Today we’d like to introduce you to Yanatha Desouvre.
Hi Yanatha, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started writing when I was only 7 after the tragic shooting death of my Sunday School teacher. The traumatic experience shook my life. I turn to arts, music, and writing for healing. I tried to escape the real world by putting my nose into comic books. Today, many see me as a modern-day Renaissance man. I proudly serve on the Executive Board of the National Association of Black Journalists South Florida Chapter as a parliamentarian.
Every third Saturday, led by our awesome Chapter President Calvin Hughes, we are being intentional about impacting the lives of students at Miami Dade Central High School. I get to serve on the committee of the Black Male Media Project, led by Jefferson Noel, an initiative to help change the narrative around the lives and images of Black men in the news and in society to #InspireBlackMen.
I proudly volunteer with Ayiti Community Trust. We are a group of people dedicating time, time, and treasure to building a sustainable Ayiti. We are Haitians living in Ayiti and in the diaspora, and friends of Ayiti who believe that, together, we can transform and correct the misrepresentation of Haitians and Ayiti. I serve alongside great leaders like the dynamic Geurda Nicholas Ph.D. Co-Founder & President and the compassionate Ghislain Gouraige, Jr. Board Chair.
I was not the smartest student growing up. However, my life has been transformed because of my amazing parents Ninon and Lucien Desouvre, and their persistence in believing the doors the keys to education can open for us as Haitian immigrants. Today I serve as the only full-time faculty of Entrepreneurship at one of the most diverse colleges in the country, Miami Dade College, with 2.5 million alumni worldwide, where opportunity changes everything.
Every day I get to teach some remarkable students and work alongside some amazing colleagues. It’s a privilege and an honor to get to serve my community in this way. Last but not least in a full circle moment, I am part of a life-changing, critically acclaimed, award-winning filmmaking team, that include childhood friends of 3 decades, Producer and Screenwriter, Harry Jeudy and Producer and Director, Samuel Ladouceur.
Our recent short film, The Sweetest Girl (2021) received Oscar buzz. Today our lasted project, inspired by the shooting death of my Sunday School teacher, Fragmented Scars, according to the trust screenwriter platform, the Blacklist, our script is being compared to Oscar winners, Moonlight, If Beale Streets Could Talk, and Emmy Winner Dopesick.
“For fans of IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK, DOPESICK, and MOONLIGHT, this is a script that deals with the emotionally significant subject matter and tackles real-world issues in a compelling way. The story itself is well-contained and could be successfully executed within a modest budget level range, making it appealing for potential financiers” – The Blacklist. Fragmented Scar’s theme is “What we do for who we love, reveals who we are”.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has not been a smooth ride. The challenges have been and still can be self-doubt, navigating through circumstances beyond your control, heartache and so much more. In the midst of those struggles my faith continues to play a critical role in keeping me going. I am very intentional about living a purpose-driven life. It’s far from perfect.
Nevertheless, I thrive on living a life of significance and adding value to others. I do my best to guide myself and hopefully others with these words, “Success comes with support. We only fail in this life when we fail to uplift one another.” My circle has become so tight that it’s now a triangle. I only surround myself with three types of people, individuals that remind and encourage me to be my best self, every day.
The second person who holds me accountable, so when I come short of being my best self, they remind me, “Hey Yanatha, you can do better, let’s go. The third and final personality is the person or people that remind me that it’s not about me, it’s about the gifts I’ve been given to inspire this generation and the next, to pay it forward.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
In my professional world, I enjoy blending my roles as a professor of entrepreneur, where I get to practice what I teach as a PR (people and relationships professional) and an award-winning filmmaker getting to collaborate with some amazing and extremely talented people.
As a professor, I get to give a spark to our students who may have an idea, that either solves a problem or enhances someone’s life and guide them through developing them into something amazing. There are several proud moments when seeing several of our students win pitch competitions earning financial rewards that they put right back into their companies, it’s amazing.
In the PR space, our clients have been featured on ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, the Wall Street Journal, Black Enterprise, and more. It’s so fulfilling to me to see our clients from untapped communities who get to be featured in a news story for National Black Entrepreneur Day or for Women’s History Month and so much more.
In the film space, I focus on another type of AI, not Artificial Intelligence but Authentic Input. I believe we all have something of value we can contribute to the world around us. As a film producer, it was encouraging to empower the cast and crew to show up every day on set to bring their best selves,
I specialize in going beyond the profit in the world of entrepreneurship and the arts. A great friend of mine, Emmy-nominated impact artist Alexander Star, said “In a world where most artists tell you how great they are, I’m the artist that tells you how great we are.” I subscribe to that notion 1000%.
What sets me apart from other professors, pr firms, and filmmakers is that I believe in the positive impact we can all have in each other’s lives even in the midst of uncertainty and chaos. Lead with Service, Outstanding Universal Leadership (S.O.U.L) and we can transform lives for the better. I am living proof of that.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up.
Growing up in the church in both Brooklyn, New York, and Philadelphia, Philadelphia The brotherhood and sisterhood that was forged for 4 decades still remain. We laughed, fought, and cried together, We’ve experience death, birth, and so much joy. Those memories will be with me forever.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.yanatha.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodmanchronicles/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yanatha/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/yanatha
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/yanatha
- Other: https://www.fragmentedscars.com/
