by Lorna Wright
Ft. Lauderdale – The old saying “luck is when preparation meets opportunity” comes to mind as Marvin DeJean starts 2006 on a high note after accepting the position of Director of Public Relations at Innovative Communications Corporation, located in Palm Beach County.
For seven years, DeJean has worn many hats: grant-writing, public relations, marketing and government relations, at Minority Development & Empowerment Inc. (“MDEI”), a nonprofit organization and brainchild of president Francois LeConte that, according to DeJean, “has given a face and voice to the [local] Caribbean community” and which was formed to address social services issues initially in the Haitian community, but has expanded its services to other Caribbean nationals, Latinos and Americans of Broward and Palm Beach Counties.
DeJean was motivated to serve by his initiative and persuasion by LeConte’s passion to serve. DeJean realized how serious LeConte was when he informed him that he had found a building and was ready. While it took years for MDEI to get a foothold in Broward County, there is now a strong Board in place, including Mary Riedel of the Sun-Sentinel, who has been instrumental in moving the organization forward. MDEI now has 71 part-time and full-time employees and, in 2006, will celebrate 10 years of amazing service to the community.
DeJean was born in New York of Haitian parents, but his formative years were spent in Haiti. He is fluent in French and English and has traveled extensively to Africa and Europe because his step-dad was part of the Haitian Diplomatic Corps. Sheltered in Haiti, at age 16 he returned to New York, but frightening racial attack encouraged relocation to Washington, D.C. He attended Howard University, a positive move because this experience helped him to discover his identity as a person of color. He later joined the United States Army as a Combat Medic and was activated for a five-month Desert Storm duty in the Middle East. After he honored his duty with the Army, he moved to Miami and entered the University of Miami from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sociology.
DeJean’s career highlights encompass an action taken by MDEI to develop collaboration with the American Embassy and Haiti that allowed free training sessions. These sessions included mayoral training and a comprehensive journalist training of which many top Haitian journalists have benefited. He desires to extend this collaboration to include the development of a volunteer service corps in Haiti.
DeJean is Host of the popular Caribbean Pulse, a show produced by Island T.V. to inform, educate and entertain the Caribbean community. Past high profile guests have included federal appointee Rod Paige, and Miami/Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez. The show is on hiatus, but his future goal is to conduct more in-depth interviews with longer programming time and educate small businesses about marketing and better customer service.
DeJean intends to balance his time with his new career, family, and his continuing affiliation with MDEI. He is married and a new father.
