PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Nicole Joseph-Chin from Trinidad organized a unique first response after Hurricane Beryl. She quickly gathered resources and support to help those affected by the storm. Her efforts were aimed at providing assistance to the impacted communities. Nicole’s response was efficient and effective in providing relief to those in need.
During a conversation with Joseph-Chin, the founder ofMs. Brafit
in 2002, she mentioned that women often leave crisis situations with only the clothes on their backs and rarely think about securing undergarments. She emphasized the importance of promoting dignity, particularly for women and girls, especially in times of crisis or natural disasters. Joseph-Chin founded Ms. Brafit out of her own need for comfort in her first layer of clothing.
Haiti Earthquake
In 2010, when the 7.1 magnitude earthquake devasted the nation of Haiti, Joseph-Chin was already addressing the crisis recovery action by sending donations of bras, underwear and dignity focused care items to the people of Haiti. During the activation period, her Social Impact Brand Ms. Brafit and local friends in the SME communities, with support from the UWI Centre for Language Learning – UWI St. Augustine, sent messages of compassion and empowerment in creole, to the recipients of the care items, which were distributed through the efforts of ITNAC.
The social actions of Ms. Brafit has been established inside of their Bra Fitting solutions, as well as their many international and global actions around Women’s Health and Education in areas of Breast Empowerment, Self-Care and Women’s Leadership, focusing on its intersectionality with gender empowerment – by consistently advancing dignity, supporting the elimination of forms of violence and the advancement of safe and sustainable cities.
Awards and Accolades
Nicole Joseph-Chin received a US State Department IVLP Fellowship in 2010 and 2021. She is still making an impact globally by designing educational programs focused on social health and encouraging grassroots motivation.
Nicole has earned many awards and fellowships for her work as a social entrepreneur and women’s health advocate. She is recognized globally for her efforts and partnerships that promote women’s health and social innovation.
In May 2024, she was an honouree of the Inaugural Vital Voices Collective Action Award for her partnership with international partner Safecity. In 2021, Nicole served as the Inaugural CEO in Residence at the University of the Pacific in California and is a 2017 recipient of a prestigious fellowship from the Government of India for Leadership in Public and Private Partnerships for Sustainable Development. Nicole is also the recipient of the 2018 AFETT Social Entrepreneur of the Year award and in 2015 and 2017, curated a specialized curriculum for medical science students at Spelman College Atlanta for their study-abroad program – to facilitate their program whilst visiting Trinidad and Tobago in 2015 and 2017, respectively.
Educational Programs
The specially designed educational programs from Ms. Brafit come equipped for varied communities – designed for corporates, adolescents/teen girls, grassroots communities and breast cancer survivors’ empowerment, and consist of a plethora of interactive and experiential tools, which have been thoughtfully developed inside of local, regional and international grassroots and academic partnership communities, over the past decades.
The Dignity in Disaster Crisis Response highlights the priority that this Island Nation Social Enterprise has placed on intersectional gender and climate exigencies as part of their overall women’s empowerment interventions. Their consultancy has packaged these solutions to cover a wide range of social education programs within their wellbeing consultancy.
The donors of Dignity in Disaster spanned the Trinidad and Tobago and Caribbean Judiciary – Trinidad and Tobago Association of Women Judges, Caribbean Association of Women Judges, namely Justice Carol Gobin and staff of the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago, small and medium-sized enterprises, individuals and some anonymous international donors.
The recipient and distribution activities on the ground in Grenada, Carriacou, Petit Martinique, St. Vincent, Union Island and Bequia was supported by partnerships with Soroptimists International St Vincent, Soroptimists International Grenada and local NGO communities. The facilitation of transportation was a combined effort of grassroots organizations such as Living Water Community – Trinidad, friends in the boating and transportation industries and an emergency cargo facilitation via Caribbean Airlines Jetpack.
This humanitarian action impacted women and girls and a small portion of the care items donated from Ms. Brafit was allocated for distribution to boys.
For inquiries about how you can support the social impact actions of Ms. Brafit or how you can collaborate with their social impact projects or access their education programs, please email info@msbrafit.com
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