Journalist, Elesha George is among 300 business and social entrepreneurs from across Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada who have been selected by the Young Leaders of America (YLAI) to participate in their 2023 Fellowship program.

The selection process began with 1800 potential candidates from across that region.

George is the only one representing Antigua and Barbuda this year and will join the long list of local and international YLAI alumni when the programme is over.

In May, she and the rest of the group will arrive in the United States to collaborate with American companies and social enterprises across 19 U.S. cities as part of a four-week Professional Placement.

During that time, she will intern with a company that will assist her in improving the capacity of her environmental website – Wadadli Unplugged. Fellows will collaborate with their placement host on their Entrepreneurial Leadership Action Plan (E-LAP) which the Fellows will implement upon return to their home countries.

She designed and launched the website during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

Wadadli Unplugged is solely dedicated to telling stories about the green and blue economy in the Eastern Caribbean, in an effort to support more coherent and effective decision making on how governments can achieve a sustainable lifestyle in the Caribbean.

It aims to stimulate more science-based policy within the region and to improve ocean and environment literacy that can assist Caribbean people to better understand the importance of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and ultimately achieve them.

George, who was employed at the Antigua Observer as the Newsroom Supervisor and head of the social media team, recently left the company to launch her own business.

She is now the co-owner of the rising online news portal Island Press Box which is a branch off from Wadadli Unplugged.

George, who began her career in her homeland of Dominica, won the Best Journalist Award at the Antigua & Barbuda Gospel Music & Media Awards in 2022, having practiced in the twin island for more than seven years.

She was the only journalist in the Eastern Caribbean who was selected by the U.S. Embassy to participate in the Meridian International Investigate Tour of Latin America in 2022 and has produced work with the Media Institute of the Caribbean (MIC) and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ).

At the age of 31, she is currently the youngest media professional to own a media company in Antigua and Barbuda.

In her 10-year career, she has worked as both a journalist and show host across several platforms to include TV broadcast, radio, newspaper publication and online media.

Since the initiative’s launch in 2015, more than 1,000 YLAI Fellows from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada have expanded their leadership and entrepreneurial experience through fellowships at businesses and organizations across the United States.

YLAI empowers entrepreneurs to strengthen their capacity to launch and advance their entrepreneurial ideas and effectively contribute to social and economic development in their communities.

Through the YLAI Entrepreneurial Leadership Curriculum and individualized professional placements, YLAI Fellows have accelerated their commercial and social ventures’ success and developed specific action plans to implement upon return to their home countries.

Learn more about them here  bit.ly/YLAIFellowBios