A popular Jamaican recently paid a visit to Jamaica – Jamaica, Queens, that is.

Jamaican-born author and motivational speaker Devon Harris, a member of the first-ever Jamaican bobsled team which competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics, spoke at St. John’s University, Jamaica, March 31 as part of the college’s Caribbean Writers Series.

Harris spoke about the lessons he learned along his peculiar yet incredible journey.

“If someone told me way back then that I’d be speaking to you all in this room at this moment, I would have never believed them,” he said.

Harris is the author of the motivational children’s book “Yes, I Can!” and the semi-autobiographical motivational book “Keep on Pushing: Hot Lessons from Cool Runnings.”

“How you see yourself is how the world will eventually see you,” he said. “Initially the world won’t see you that way because there will be preconceived notions about who you are and what you are capable of. ‘If you’re Jamaican, you can’t bobsled.’ That’s how they saw us. They no longer see us that way.”