As Haitians, We Are The Keepers Of Our Legacy
The 1804 List for 2023 Reflects
Range of Haitian-American Success
After a three-year pandemic hiatus, the Haitian Roundtable’s signature event made a triumphant return in June. A sold-out event at the New York Academy of Medicine celebrated 15 new inductees into the 1804 List of Changemakers and Ones-to-Watch, highlighting Haitian-Americans who are making a difference. The event coincided with the 15th anniversary of the Haitian Roundtable, an organization dedicated to celebrating Haitian Excellence.
During the special evening, HRT presented the inaugural Midwin Charles Legacy Award to Guerline Jozef, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, the only Haitian-American-led organization serving migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border and the 2023 Catherine Flon Award to a beloved husband and wife team— Didi Bertrand Farmer, Founder of the Women and Girls Initiative and the late Dr. Paul Farmer, Founding Director of Partners In Health, which has long provided health care in remote parts of Haiti. Read more.
The 2023 inductees to the 1804 List reflected the great variety of Haitian success stories in America. They included Jude Bernard, a real estate entrepreneur and founder of The Brooklyn Bank, a nonprofit committed to “financial empowerment and overall betterment of our communities”; U.S Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, the first Haitian-American elected to the U.S. Congress as a Democrat; Danielle Cadet, executive editor and vp of content at Essence; Arielle Dominique, Executive Director of the Miami-based Haitian-American Foundation for Democracy (HAFFD), and Fabienne Doucet, Executive Director of the NYU Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools.
Other inductees included Emmanuel Hostin, an orthopedic surgeon with strong ties in New York’s Haitian community; Camille Joseph-Goldman, Group Vice President for Charter Communications, who oversees government affairs in the northeastern United States; Esdra Lamy, a Senior Vice President, Content Sales, at Warner Bros. Discovery and Lisa Joseph Metelus is a member of the Board and Co-Head of Basketball Marketing and Servicing at Creative Artists Agency (CAA).
Also inducted on this 15th anniversary of HRT were Elsie Saint Louis, CEO and Executive Director of Haitian Americans United for Progress, Inc. (HAUP); and Alice Vilma, a Managing Director and Co‐Portfolio Manager of the Next Level Fund, an early‐stage venture fund investing in tech and tech‐enabled startups with founders of color and women.
Two fashion influencers made the list: Claire Siobhan Sulmers, the CEO and Founder of Fashion Bomb Daily and a highly-visible influencer on fashion, celebrity, and style and Ouigi Theodore, Creative Director and Founder of The Brooklyn Circus, a men’s clothing store and cultural connector/curator.
The Ones-to-Watch inductees were Bertrhude Albert, the co-founder and CEO of P4H Global, the largest teacher-training non-profit in Haiti and Lisa Francoeur, co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer of Crypto Tutors, an award-winning start-up that specializes in educating corporate employees about cryptocurrencies.
