Bernice Antoine Case Study

30 Jul Bernice Antoine Case Study

Posted at 15:24h in Case Studies by YBTT Admin

2 Likes

Written by: Adriana Sandrine Isaac Rattan

JUMPSTARTING BIG DREAMS AND ASPIRATIONS

A Dive into Passions!

At age 19, Bernice Antoine boasts of an extremely clear pathway to her life’s journey. Hailing from St. Ann’s and a recent CSEC graduate, an elated Bernice stated “I have three (3) passions – Youth Advocacy, Women’s Empowerment and Entrepreneurship. I currently serve as Co-Chair for the Youth Advisory Group of the United Nations Population Fund.” Bernice’s role in this group is to provide youth perspectives and represent youths. Bernice sees youths as co-creators of governance and governmental processes, as well as advocates against gender-based violence and sexuality. But her passion for youth advocacy is broader than one can imagine .

“I serve in different youth organizations. I’m the Operations Officer for the Trinidad and Tobago Youth Advocacy Network as well as Director of Policy and Advocacy for the Willow Foundation.”Entrepreneurship, another of Bernice’s passions, stands firmly on her front burner

“As a young person I always valued freedom and always had a desire to use entrepreneurship to solve social issues. I also wanted a flexible lifestyle.” Bernice is currently employed as a Marketing and Communications Intern and also gives lessons in CSEC’s Mathematics. Last year’s CAPE exams Bernice placed 10th in the Caribbean in Maths (Unit 2)

The JumpSTART Experience

Proudly capturing the first prize in YBTT’s 2021 Cohort One of the JumpSTART Incubator Programme, Bernice happily reminisced on her experience as a participant. “I’ve always wanted to start a business but didn’t know where to start; when I saw the ad for the JumpSTART training I knew it was an ideal platform for me to explore my business idea.”

Bernice found the facilitators were engaging and also provided an enabling environment for participant engagement

“I was appreciative of opportunities to connect with business experts who helped in solidifying my business idea and turned it into reality. I also valued the customer-above-everything philosophy reinforcing the importance of always putting customers first.”

Her major takeaway was having the opportunity to build a strong community of supporters.

Bernice would definitely recommend JumpSTART to other young persons .”If you have an idea but are uncertain of where to go, JumpSTART is the ideal platform; be prepared to become engaged, jump out of your comfort zone, and network with like-minded individuals.”

Looking Ahead

Bernice’s biggest goal is to empower students beyond the classroom..”I want young persons to recognize that technical skills are not the be-all and end-all; more importantly is understanding and embracing the soft skills, emotional intelligence, mindfulness and stress management.”

Bernice ended with this important quote “Technical skills get you in the door but soft skills keep you in the room.”