YLAI Professional Fellows 2022

The World Affairs Council is pleased to announce that we are an implementing partner of the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) Fellowship Program! YLAI is an innovative U.S. Department of State-funded program that invites mid-career entrepreneurs from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada to collaborate with U.S.-based organizations through a month-long professional exchange. As a part of their Fellowship, 14 young business and social entrepreneurs will visit Seattle from June 10 – July 11 and collaborate with local businesses and organizations to strengthen their capacity to advance their ventures and contribute to the social and economic development of their communities.

Seattle's 2022 YLAI Fellows:

Amelia Garita Castillo – Costa Rica

Amelia is the owner and manager of Selva Whitewater Adventures, an adventure tourism company that organizes community and conservation service projects, and rafting, kayaking, and hiking tours in her home country of Costa Rica. She is an experienced outdoor leader and entrepreneur with a BS in Business Management for Sustainable Tourism. Her business goals include developing more creative marketing strategies, better understanding her target market, attracting more customers to her business, and learning about new programs and systems that can help them manage her business with accounting, sales, and marketing.

Ana Paola Mendoza Bautista - Mexico

Paola is the Co-Founder and Owner of Carlota Flower Lab, a Mexico-based floral design company that specializes in creating modern, luxury flower arrangements. In addition to creating custom designs, Carlota Flower Lab leads workshops for aspiring florist professionals around Mexico and internationally. Paola is an experienced graphic designer and has used these skills to develop Carlota Flower Lab’s social media presence, making it one of the best-known floral design studios in Mexico.

Antonia Kirsty Jose – Haiti

Kirsty is the CEO of Kookie, a Haitian lingerie brand that she founded in 2019 to represent Haitian women of all shapes and sizes. By training, Kirsty is an experienced media and digital strategy brand manager and she currently works as a brand manager for a national food and beverage company while keeping her startup going. From her Host Organization, Kristy hopes to learn their operation strategy and supply chain process, how they use and master data to understand consumer behavior from different target groups, and how to expand networking to get the best suppliers.

Cailan Libby – Canada

Cailan is the Co-Founder and CEO of Happipad, an innovative Canadian social enterprise that addresses the challenges of housing affordability and social connection by providing a platform for companion housing solutions. Happipad’s peer-to-peer app matches senior citizen hosts with extra space in their homes with compatible long-term guests. Cailan is hoping to learn about the marketing tools and technology stacks that digital companies use to scale their companies and to hear from great leaders on how they inspire their teams.

Cenus Jr. Hinds – St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Cenus is the Founder and Digital Marketing Manager of The Cariway, an online community platform that connects travelers with local hosts for unique experiences in the Caribbean. By focusing on community tourism and local-led experiences, The Cariway is able to offer diverse tours and experiences that authentically showcase the culture of each Caribbean island. From his Host Organization, he hopes to develop the tools to scale and expand his business.

Enrique Andres Balut – Chile

Enrique is the Co-Founder and CEO of Signore Mario, a Chilean plant-based, eco-friendly, health foods brand. Signore Mario produces vegan mayonnaise and butter, as well as protein pasta and coconut oil. In addition to running his start-up, Enrique teaches Economics and Nutrition at the Universidad del Desarrollo in Santiago, Chile. From the YLAI Fellowship and his host placement, he is hoping to learn about raising capital and improving his business model to be able to scale and expand his business.

Janielle Ruby Ruth Todd – Jamaica

Janielle is the owner and CEO of The A+ Generation, an educational solution for people with physical, emotional, and intellectual special needs. The A+ Generation offers homeschooling, school support, and counseling services aimed at helping every child reach their full potential, inside and outside of school. Janielle is a professional counselor and trainer with a Masters in Counseling and Social Work and over ten years of experience in education management.

Jermaine Leslie Slater – Guyana

Jermaine is an internal auditor with the heart and mind of an entrepreneur. Jermaine runs a tutoring service “Tutors on Call” and a gaming business, “Slaters’ Gaming”. Slaters’ Gaming’s pilot card game is called Jus Drink, which is based on the Guyanese Creole language. The customers were primarily Guyanese who were at home, either locally or abroad, during the pandemic. Tutors on Call is a private tutoring company that provides quality tailored educational support, at an affordable price.

Joselle Nicole Farro – Aruba

Joselle is the owner of Direct Accounting Solutions & Advice, an Aruba-based financial management, and accounting firm. They specialize in providing high-quality, tailored business services to small and medium local organizations while remaining accessible and affordable. Joselle holds a Bachelors degree in Financial Management and Accounting and is experienced in financial management and accounting, including cash flow management, business administration, business plans, and budgeting.

Lucia Belen Montero Cole – Costa Rica

Lucia is an anthropologist and archaeologist, with a specialization in sustainability for businesses. She is the CEO and Founder of Tapir Chocolates, a Costa Rican artisan chocolate brand that produces organic, vegan, gluten-free chocolates made with locally sourced cacao. At Tapir Chocolates, Lucia acts as Community Manager and oversees sustainability and brand management. She is looking forward to learning about how small businesses in the U.S. utilize online marketing, logistics, software, and automatization tools.

Julio Cesar Hernandez Cordova – Peru

Julio is the Commercial Manager and Co-founder of Logic Atelier, a Peruvian web consultancy company offering a suite of services including web and application development and design, digital marketing, graphic design, SEO, branding, and strategy. In addition to their web consultancy, they are launching the Logic Atelier Hub, a talent incubation program for upcoming programmers and web designers from rural and disadvantaged areas. From the YLAI Fellowship, he is hoping to learn about ethical leadership, marketing and commercial strategies, and the tools and techniques to manage a larger workforce efficiently.