Juliet Bodley is perhaps best known for her hilariously, viral comedy sketches of Jamaican life and culture across social media platforms. Her sketch comedies, portrayed under the moniker Julie Mango, became popular during the COVID-19 pandemic propelling her to become a highly regarded Jamaican comedian.
In a recent interview with Yendi Phillips, Juliet highlighted that while she loves when her content makes her followers laugh, her intent is to achieve a greater purpose. “My comedy gets people to laugh but laughing is essentially a distraction unless you’re working on your problem. I give people the tools to face and overcome a problem, and not just laugh it off and not deal with it,” she noted.
Having been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, and attempting suicide several times, Juliet is well aware of the inefficiencies in tackling mental health issues in Jamaica. In an article detailing her experiences as a mental-health patient, she described the strong negative stigma and lack of adequate resources to create solutions for mental health patients on the island. “After you’ve attempted suicide, you don’t feel better. You fail at life, and you fail at death. What are you? The stigma associated with mental health is even worse than the mental health issues themselves,” she explained.
Now based in Missouri, being away from home gave Juliet access to resources and inspired her journey with comedy. She emphasized how she is using her talent and social media platforms as an advocate for better mental health education and resources, “I want my advocacy to lead to the topic of mental health to be compulsory in 1st to 3rd form (in Jamaica), with an option to take it at the Caribbean Secondary Education level.” She extends her advocacy for better awareness of mental health issues, serving as a motivational speaker and certified life coach.
