Skip to Content Skip to Navigation

Nicole Joseph-Chin is the Founder and CEO of Ms. Brafit Limited, an innovative Social Enterprise focused on healthy breasts as a catalyst for social impact. She has been a part of the Vital Voices Global Leadership Network since 2015 when she participated in the VVLead Fellowship program. Since then, she has continued to engage with Vital Voices, serving as a VV100 Network Leader and Flagbearer for the 2015-2019 Global Mentoring Walks in Trinidad and Tobago.

 

DECEMBER 2018 – In early December, Vital Voices Fellow and Network Leader, Nicole Joseph-Chin was invited as a special guest to the island of St. Lucia, to be part of the People’s Knowledge Fair – a two day public awareness event which was put on by GEF SGP United Nations Development Program Offices in St. Lucia – in advance of the commemoration of the St. Lucian National Day on December 13, 2018.

This, first of its kind event, dubbed The People’s Knowledge Fair – “From The Soil and Water to the Palate” consisted of a two day interactive event – hinged on innovation; and bringing the people together to discuss the future of health and nutrition in the island of St. Lucia.

The official launch was on on Monday 10th December, on the William Peter Boulevard, where Hon. Prime Minister Alan Chastanet addressed the gathering; which included St. Lucia’s Governor General Cenac and Lady Cenac, former Governor General, Dame Pearlette Louisy, Ministers of Government and Opposition as well as Civil Society Leaders. The morning formalities culminated with the cutting of ribbons to herald the opening of the Knowledge Fair booths and display in the Marketplace.

What proceeded the morning formalities of day one, can be recorded as one of the most significant actions in the Caribbean Region – an engaging mid-morning into late afternoon series of inclusive discussions; to derive the drafting of the “Castries Declaration” – in layman’s terms, the people’s promise to protect the land, nutrition, health and economic assets of St.Lucia at the national and grassroots level; asking the national leaders, legislators and decisions makers to become active participants in this mission, whilst keeping the natural resources of the island intact for the future generations and in keeping with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 

Nicole Joseph-Chin, through her innovative work in Ms. Brafit – A Social Enterprise focused on Breast Health, Bra Fitting, Education and Solutions, participated in the drafting of the Castries Declaration, along with wider representation from St. Lucian leaders from the community sectors of Health, Law, Agribusiness, Rastafarian Movement, Education, the Differently Abled and Visually Impaired, Faith Based Community, Grassroots communities, Impact Leaders and Innovators.

The goal of the People’s Knowledge Fair was to create an inclusive ecosystem for driving dialogues around how St. Lucia, and by extension, the wider Caribbean, can advance as a healthy nation, with all the key stakeholders at the helm of this action – and the partnerships of Women on A Mission and GEF SGP UNDP, this was the beginning of a very important milestone in the island’s thrust towards a healthy and sustainable nation.

Day two, December 11th was dedicated to the Technical Talks (Tech Talks) – a full day of locally curated version of the TED style talks featuring local, regional and global thought leaders in Breast Health, Innovation, Creative Arts, Tourism, Food and Water Security, Toxicology and Intellectual Property.

On this day, Nicole Joseph-Chin – opened the event and led the discussions around building healthy ecosystems for a strengthened economy via her topic  The Course, The Care, The Cost – Making the Breast Cancer Journey Triumphant, this followed presentations by other Global and Regional Thought Leaders in Toxicology, Invention and Innovation, Agri-Entrepreneurship, Tourism and Intellectual Property – all whom have hands-on experience their nations of St. Vincent, St. Lucia, and United States. The Castries Declaration is now being signed via change.org where there were over 200 signatures within the first twelve hours of publishing and to date has garnered close to 2,500 signatories from local and diaspora communities.