Marva Marcia Christie- Wilks was born in Kingston, Jamaica where she attended St. Benedict’s Primary School located on the border of Seven Miles, Bull Bay and Harbour View. At the completion of primary school, Wilks attended Tutorial College Prep School. Both schools set the foundation for her desire to learn and planted the seed of a career in education.

She lived in both Seven Miles and Nine Miles, Bull Bay. As a child growing up in Nine Miles, the legendary Bob Marley would park his trademark VW in her grandmother’s yard as he walked down to the beach to play soccer. In addition, the beloved Freddie MacGregor would tutor her uncle in math on a regular basis. The living conditions became less than idyllic for the nine-year-old after her grandmother migrated to the US.  At 13, Marva migrated to the US and lived briefly in Bridgeport, Connecticut then moved to South Florida.

She graduated from Dillard High School in Ft. Lauderdale, FL; earned her B.S. from Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, GA; earned her Master of Science in English and her Educational Specialist degrees in Leadership from Nova Southeastern University in Florida.

Professional Learning Consultant

Marva Wilks, a dynamic public/private sector partner, works to ensure structures and resources are in place to effectively capture the mission and vision of organizations. She develops and implements strategic plans that increase collaborative responsibility and accountability for the team’s mission. Marva and her team provide job embedded learning opportunities, feedback, and resources to facilitate organizations’ ability to meet and or surpass established goals. Marva provides assessments, training, and coaching to ensure participants maximize use of knowledge gained in training to add value to the organization.

She has worked with America’s leading education publishing houses in developing learning opportunities for school districts nationally. She has served as Peer Reviewer for National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) English Journal. In addition, Marva has written and developed curriculum and award winning lessons.  Marva taught at the college level as an adjunct professor, an online instructor, and online course developer for over 20 years.

She is the founder of Education Gateway Foundation (EGF), a 501 C3 Non-profit which provided textbooks and uniform to students graduating from 17 primary schools in rural Jamaica. This enabled students to use education as a gateway out of poverty. Not only did EGF impact the local community by supporting local bookstores and local dressmakers but also ensured students maximize the use of the scholarship. Scholarships were paid directly to the vendors by the foundation which created a unique partnership.