​Nadia Odjo 

Director/Founder
Nadia has worked as a teacher and guidance counselor with the Palm Beach County School District for fourteen years. She graduated from New York University with a Bachelor’s Degree in French and Political Science and received her Master’s Degree in Counseling from Florida Atlantic University. Nadia is a very active member of her church; she helped start churches in Africa and the Caribbean. She also served as a missionary in the Ivory Coast for ten years where she met her husband. She and Joseph have been married for twenty-one years and have two wonderful boys: Jeremie and Jonathan. Nadia loves to read, travel, go to the beach, and practice yoga. Although she loves her native country Haiti, she considers herself a citizen of the world.

Joseph Odjo

Co-Founder
Joeseph Odjo has been working as a teacher for over 20 years in the Ivory Coast and in Haiti.  Joseph graduated from the University of Abidjan IC with a Bachelor’s in English Literature and English Linguistics.  Joseph is a Christian in the International Church of Christ and is currently leading the Jacmel Church of Christ in Jacmel, Haiti.  Joseph is married with two wonderful sons, Jeremie and Jonathan. 

Jaci Louis

Director of Operations
In the summer of 2013, I took a life changing trip to Haiti. The trip itself was a typical mission trip; we came, enjoyed Haiti, played with the children, served the community, executed projects… you know a mission trip. During this time, I already had moving to a developing country on my heart. I was graduating that December from Florida Atlantic University with a bachelor degree in Elementary Education. I have a strong belief that every child deserves to receive high quality education and that is the only way the world will improve. I expressed a lot of my opinions and desires to Nadia Odjo during the trip and at the end of two weeks she offered me an internship. I took a month to think about it before telling the Odjos that yes I would move full time to Jacmel, Haiti to be their first intern upon my graduation from college.  That was the best decision of my life.  I absolutely adore BRITE and the vision behind it.  After six years of living in Haiti, I have relocated to Fayetteville, NC where I live with my husband and our daughter. I am working to help BRITE grow in the area of volunteer recruitment, fundraising, and administration. I am very grateful for the chance to continue to work for an organization I love so much. 

Diamond Cooper

Financial Administrative Assistant
Upon graduating Florida Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in Global Management and Finance, I knew the sky was the limit. The moment I found out about BRITE and its vision, my heart was sold! I am so excited to have the opportunity to intern for this upcoming year and serve in ways that I know I can have a positive and long-lasting impact. Just to see the progress that BRITE has made, the lives that have been changed, and its mission to make a difference has been inspiring. I have always had a passion for working with children and I am looking forward to being used where God needs me. The opportunities that these children could have with education alone are endless and it starts now. The fact that I get to play a role in bettering their lives, future, and simply loving them is sincerely heart-warming. Definitely worth my time, energy, and attention and I can’t wait to see what God has in store.

​Rose Bien-Aime

​Intern
I was born in Haiti, but moved to America when I was 11 years old. I studied education in college and worked as a third grade teacher for two years. I decided to move to Haiti to serve for one year because I love BRITE Initiative and wanted to give back to my country. I am so excited for the year ahead!

Jasmine Batt

Intern
My name is Jasmine and I have been going to Haiti since I was 14. I am taking a break from school to do what I love by serving in Haiti. I enjoy learning the culture and making new relationships. I hope to grow and learn spiritually and emotionally so that I can bring what I’ve learned for future plans in Haiti.  

Zhada Fields

Intern
I came to Jacmel to work with BRITE for ten days in June 2018 before my senior year of college. I went on this trip to work with kids at ICA and to improve my foreign language proficiency, since language has always been something I enjoy. I did not know I would be returning so soon, but after graduating I decided to go back to Jacmel to teach at ICA. This was a tough decision to make after having just graduated and wanting to establish a path toward my career, but I knew that if I really ever wanted to make a big move to serve others, this was the time to do it. Once I’d decided, I became very excited for everything I’d just gained: a year’s full of serving highly intelligent and loving kids at ICA, genuine people outside of and within the church, and beautiful views of the ocean and mountains. 

Snousha Glaude

Intern
Snousha earned a Bachelors of Liberal Arts from New College of Florida after successfully defending her research which examined narrative and boundary work of healthcare practitioners of St. MARY, Jamaica during the Chikungunya episode of 2015. Prior to accepting a position with BRITE, she served as a Mosquito Managment Aide for Sarasota County for two terms. She worked on Sarasota County Tree Council as a Board Member, and as a Teaching Assistant and Ambassador for the Agape Ministry at Light of the World International Church. Her special interests are in ecology, food justice, and performance art.

​Selah Gargon

Intern
I first started going to Haiti when I was only fifteen years old. From that moment on I fell in love with not only the country itself, but more importantly the people in it. The people are just so beautifully rich in spirit, and it is something that I always take with me. Someone asked me once “What makes you always come back here, there has to be something?” It’s something I still ask myself as well. You never except some place to steal your heart so abruptly the way Haiti did mine.There is so much more to Haiti than poverty or what you see on the T.V. There is so much life, culture, and enough love to last a lifetime. I am so undeserving to help try and serve a beautiful country like Haiti, but I thank the Lord for seeing me differently and giving me not only the opportunity to serve- but for giving me a second place I can call home. I found Brite Initiative through another interns Instagram. After reading what Brite was really about I was inspired to jump outside my comfort zone and apply for a year long internship to help assist BRITE and be a teacher for their private school ICA. I am also currently a junior in college going for my bachelors degree in teaching. I believe that this is the perfect opportunity to grow within my two favorite passions -teaching and Haiti.