L'union Suite is a

Haitian-American Haitian Americans (french: Haïtiens-Américains; ht, ayisyen ameriken) are a group of Americans of full or partial Haitian origin or descent. The largest proportion of Haitians in the United States live in Little Haiti to the South Florida area ...

lifestyle, tourism, culture, society, and entertainment media company based in

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

.Wanda Tima Digital Influencer Media Maven Founder, L'union Suite (NAAHP)
/ref> L'union Suite has quickly become the number one platform for Haitian-Americans with over 450,000 subscriptions and a

reach Reach or REACH may refer to: Companies and organizations * Reach plc, formerly Trinity Mirror, large British newspaper, magazine, and digital publisher * Reach Canada, an NGO in Canada * Reach Limited, an Asia Pacific cable network company * ...

of around 5–10 million weekly.

History

Started as a small blog, L'union Suite was created by Whenda "Wanda" Tima-Gilles in order to provide a platform to connect with other Haitian-Americans who felt disconnected from Haitian culture as she did. Wanda who was born in Cap-Haïtien, grew up in the Turks and Caicos and emigrated to South Florida as a teen, knew of the customs but not what they meant and was late in learning about Haitian history and culture. In an attempt to learn more about Haiti online, her findings were underwhelming as there was an over-emphasis concerning the country's impoverishment rather than the rich culture she knew it had and aimed to change that. Instead, Wanda dedicated herself in highlighting positive and uplifting stories about Haiti and its diaspora from the experiences to the achievements which began as a personal project.

Founder

Wanda has been featured in

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

, Black Enterprise and was honored as a receipt for ''Miami's 40 Under 40 Black Leaders for Today and Tomorrow'' in 2016 by Legacy magazine. She graduated from

Dillard High School Dillard High School is a historic public middle and high school located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The school was established in 1907 as Colored School 11 and was later named for black-education advocate James H. Dillard. It is a part of Broward ...

at age 16 and became the first person in her family to graduate from college when she obtained a bachelor's degree in

mass communication Mass communication is the process of imparting and exchanging information through mass media to large segments of the population. It is usually understood for relating to various forms of media, as its technologies are used for the dissemination o ...

with a concentration in journalism and public relations from Bethune–Cookman University. Wanda had previously worked in audiovisual media for various radio stations, interned for BET Network and two other TV stations in Daytona and Orlando, Florida. She currently resides in South Florida.

Charitable works

Each year L’union Suite adopts a new project to fundraise by hosting annual events, most notably the ''”Strike for Education”'' bowling tournament where celebrities, influencers and South Florida residents have turned out for. On 30 April 2018, L’union Suite opened a computer lab, which also included school supplies and new blackboards in Collège Bell Angelot in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti for students between 7th and 12th grades in order for them to take full advantage of S.T.E.M., which is a term aimed to further

academic discipline An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

s in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics through focused lab. Contributions were raised from an annual fundraiser hosted by L’union Suite which included support from the likes of Pierre Garçon and Spirit Airlines to name a few.

References

{{Reflist, 2

External links

Official Website
2011 establishments in the United States American blogs Black-owned companies of the United States Haitian-American history Haitian-American culture in Florida Caribbean diaspora in the United States Internet properties established in 2011 Video blogs