Valencia Brutus

Management ‘18

Valencia grew up in Cité Soleil, an extremely impoverished and densely populated area in Port-au-Prince. Few children in the area can afford to finish their education. Despite the hardships of her early life, Valencia persevered in school and obtained a scholarship from HELP that enabled her to attend university.

Valencia is grateful for both the financial support and the life lessons that she learned through HELP, saying “One of the most important things that I’ve learned is the five pillars of HELP: respect, rigor, courage, sacrifice, and service. If you cultivate those values in your life, they will make you stand out from the crowd.”

Today, Valencia is the HR Assistant at Rum Barbancourt, a position that she found through the HELP internship program. She sees herself as a role model for others that come from Cité Soleil. She understands that her success is an incentive for others to follow the same path: “Now my neighbors want their children to go to school, study hard, and become someone who can contribute to our society. Education is the way to succeed.”