This year, since travel is not necessary for our virtual conference, we are able to provide three smaller Bridget Jones Awards, to enable attendance and presentation at the conference.
Jean-Oneli Blaise is Project Manager for a local non-profit organization that caters to disenfranchised and youth at risk on the Island of St. Maarten. He has successfully obtained a double master’s degree in Business Administration & Management and Team Management at the European Business school of Barcelona. Emerald Publishing accepted his recent academic article Towards mobilizing educators as environmental ambassadors. A Design Research approach to inspire teachers to advocate sustainable futures, co-authored with Dr. Marco Bevolo, Breda University of Applied Sciences. The manuscript articulates how educators are ideal candidates to become “brand ambassadors,” triggering dormant qualities to influence behavioral change.
His graphic novel Kushobi Origins has gained admission into the University of St. Maarten and the Philipsburg Jubilee Library. He is further organizing creative writing workshops for high school students on the island. In addition, the novel is featured in The Anthology; Voices that Sing Behind the Veil- Anthology of Short Stories from Africa and the Diaspora. The 684-page collection is published in collaboration with the Pan African Writers Association, based in Accra and affiliated with the African Union’s continental body.
Motivated to provide solutions for the voiceless youth, Jean-Oneli Blaise was selected by The Cabinet of the Minister Plenipotentiary of St. Maarten to advocate at the European Parliament in Brussels. He proposed to the EU a geocentric policy that encourages a variety of strategies and communication methods that underpin the development of youth capacities and potential in OCTs. During his tenure as a project manager for VOTY, a non-profit organization that advocates for youth empowerment, he co-created a platform that contributes to a more inclusive society giving the youths valuable information and resources to break down the multidimensional barriers they face in the Caribbean.