Mrs. Marjorie Leyden-Kirton, JP currently serves as the Director of Community Cultural Development Services Division at the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC). Mrs. Leyden-Kirton has been a part of the JCDC team for over 20 years, when she served as the Parish Manager for Westmoreland. Since then she has held the positions: Acting Regional Manager, Western Region (1999-2000); Marketing and Public Relations Director (2001-2002); Regional Manager, Western Region (2003-2010); Acting Executive Director (2020-2023), and Director of the Community Cultural Services Division (2010-present).

Mrs. Leyden-Kirton is a distinguished graduate of the University of the West Indies, where she attained a Bachelor of Arts Degree (Upper-Second Class Honours) in General Studies with emphasis in Public Administration, International Politics and Library and Information Management and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration with honourary mention. She is a trained Teacher in Library Science and General Science from the Moneague Teachers’ College and worked for 10 years at the Manning’s School in Westmoreland before coming to the JCDC in 1996.

Mrs Leyden-Kirton has had a life dedicated to national cultural development, beginning as early as 1986 when she was crowned Miss Westmoreland Festival Queen and later placed second at the National Coronation. After she distinguished herself with her singing talent at the Miss Jamaica Festival Queen Competition, she was asked to be guest artiste for the 1987 Coronation Show.

A trained mediator and Justice of the Peace for Westmoreland, Mrs. Leyden-Kirton is currently a member of the Westmoreland Lay Magistrate Association. As a devout Christian, she has served the Savanna La Mar Circuit of Seventh Day Adventist churches with distinction, serving previously as Westmoreland’s Women Ministries League Director and Westmoreland’s Sabbath School & Personal Ministries League Director.