That was followed by two years as Secretary of the Immigration Appeals Tribunal. Both appointments were under the Cabinet Office.

Now, the young lady balances “work and Rotaract, while enjoying Cayman’s culture and social life”. A founding member of Rotaract Blue, Yvette has served as the PR Chairman, and currently heads the Open Arms section of the club – which promotes integration and non-discrimination for people with disabilities.

While active in athletics and dance in her school years, today Yvette’s maintains an interest in travelling – especially to other Caribbean islands. Ever the communicator, she is also known in her community as the go-to person for writing special messages, or designing promotional flyers
and posters.

Yvette looks forward to the challenges of her new role, and hopes to eventually complete a masters’ degree in advertising.

Stephon Johnson recently joined GIS as a Video Production Specialist. This entails producing the weekly GIS Spotlight TV show, creating advertisements and public service announcements, as well as editing and archiving video.

The GIS Video Unit works for the entire cross-section of government ministries, portfolios and departments.

An athletic prodigy, Stephon has represented Cayman in track-and-field since he was nine years old. Progressing steadily over the years, at the high school level he competed in five CARIFTA Games, Commonwealth Games, Pan American Games and other regional meets.

Prowess in this area led to his being awarded an athletic scholarship by Lindenwood University in Missouri, with the Cayman Islands Government (CIG) covering the remainder of his tuition. He graduated in 2005 with bachelors of fine arts degree, with an emphasis in computer graphic design.

Stephon’s talents span a range of artistic media – from animation and thatch to charcoal drawing and oil painting.

While valuing the discipline and the educational opportunities gained in the sporting arena, he said he soon realised that, “Unless you are a top athlete making millions of dollars annually, an education is vital to your future.”

Taking a sabbatical during his college years, Stephon trained with the initial group of athletes at the now-acclaimed High Performance Training Centre in Jamaica. Accolades he earned over the years included the Cayman Islands Male Senior Athlete of the Year award. He also made his mark on the American sports arena, as a four-time All-American Athlete, and a two-time National Champion.

This summer he was inducted into the Lindenwood University Athletic Hall of Fame.

Stephon expressed pride that he has always remained true to God, country and the two inspiring women in his life: his mother Jacqueline Whittaker; and his wife Meila – with whom he has two children.

Since the early 1980s GIS has provided communications services to CIG. In addition to the production of traditional items such as press releases and graphic products, over the past decade the office expanded into the areas of television, social media and other web-based services.