U.S State Department announced 3 Vincentians among Young Leaders of the Americas 2025
Three Vincentian business owners have been selected as Young Leaders of the Americas by the U.S. Department of State for 2025. The three are Mr. Demion McTair, 33, Ms. Leeza Charles, 30, and Ms. Sophia Searles, 33.
The U.S Embassy in Bridgetown Barbados made the official announcement via its Facebook page on March 17. The three are among 280 selected from over 2,500 applicants across Latin America and the Caribbean regions who impact their communities.
The Embassy said: “As leaders setting a new direction, they are redesigning the future of impact-driven journalism, agro-tourism development, and resource-efficient agro-processing”.
“YLAI is marking 10 years of transformative impact across the Western Hemisphere, empowering over 280 young leaders to create lasting change in their communities,” the Embassy said about the Young Leaders of the Americas (YLAI) programme.
Mr. McTair is the founder of One News SVG, a journalism company dedicated to providing fair and modern storytelling.
He focuses on enhancing advocacy, entrepreneurship, and youth empowerment through strategic news reporting. He is also a freelance contributor to the Guardian Newspaper in the United Kingdom under its Caribbean correspondent.
Ms. Leeza Charles is the proprietor of Arubana Retreat, an eco-tourism site in St. Vincent, dedicated to cultural preservation and sustainable tourism.
She is also an Eco-tourism and tech innovator with a specialty in aviation operations and app prototyping. She is passionate about redefining the boundaries of traditional Tourism for a sustainable future.
Ms. Sophia Searles is the manager of Searles Agro Products, an agroprocessing company in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Searles said her father Hollis Searles started the company almost 30 years ago, but in 2016, she took the reins of the business.
The GMP Certified company manufactures peanuts, coconut oils and shredded coconut, and has recently ventured into the agricultural where it has set up a sustainable coconut farming operation.
The fellows are completing an online course which began in January on Business Development and Entrepreneurship with the U.S. Department of State in collaboration with Arizona State University (ASU) which is ranked number one for innovation in the U.S.