Miami, May 15, 2023 – In honor of the 220th Haitian Flag Day, Miami Dade College (MDC) will host two celebrations recognizing Haitian American business leaders on Thursday, May 18, MDC North Campus and MDC’s Carrie P. Meek Entrepreneurial Education Center (Meek Center). All activities are free and open to the public.
The celebration at the Meek Center kicks off at 9 a.m. Special guests will include Farah Larrieux and Roland Michel. Larrieux is a founding member and chairperson of the Association of Miramar Haitian-American Residents and Business Owners (MHARBO). She has become a local activist in the fight for a pathway to citizenship for millions. She was awarded the “Beacon of Hope and Achievement Award” in recognition of her contributions to Media Excellence in the Haitian Diaspora.
Michel is a Haitian-American entrepreneur with a background in accounting, business consulting, community development and photography. He founded the clothing brand Vintage1804 by Roe Michel and uses his designs to educate people about Haitian history and culture. A portion of the proceeds from Vintage1804 go toward empowering Haitian youth. Michel also runs a business solutions company, which helps entrepreneurs launch their business, grow financially, build teams, develop a public image, design a website, plan events and photograph items. The Meek Center is located at 6300 N.W. Seventh Ave.
The North Campus event begins at 11 a.m. with performances by DJ Lucky C and DJ Juice from 99 Jamz, along with community and business leaders Larrieux, Dr. Solanges Viviens and Jacqueline Charles. Dr. Vivens founded Vivens Media Group, a multimedia company generating highly entertaining content through books, short films, podcasts and feature films. She is also founder, CEO and president of Centres D’Etudes Classique de Meyer Fund, USA, an organization that provides support and education to more than 300 children a year in Jacmel, Haiti, since 2005. In addition, she has authored several books. MDC North Campus is located at 11380 N.W. 27th Ave.
Charles is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and Emmy Award-winning foreign correspondent for the Miami Herald. While best known for her prolific coverage of Haiti, Charles has also made her mark covering Miami’s impoverished communities, Broward County schools and government, the Florida Legislature, immigration and social services. She is a founding member of the Carolina Association of Black Journalists; a past president and scholarship chairwoman of the South Florida Association of Black Journalists and a former assistant director of the University of Miami/Dow Jones High School Journalism Workshop. She currently serves on the University of North Carolina’s School of Media and Journalism’s Board of Advisers.
For more information on Haitian Flag Day events, please contact Pedro Juste, 305-237-1263, pjuste@mdc.edu; or Gissette Espinosa, 305-237-1724, gespinos@mdc.edu.