Michelle N. Samuel
Professional Startup Business Advisor | Skills Consultant | Ecosystem Builder | Mentor | Entrepreneur | Trainer | Facilitator
Michelle is a woman of faith, a devoted mother and an advocate for change. She grew up in a single-parent home raised by her mother a skilled and educated teacher.
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As an Entrepreneur, Michelle’s quest for wanting to evoke change didn’t waver. In 2017 with strength the Lord provided, Michelle founded SLUDTERA, a platform of programs and initiatives created by Michelle, and communities that source, connect and empower youth, the unemployed, and Entrepreneurs. What did she see that needed to change? The high unemployment rate, particularly among young people, the unemployed and Entrepreneurs. Michelle was also on a mission, to let these individuals know that they were not alone, and by God’s grace and with their trust in Him, they could make a change in their lives.
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Michelle has since become as inspirational Entrepreneur, who was chosen to represent St. Lucia in a five-week Fellowship called the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative Program (YLAI), which she describes as “extremely enlightening”. Michelle was very busy associating herself with key stakeholders and making valuable connections.
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She explains: “I can translate it to a moth living its life thinking that the light bulb it’s hovering around is the furthest it can get, only to discover how vastly unexplored its surroundings have been, and that the world’s biggest light source is the sun. So in an ambitious effort of guts and grit, with faith, it ventures out to learn all it can in order to come back to the other moths desperately trying to get a turn to hover around the light bulb”.
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During and after a five-week Fellowship that she participated in, called the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative Program (YLAI), Michelle was very busy associating herself with key stakeholders and making valuable connections.
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Michelle worked closely with Daniel Smith, the Equal Opportunity Manager at the Full Employment Council (FEC) main office, in Kansas City, Missouri. Thanks to Daniel’s networking and outreach activities, Michelle’s resource pool grew by leaps and bounds. These connections would serve a very intrinsic purpose in her organization, and for the people that this organization exists to assist. Through the relationships created with these various local, regional and international organizations, Michelle will be able to forge those necessary and much-needed opportunities, that her customers and clients are searching for.
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Academics:
* Leon Hess Comprehensive Secondary School (1995-2000)
General CXC Certificate/Diploma- Math 2, English 1, Literature 1, French 2, Biology 3 and Social Studies 3
* Sir Arthur Lewis Community College (2000-2002)
Advanced Level Certificate; Literature D(d) and Business Management E(e)
* Alliance Française (University of France) (2000-2002)
First Degree; French
* University of the Southern Caribbean (USC) 2018 - (incomplete)
Bachelor of Education: Primary Education B.Ed
* IESE Business School: Coursera (2000-in progress)
Accounting: Principles of Financial Accounting (Certificate)
* University of Virginia: Coursera (2000-in progress)
Fundamentals of Project Planning & Management (Certificate)
* Google: Coursera (2000-in progress)
Technical Support Fundamentals (Certificate)
* University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Coursera (2000-in progress)
Firm Level Economics: Markets and Allocations (Certificate)
* University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Coursera (2000-in progress)
Firm Level Economics: Consumer and Producer Behavior (Certificate)
* University of California: Coursera (2000-in progress)
Introduction to Web Development (Certificate)
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Professional Accolades:
* 2017 Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative Professional Fellow
* 2018 Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative Recruitment Ambassador to St. Lucia
* Founder & President of SLUDTERA
* Member of The Royal Commonwealth Society International Network
* Fellow at Kauffman FastTrac
* Member of the Global Innovation Through Science and Technology Initiative (GIST Tech-I)
* Member at MIT Climate CoLab
* Member of the International Women’s Writing Guild (IWWG)
* Member of the Entrepreneurship Campus Community (Youth Citizen Entrepreneurship)
* Member of Youth on the Move (YOM)
* Member of the International Exchange Alumni (IEA)
* Community Member at 1 Million Cups Kansas City (#1MCKC)
* Member of the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN Global)
* Member of the Microsoft Cloud Society
* Member of the YLAI Network
* Member of the Youth Advisory Group at Youth Lead – Youth Power Learning
* Member of Youth Lead
* Judge for the 2018 Young Women Transform Grant Competition
* Junior Judge for the 2018 Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition
* Promoter of the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition in St. Lucia
* Head Organizer of Startup Huddle St. Lucia
* Keynote Speaker at St. Joseph’s Convent Secondary School on International Women’s Day
* Co-founder & Managing Partner of the Next Big Inventor Competition
* Informal Startup Huddle Ambassador and Keynote Speaker at Global Entrepreneurship Congress 2019 in Bahrain
* 2019 Ecosystem Champion of the Year Nominee (Startup Huddle St. Lucia)
* Judge for Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) 2019
* Junior Judge for the 2019 Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition
* Partner with Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN Global) for The Entrepreneurship World Cup (EWC)
* Startup Huddle Ambassador to the Caribbean and Latin America
* YLAI Entrepreneurs Ecosystem Everywhere Initiative 2019-2020 Small Grants Recipient
* 3 Day Startup Alumna
* Island Innovation Summit 2020 Ambassador
* Member of the National Youth Council Arts & Cultural Committee
* Country Director Entrepreneurship World Cup St. Lucia
* Mentor at BOOST Saint Lucia