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Manoucheka Thermitus |
Manoucheka Thermitus is the Associate Administrator and Director of Business Development at North Shore Medical Center, a 357-bed, acute care facility with operating revenue of $167 million and a member of the Tenet Health System. In this capacity, Ms. Thermitus helps to develop, plan, and manage business strategies for the facility and has administrative responsibilities for Physician Relations, Laboratory and Respiratory Services. Prior to this, Ms. Thermitus worked with Novartis Pharmaceuticals as a sales consultant and is the CEO/founder of A+ Educational Mapping, a family-owned firm that delivers quality supplemental education to students attending Title I schools. Ms. Thermitus currently serves on the board of The Children’s Trust of Miami Dade County and Mt. Zion Developments. She is also the former board chair for Haitian Women of Miami (FANM), and a former board member of Women's Fund of Miami-Dade County and City of Miami Parks and Recreation. Ms. Thermitus was selected as one of 20 Tenet Health executives to attend the Tenet Leadership Academy, a prestigious honor in the Tenet Health System. In addition, as a Fellow of the Leadership Miami, she received the Carlos J. Arboleya Community Service Award. Other honors include being named one of 20 "Under 40 South Florida Emerging Leaders” by The Miami Herald in 2012 and Volunteer Florida Governor’s Champion Service Award in 2013. Manoucheka is a Hall of Fame graduate from the University of Florida and earned her Master of Business Administration from The George Washington University.
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Monica Russo |
Monica Russo, founder of 1199SEIU Florida, is recognized for having led the most successful private sector healthcare union organizing campaign in the southeastern United States. Under her leadership, a small band of certified nurses’ aides has grown to represent more than 35,000 active and retired healthcare workers in more than 100 hospitals and nursing homes across the state - becoming the largest union of healthcare workers in Florida and the southern United States, now affiliated with 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East - the largest local union in the country representing more than 400,000 healthcare workers in five states and the District of Columbia – she is executive vice president. Monica also serves as international vice president of the Service Employees International Union and as president of the SEIU Florida State Council, where she politically unites more than 55,000 active and retired SEIU members from bus drivers and janitors to technicians and Registered Nurses. She was recently named as one of The 100 Most Influential People in Florida Politics by Influence Magazine and was the recipient of the 2016 Champion of Public Education Lifetime Achievement Award. Monica has dedicated her life’s work to improving the quality of life for workers and their communities through a legacy of partnership, multi-cultural leadership development and the building of an influential grassroots political base and infrastructure that has given a voice and power to tens of thousands of workers across the state.1199SEIU’s signature contribution to improving the health and welfare of Floridians was the deployment of grassroots lobbyists to raise quality standards for 80,000 elderly residents in Florida’s nursing homes in 2001. Her members have been vociferous advocates for immigrants’ rights – most notably on behalf of the Haitian Diaspora. They were also instrumental in passing three Constitutiona Amendments which reduced class sizes in Florida’s public schools (2002), increased the state minimum wage for millions of workers (2004), and created a fair process to draw state and federal districts (2010). The members of her union also led the charge in the wake of the 2000 Presidential election, to institute the state’s first early voting process so working people could make their votes count. Russo’s grassroots union empowerment model has been coined by Professor Bruce Nissen as Social Justice Unionism and is the subject of numerous publications. She also serves in various capacities in numerous organizations including the South Florida Workforce Investment Board, National Leadership Council, Florida State Voices, Florida International University’s Research Institute for Social and Economic Policy, and the Florida Alliance. She recently received the Diaspora Award for her extensive work in the community. She was the first labor leader appointed to serve as a commissioner on Florida’s Commission for Women. The daughter of Lincoln University professors, Monica grew up in rural Pennsylvania and speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Haitian Kreyol. She graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University and lives in Miami with her daughter, Giovanna.
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Rachelle Salnave |
Rachelle Salnave has balanced an extensive range of professional experiences. In a 10-year span, her documentary “Harlem’s Mart 125: The American Dream” won “Best Documentary” at the 2010 African World Documentary Film Festival in St. Louis, Missouri and was featured in the 2011 National Urban League Conference. In April 2012, Wine Spectator Magazine awarded Salnave “Grant Recipient” of the year for her work in showcasing Top Chef Celebrity, Ron Duprat. Salnave’s short documentary “The Haitian Guantanamo Bay Experience: The Legal Journey” is part of an International exhibit called the “Guantanamo Public Memory Project” spearheaded by Columbia University. After completing a Master’s degree in Motion Pictures at the University of Miami in May of 2014, she developed Ayiti Images, which is a film series showcasing Haitian films and its directors, traveling throughout South Florida creating forums to better explore the Haitian experience. In March 2015, The General Consulate of the Republic of Haiti in Miami nominated Salnave with the “Beacon of Hope and Achievement” award. Sundance Institute has selected Salnave as the 2015 Screenwriters Intensive Fellow. Salnave traveled to Guatemala and created a short documentary, The Heavenly Nut Story, which looks at one family’s mission to save the environment by planting macadamia nut trees. Currently, her award-winning feature documentary, “La Belle Vie: The Good Life,” is touring the country in film festivals.Rachelle Salnave serves as an Adjunct Film Professor at Miami Dade College.
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Bernadette Pierre |
Bernadette Pierre is a Performing Arts Dance Magnet Teacher of Miami Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS), the fourth largest school system in the nation. She is the founder and artistic director of Laissez-Faire Dance Ensemble.
She is married to former mayor Andre D. Pierre. They have two sons Dominique and Andre B. Pierre. Mrs. Pierre attended Hofstra University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance. She has also earned a Master of Science Degree in Management and Administrative Education from NOVA Southeastern University. Pierre launched the dance program at Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School’s STAR Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts in 1999. She currently stands as the artistic director of the dance magnet program and served as a chairperson of the Fine Arts Department for many years. After creating two separate dance programs for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Mrs. Pierre has since devoted her time to the creation of her own dance company to intertwine Haitian traditional dance with other forms of movement to promote the Haitian culture throughout the United States. Laissez-Faire is an innovative dance company that unifies Haitian root folkloric movement with mainstream techniques, such as classical ballet, modern, jazz, and African dance. Mrs. Pierre has been the recipient of the Outstanding & Political Community Leadership Lifetime Achievement Award, National Women History Awards Recognitions and Support & Dedication Award from the Police Athletic League. She is currently the President of the Association of Haitian Educators of Dade, Inc. (AHED) |
Jasmine Jones |
The Broward County Office of Economic and Small Business Development created the Community Relations and Outreach (CRO) section in the first quarter of FY2013 to link and enhance the agency’s service offerings for the business community at large. The section plays an integral role in OESBD’s commitment to countywide economic development initiatives. Under the leadership of Community Relations and Outreach Manager Jasmine Jones, the CRO section has successfully executed a revival of the agency’s long-standing monthly workshop series and instituted a targeted strategic marketing campaign. Having been hand-picked to lead the CRO section, Ms. Jones brought a wealth of knowledge in several of OESBD’s function areas such as small business certification and compliance, having served as the most recent compliance manager at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. In this capacity, Jones was effective in introducing outreach strategies that resulted in record participation in Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) and Airport Concessions Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (ACDBE) projects at the airport. Due in part to Jones’s innovative efforts in her previous post, OESBD was acknowledged by the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of the Inspector General in July 2013 for meeting and exceeding the assigned DBE goals on two awarded south runway expansion aviation projects at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Broward County’s exceptional utilization of DBE firms, which comprised of new and existing firms compared to other nationwide programs, was also highlighted. These accolades were attributed to the extensive outreach activity specifically targeting non-certified, certified and certifiable firms which were assisted by OESBD staff to be prepared for the proposed opportunity. To follow, the Transportation Research Board’s Airport Cooperative Research Program invited OESBD to contribute to their efforts in developing a “best practice” guidebook to assist airports in promoting opportunities to diverse businesses. The project - “A Guidebook for Increasing Diverse and Small Business Participation in Airport Business Opportunities” - is a Federal Aviation Administration-funded research initiative. As the OESBD Community Relations and Outreach Manager, Jones participated in a one-on-one interview to assist researchers in developing topics and information for the Guidebook which was conducted this past August in Washington, D.C. Most recently, Jones was recognized as one of County’s “Best” for her contribution to Broward County government in August 2014. Jones was further honored as a “Women of Distinction” by the Lauderhill Chamber of Commerce in February 2014. Jones received this award by serving the community well and touched many lives through her work, and was also recognized by the South Florida Minority Supplier Development Council (SFMSDC) as “Advocate of the Year” in September 2013. Jones was nominated for her contributions to minority business development, visibility in the local business community and actively fostering minority business development. Jones is a U.S. Navy veteran and has been a Broward County employee since 2006. She worked and visited over 20 countries across four (4) continents. She has a bachelor's degree in finance from Cleveland State University and a master's degree in public administration from Florida International University. She has also completed the master of compliance administrator program from the American Contract Compliance Association and Morgan State University, Baltimore.
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Edna LaRoche |
Edna LaRoche is a Haitian-American who moved to South Florida in 1991 from her hometown of Brooklyn, New York. Her mother, Olivena LaRoche of Jacmel, emigrated from Haiti in the 1950’s. A graduate of Dowling College with a degree in Speech and Theater and a minor in English, Ms. LaRoche worked at New York Magazine for five years before moving to South Florida in 1991. For seven years, Ms. LaRoche held various positions in Marketing with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel before leaving for other opportunities. Currently, Ms. LaRoche is the Executive Assistant to City of Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam as well as the producer and host of The New Haitian Generation, a half hour talk show that focuses on showcasing the successful Haitian-American. The program airs on BECON -TV, which is associated with the School Board of Broward County—specifically, channel 19 on all cable stations in Broward County.
Ms. LaRoche is also a proud mother to her son Joshua. |
Dr. Rose-May Seide
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Dr. Rose-May Seide is a Board Certified Family Physician at Comprehensive Health Center, Inc. located in North Miami, Florida. She pursued higher education and is an esteemed alumnus of Faculte de Medecine et de Pharmacie State University of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She focused on Family Practice by completing her residency at the prestigious University of Miami, Jackson Memorial Hospital located in Miami, Florida, where she was recognized with the “Resident Teacher Award, Society of Teachers of Family Medicine and Women’s Health and Obstetrics Award. She continued to further her certifications to be Nationally recognized as a Diplomate of the American Board of Family Medicine. Dr. Seide is a medical leader that loves her community and is passionate about her career, as she is committed to eliminating ethnic inequalities in health. She has been appointed the Medical Director for one of the longest standing medical clinics located in North Miami, Florida where she currently serves as a Full-Time Physician for over 15 years. She is also a CHAIR of “A Day with Santa”, this program brings joy of Christmas to underprivileged kids of Haiti and of Miami’s Little Haiti. Dr. Seide is also a devoted wife and passionate mother.
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Yolly Roberson
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Recipient of numerous awards and honors including:
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Mireille Charles |
Mireille Louis Charles is currently Executive Director of the Green Family Foundation, a private non-profit organization dedicated to supporting social programs ranging from health and development to education and cultural preservation. Since 2011, she has served as the Foundation’s Senior Program Director and facilitated securing numerous grants, collaborations and partnerships with organizations and entities in the US and abroad; liaising with universities, government and community-based agencies and private foundations, as well as serving as docent for multi media exhibits.Mireille joined the Green Family Foundation following a 20-year career in both stewardship and development at United Way of Miami-Dade, the largest not-for-profit organization in Miami-Dade focused on improving education, financial stability and health. During her tenure at United Way, Mireille also concentrated her efforts on informing, involving and creating partnerships with the Haitian and Caribbean communities in Miami.
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Karen Andre |
Karen Andre is an attorney and life-long community servant and activist living in Washington, D.C. She is currently the White House Liaison to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Prior to this Presidential appointment, she was appointed as the Labor -Management Liaison in the Executive Office of the Mayor of the District of Columbia. Born in New York City to an immigrant family, she learned early to use her voice to fight for the rights of others. Consequently, Ms. Andre chose the legal profession with the intent to be a catalyst for social change. Upon graduation from law school, she worked with legislators and stakeholders to help lobby and pass the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act (HRIFA) of 1998. Next, she practiced Immigration law in Miami, Florida before turning to politics. Ms. Andre is heavily involved in advocacy and community organizing in the Haitian-American community nation-wide. One of her proudest moments came as she organized a multi-cultural group of pro bono attorneys to successfully represent 28 high school students facing criminal felony charges stemming from a disturbance between students and police at a high school in Miami. After the Haitian earthquake, Ms. Andre co-chaired the Miami Haitian Relief task force. She helped organize a humanitarian air lift of much needed food, water and medical supplies to Haiti. Ms. Andre helped found Konbit for Haiti, to help with the redevelopment of Haiti. Always a risk taker, Karen closed her law office in 2008 to serve as a field organizer for the Obama for America campaign in the poorest parts of Miami. Determined to help re-elect President Obama, she served as Deputy Political Director for the State of Florida, forming part of the core leadership team that delivered Florida on President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign. As a testament to her community service, Ms. Andre was named one of South Florida's 50 Most Powerful Black Professionals by Success South Florida Magazine and recognized as one of 20 South Florida Freedom Sisters by the Ford Motor Company. She is a frequent media commentator, lecturer and workshop facilitator. She is passionate about empowering women and youth with the leadership and entrepreneurial skills to change their circumstance.
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