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Abbelle Johanna Bakr
This week we meet Abbelle Johanna Bakr was born in Georgetown, Guyana which is on the Continent of South America to parents Rita and Abu Bakr. At the age of six (6) years old she moved to the Bronx, New York where sheattended Our Lady of Angels Catholic School. Outgoing and athletic, Abbelle played basketball, softball and held many school positions including honor society.
At age 13, Abbelle and her mother moved to New Jersey where she attended St Vincent’s Academy and
Clifford J. Scott High School. During these years Abbelle enjoyed writing short stories, poems,
competing in track and field and participating in various clubs to include: modeling and science clubs.
An aspiring Doctor, Abbelle began as a pre-med major, however changed her major in sophomore
college year to Psychology and Education. This was mainly due to her fascination of human behavior
and after recently giving birth to her first daughter, a desire to educate and mold young people. Abbelle
attained her B.A. in Education and Psychology from Rutgers University in 1997.
Abbelle continued in the field of Education, working with young children and counseling disadvantaged
youth in her neighborhood.
After being promoted to School Director, Abbelle went back to the University and became certified in
Accounting and Business Management. All of this led to the journey or path that she continues to
pursue today. Abbelle currently works in the field of Financial Management and Consulting. Since moving to St. Croix in 2002 with her family to include her two daughters Che’na and Adynah , Abbelle has pursued a career as an Entrepreneur and is currently the owner and operator of IBCVI &Co., a Financial and Business Management Company. She is also the founder of Integrity Women In Business Center, Inc., a non-profit organization that supports local women, women-owned /and or disadvantaged businesses. The organization supports its local community by offering seminars and workshops, technical assistance and other outreach services.
Abbelle currently operates these businesses out of her 1500sq ft business center space, in the Mt.
Welcome area of St. Croix. The Business Center offers internet café, wellness bar, conference and
seminar space, high speed internet and all the amenities necessary for producing effective and efficient
business on the island of St. Croix and beyond. Abbelle has worked with the Virgin Islands Department
of Agriculture as the Grant Manager and is well known in the Farming Community as she continues to
advocate on their behalf. She is also the well known voice and contributor on the locally broadcasted
show Money Talk and More (now the Economic Roundtable) with Anthony Weeks.
Abbelle serves her community in many different arenas to also include her membership in the, St. Croix
Chamber of Commerce, Business and Professional Women’s Club (locally) , New Horizon’ Women’s
Democratic Club,& Co., East End Democratic Club and Women & Co.(International).
Abbelle was recently accepted as an Executive Student at Harvard Business School, where she will
continue Post Education in the areas of Finance and Business; and has been recently selected and
honored by the SBA as an Emerging Leader in the Puerto Rico / Virgin Islands Region.
Abbelle’s professional career continues to expand as she now produces her own blog as well as
launching her financial management coaching series.
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Mae, is Christian Arab, born in Baghdad of parents from Iraq and Lebanon. She grew up in Europe and the United States. She is the Managing Director of Star Publishing Company Ltd., based in St. Lucia, which produces the STAR Newspaper, Tropical Traveller and SHE Caribbean Magazine. Mae holds a Bachelor's Degree in International Relations from the prestigious University of San Diego and considers herself a proud St. Lucian.
SHE Caribbean is the only magazine dedicated to the Caribbean Woman. Visit SHE here.
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Damaly our Caribbean Rare Bird would like to thank you for all your votes!
Damaly, the founder of BackpackingtheCaribbean.com won the Women in Travel Summit Global Ambassador contest by way of the people’s votes. Damaly has won Global Ambassador from the five nominees to compete for it. She is a Latina representing the women in travel industry for the Women in Travel Summit taking place on April 21-23, 2017 in Milwaukee, USA.
Damaly will be the face of the summit. Her travel pictures will be on all of WITS ’17
promotional materials such as posters and in social media. She will also be attending
the summit, take part in all the activities and be honored in the WITS ’17 Global
Ambassador party.
Damaly founded Backpacking the Caribbean in February 2013, after she backpacked
throughout Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico alone for almost four
months. Noticing the lack of resources to help plan and understand the Caribbean
outside touristic traps and realizing the challenge of navigating the islands she returned
and created BackpackingtheCaribbean.com.
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