<div>My name is <strong>Glenicia Mitchell.</strong>
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<div>Former Chef of 14 years and Food Microbiologist, <a href="https://pearlfmradio.sx/2012/02/07/five-to-vie-for-prestigious-senior-carnival-queen-title/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Miss Sint Maarten and Miss Carnival</a>. Founder and Ayurvedic Practitioner at <a href="https://www.thenourishnook.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Nourish Nook</a>. Founder of Ai ethics strategics, PM Comms and digital media at <a href="https://www.iratemindmedia.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">IrateMind Media</a> . Former Senior Communications and Outreach Consultant for a <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/ext/en/country/sintmaarten" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recovery trust fund overseeing Hurricane Irma reli</a>ef efforts, conjoint with the World Bank.
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<div>See my <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gleniciamitchell/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">LinkedIn profile</a> here.
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<div>See my interview with <a href="https://fashionpolicenews.blogspot.com/2012/06/ms-stmaarten-2012-ms-glenicia-speaks-to.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the Fashion Police</a>
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<div>With and intro like that you must be wondering <strong>''WTH is she doing on here?!?''</strong>
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<div><strong>This isn’t a story of extremes,</strong> it is a story that MANY of us are going through but too afraid to discuss.
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<div>This is the story of a high achiever, struggling behind the scenes. A go-getter that allows fear to prevent them from asking for help.
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<div>Be vulnerable, it is truly a <strong>superpower. </strong>
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<div>So here we go.
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<div><strong>I’ve always funded my life on my own. </strong>
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<div>From the age of 16 with my first job as a computer tech. all through college, through parenthood and now as a founder and community leader.
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<div><strong><em>I understood from a young age that growing up in the islands meant that I was limited in many ways. </em></strong>
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<div>So venturing out, well..it’s a necessary trait that I’ve openly adopted.
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<div>After returning home in 2021; after an ordeal that began in 2019 in the Netherlands, (we’ll talk about this later), I sought out spaces and faces that could educate me and connect me to more structured business practices and funding.
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<div><strong>That led me to 2024, </strong>when<strong> </strong>I entered the Investfest Nippsey Hussle Pitch Competition. An event attended by 30,000 entrepreneurs and investors annually.
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<div><strong>We had 3 minutes to pitch our companies </strong>online before the big day to make the 150 list out of 2500+ entries. See my <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C-c9fWhpufN/?igsh=MTcyaWVydHBtMGpsMQ==" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>pitch here</strong></a><strong> </strong>.
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<div><strong>I made it to top 5</strong>, but only top 4 made it to the main stage to compete for 100k.
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<div>Something in me told me not to give up and later that day, I attended the <a href="https://americansesh.com/about/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>American Sesh</strong></a><strong> </strong>panel, they were asking business owners to come forward and discuss their businesses and the challenges they were facing.
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<div>I stalled, kept still and then.. my friends who attended to support physically PUSHED me out of my aisle and refused to let me sit down until I went forward.
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<div>I had to battle a sea of entrepreneurs who wanted to get to that stage to be heard. I was selected and then <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C_dlUNhxf8m/?img_index=1&amp;igsh=MTZsaXRqZTdwMGwwMw==%252522%252520target=%252522_blank%252522%252520rel=%252522noreferrer%252520noopener%252522%25253E" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>I won the grand prize</strong></a> of 25k in businesses resources from <a href="https://www.instagram.com/pinkycole/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pinky Cole</a> .
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<div>This materialized as business training and mentorship with the top Financial Literacy Organization in the United States, <a href="https://operationhope.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Operation Hope</a> , founded by J<a href="https://operationhope.org/about/our-founder/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ohn Hope Bryant</a> .
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<div>I rode on that energy and built my company’s <a href="https://www.instagram.com/nourishnook.co/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">social proof</a> through education and gained 13k followers and <strong>served over 480 clients</strong> who suffered from<strong> metabolic and chronic health issues. </strong>
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<div><strong>In 2025, </strong>I competed in a <strong>Forbes-backed </strong>international entrepreneurship competition judged by Colossal Impact Investors, Daymond John of Shark Tank, and GenYouth NGO; ranking #1 in my group for seven consecutive weeks, representing my island on a global stage.
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<div>See my entry <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFF4ASSJjer/?igsh=MTJtNmRlM3Y5cmN6aA==" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">video here</a> .
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<div><a href="https://www.721news.com/2025/03/glenicia-mitchell-represents-sint-maarten-in-global-forbes-backed-competition-calls-for-community-support-to-secure-win/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read one of the articles about my journey here</a> .
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<div><strong>These are all the accolades, </strong>but it did not start there. Not remotely close. I’ve seen and lived experiences that people never knew of.
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<div><strong>Let’s rewind the clock to set more context</strong>
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<div>A series of unfortunate events..that I am grateful for!
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<div>I have been <a href="https://youtu.be/BHhNFpOTYJE?si=3C_LXbKKXQIVarn-" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">homeless and pregnant in a foreign country</a> .
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<div><strong>From 2019 to 2021, </strong>I moved through shelters in the Netherlands, alone; in a country that was not mine, rebuilding from absolutely nothing.
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<div>I know what the bottom feels like.
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<div>I built my way out of it once.
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<div>I am doing it again.
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<div>When I came back to Sint Maarten, I worked for e recovery trust fund and would be issued a yearly contract every year.
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<div>However, just two weeks before christmas I was informed that I would be getting a 3 month contract and received a very vague and sketchy review that I took to HR.
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<div>HR agreed, but I started to feel that maybe, ..just maybe, I had become TOO comfortable in this role. I thought and now realize, I was being guided to find my purpose again.
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<div>I devised a financial contingency plan and I launched a temporary pop-up during the Carnival season and hired within my circle to keep things safe.
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<div><strong>However, the God and his universe has a way of clearing paths for you to really understand that you have outgrown an environment. </strong>
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<div>People I trusted let me down at a critical moment, and it cost me the entire year.
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<div><strong>I did the thing I knew best; I kept going.</strong> and suffered in silence.
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<div>From May 2025-November 2025 I had not earned <strong>ONE CENT. </strong>I applied to <strong>221 </strong>jobs. Two hundred and twenty-one. I heard back from almost none of them. (Spreadsheet of proof)
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<div>I eventually took a chance and reached out to an old boss at a restaurant I used to manage. He hired me on the spot as temp reservations manager and hostess; way below my experience, way below my qualifications, and I took it anyway.
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<div>I needed the money to buy my ticket and clear my debts before April 1st.
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<div>I’ve managed to secure flights, and 2 luggage. (3 more to add)
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<div><strong>That is not a sob story.</strong>
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<div>That is just what it looks like when someone <strong>refuses to stop.</strong>
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<div><strong>So why am I here….??</strong>
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<div>The temp job ended. and so did the funds.
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<div><strong>On April 1st, I leave Sint Maarten for the last time.</strong>
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<div>I am making a stop in <strong>Texas</strong> first;<strong> sleeping on my Capoeira master's couch</strong>; Karate Kid style, training, building my client base, and scouting commercial locations and a secure place to call our home in <strong>Los Angeles</strong>.
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<div>My portfolio is actively being shopped right now. Marketing and media clients are already in motion.
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<div>During this time, my son will not be with me. I had to make the tough decision of placing him under temporary custody with my Aunt and Uncle in the US, to provide him a stable education and lifestyle as I rebuild from scratch.
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<div>After everything he has seen in the shelters, and last year. I refuse to let that smile on his face drop. Or for him to tell me once more ‘’Mama, I wish I could work to help you with money’’. He needs to live life as a child. And yes, this aunt and uncle were a major part of my upbringing, and are still people who support me in every way they can.
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<div>I trust him being there, just as if he would be safe back home with my mother. Unfortunately, she is ill and her condition does not permit much activity.
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<div>It will also be easier, to visit him and provide if we are closer. a few states away won’t kill us.
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<div><strong>Stability over convenience. </strong>
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<div><strong>This is not a dream I am chasing blindly. </strong>
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<div>This is a plan with a timeline and real people already moving behind it.
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<div><strong>Yes, LA is expensive.</strong>
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<div><strong>It is also where my industry lives,</strong> where my network is already built, and where the companies I am building were always meant to land.
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<li><strong>I am not moving to Los Angeles for the lifestyle.</strong>
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<li>I am moving there because <strong>that is where the work is,</strong> and I have already done the groundwork.
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<div><strong>What I do not have is the money to ship my life across an ocean and a continent; or the fees to finalize my 6-year-old son's documentation. As well as wiggle room for emergencies. </strong>
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<div>I am a US-born national.
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<div>He is Dutch.
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<div>Getting him properly documented for this move has been its own battle, including fighting ''Father Time'’ for my son’s passport renewal with less than two weeks to go.
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<div><strong>I want to give a special thank you to Honorable Govenor Ajamu Baly, the Govenors Office passport team, and Ms. M.C who called me at 8 at night after hearing my struggles and jumped in to assist. </strong>
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<div><strong>Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.</strong>
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<div>These individuals handled my case with the utmost respect and speed. The passport was filed and issues on the 18th and we are awaiting it's arrival with many prayers that it arries before out flight on the 1st.
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<div><strong>Every single dollar of this campaign goes directly to logistics.</strong>
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<div>Not overhead.
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<div>Not lifestyle.
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<div>Getting our belongings from a Caribbean island to storage in the US while I build toward what comes next.
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<div><strong>Here is exactly where you come in and how your donations will be used:</strong>
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<li><strong>Ocean freight, Sint Maarten to Miami + flight baggage fees: </strong>$800-$1,500
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<li><strong>Cross-country freight, Miami to US storage:</strong> $2,000 to $3,500
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<li><strong>Climate-controlled storage, 3 to 4 months: </strong>$450 to $900
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<li><strong>Emergency National passport and government processing fees: </strong>$200 to $400
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<li><strong>USCIS Filing, Notaries, Temporary Custody fees and associated resettlement costs for my son: </strong>$1,900 to $2,500
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<li><strong>Packing materials and contingency: </strong>$300 to $500
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<div><strong>Goal: $7,500</strong>
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<div>If you can give $10, give $10.
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<div>If you cannot give, share this page. Sharing costs nothing and means everything.
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<div><strong>If you know anyone </strong>in the Caribbean shipping or international freight market, please send them my way.
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<div><strong>I am not waiting for perfect conditions.</strong>
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<div><strong>I am moving toward purpose.</strong>
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<div>Sint Maarten raised me.
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<div>Los Angeles is calling me.
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<div>Help me get there whole.
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<div>-- Glenicia
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<div>Founder, The Nourish Nook and IrateMind Media,
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Fund Glenicia’s and Liori’s Move to Build a New Future

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