An Honorary Member of the Saint Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association (SLHTA), being officially inducted in July of 2011 under the presidency of Mrs. Karolin Troubetzkoy. Chef Harry has contributed tremendously to the Saint Lucia Hotel & Tourism Association (SLHTA) and by extension the tourism sector in Saint Lucia. He was renowned for his exceptional culinary skills and was the owner of one of Saint Lucia’s Tourist Mecca for fine and scrumptious cuisine, the Green Parrot Hotel located at Morne Fortune Castries.
Chef Harry, for which he was mostly known, was born on April 19th 1936 at Victoria Hospital and lived on Jeremie Street, next to the Castries Market before the Castries Fire of June 19th 1948.
As a young man, Chef decided to travel to Barbados in search of work, there he met his friend who worked at Rodney Beach Hotel and decided to apply for a job. He was then offered a job in Barbados at the Rodney Beach Hotel as a “Pantry Boy” according to Chef Harry, doing coffee and afternoon tea. He then left and traveled to London in search of a better opportunity and got a job where he learned Gourmet and A La Carte menus.
In Saint Lucia, Chef Harry has personally trained many chefs in the industry and has also given many scholarships to underprivileged children, and in his own words saying that “They just need a little care”. Chef Harry also created many signature dishes in his creole restaurant such as the Soup Jook Fooya (meaning two together making love), Soup Ah La La and Steak Cokeoko (When the chickens make love).
Positions held Awards and/or Certificates received:
- Recipient of the “Hall of Fame” Award from the Ministry of Tourism – St. Lucia for his sterling contribution to the local Tourism Industry
- Honorary Member of the Saint Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association
- Lifetime Achievement Award the for Entrepreneurial and Private Excellence (SLISBA)
- Member of the British Empire
- Member of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association
- Recipient of the Paul Harris Fellowship Award from the Rotary Club of St. Lucia
- Holder of the St. Lucia Silver Medal of Merit
- Awarded the Cultural Doctorate in the category of Tourism Development from the World University Roundtable
- Achieved the Cordon Bleu Standard in exotic European Cuisine
- Graduate of Westminster College in London England
- Master (Head) Chef at Claridges Hotel
Eileen Paul has had a long and varied career spanning over fifty years. She has been a teacher, employed in Commerce, at a Statutory Board and the St. Lucia Civil Service. She later qualified as a Certified Teacher of Speedwriting Shorthand, and between 1984 and 1989 taught Secretarial Practice part time at the National Secretarial Institute, which turned out a cadre of secretaries who have moved on to higher positions in the commercial and corporate sectors and even their own businesses.
But Eileen Paul is best known for her work in the field of Tourism and Hospitality.
She entered this field at a time when tourism was neither understood nor accepted by the general public nevertheless she worked tirelessly at the St. Lucia Hotel & Tourism Association to facilitate its acceptance contributing in no small part to the high profile which it enjoys today.
She recalls that in 1973 when she joined the Hotel Association (as it was known then) membership consisted of six hotels and seven restaurants. The Association had no functioning office and her office accommodation consisted of a desk at the St. Lucia Tourist Bureau on Jeremie Street.
This temporary office arrangement continued until 1976 when Bernd Ludwig the then President decided that the Association should maintain its own identity and offered office space rent free in the Steigenberger Cariblue Hotel (now the Body Holiday at LeSport) where he was General Manager. Two successive Presidents continued this trend which resulted in the Association’s offices moving to Cunard La Toc Hotel and Halcyon Beach Club then back to sharing office space within the St. Lucia Tourist Board in the newly built Duty Free Pointe Seraphine. It was not until 1990 that the Association finally rented its own offices at the American Drywall Building.
She notes that Peter Bergasse then Chairman of the St. Lucia Tourist Board played a pivotal role in charting a new course for the industry and found willing partners in successive Presidents of the Hotel Association. Membership increased and by 1988 the Association was forced to agree to a name change to reflect the diversity of its membership, thereby the St. Lucia Hotel & Tourism Association was born.
As the lone employee of the Association for 14 years, she worked tirelessly and gave yeoman service. In addition to her duties as Secretary of the Association she was also the Secretary to the Board of Directors. She served as travelling Stenographer to the Eastern Caribbean Tourism Association (ECTA) from 1973 for 2 years and in 1977 was a founding member of the Caribbean Society of Hotel Association Executives. (CSHAE)
Looking back she believes that a Job Description would not have adequately mapped out the various strategies and challenges that confronted the Association then, and on many occasions she had to forgo annual vacation because of these complexities. She attended various overseas promotions, training programmes and leadership conferences and helped to introduce gala events as fund raising initiatives to supplement membership subscriptions in order to introduce new projects for the Association. To this end she successfully completed a Professional Certificate Course in Event Management from the George Washington University.
Never one to pass up an opportunity to render public service, she has served on various committees including the Work Permit Committee, Action Aqua Committee the National Hospitality & Service Awards Committee, Ste Lisi Par Excellence Committee, The St. Lucia Jazz Executive Committee, Carnival Development Committee, The St. Lucia Rural Development Committee.
She joined the St. Lucia Crisis Centre and at one time chaired the Education Committee She was a founding member of the National Secretaries Association and answered the call to be part of the National Volunteer Programme.
She is currently the Chairperson of the Fund Raising Committee of the Le Pavilon Royal Museum, Treasurer of the St. Lucia Floral Cooperative Society, a member of the Events Advisory Committee of the SLHTA, and sits on the Advisory Committee of the Caribbean Institute of International Hospitality Management & Culinary Arts. She also finds the time to attend rehearsals and sing with the Evergreen Singers.
She is gratified that today the St Lucia Hotel & Tourism Association with a membership of over 200 members has become the voice of the hospitality industry, particularly in the area of advocacy and in 2010 the Board of Directors unanimously agreed to name the Boardroom in her honour.
Eileen Paul has received Awards and Citations and been presented with the:
- Professional Service Award 1994 Professional Secretaries Association
- Lifetime Achievement Award 1997 Ministry of Tourism
- Certificate of Appreciation 2004 Mount Saint Vincent University
- Dedicated Service Award 2005 Saint Lucia Hotel & Tourism Association Inc
- Member of the British Empire 2007 Queen’s Birthday Honours
- Honorary Member of the SLHTA 2010 Saint Lucia Hotel & Tourism Association Inc
- Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal 2012 Office of the Governor General
A hotelier, restaurant owner, cultural activist and community action person, Mr. Powlette has given yeoman service to the SLHTA in his capacity as Member of the Board of Directors, Chairman of the SLHTA Training Committee and Chairman of the MISS SLHTA Pageant Committee.
Mr. Powlette continues to contribute to the community of Vieux Fort through his membership in several community groups and service organisations which include the Southern Tourism Development Corporation which he served as a Director from its inception in 1992 to 1999; the Saint Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association, serving as a Director for a total of twenty-one years; the Vieux Fort Town Council for six years. He was an Executive member of the Friends of St. Jude Hospital, the founder of the Southern Arts Society, the President of the Saint Lucia Red Cross Society – Southern Division; a former Chairman of the Vieux Fort Carnival Committee and President of the Black Bay Residents Association.
For long standing contribution to Community Development, Mr. Emmanuel Kingsley Powlette was awarded the Saint Lucia Les Pitons Medal (Bronze) in 2016.
Mr. Powlette thought nothing of undertaking weekly trips from Vieux Fort to Castries to the SLHTA office to attend meetings and ensure that his committees fulfilled its mandate. His community activities are well documented having been involved with the Carnival Committee in the South, the Southern Tourism Development Committee, and the Disaster Preparedness Committee.
Part write up by: Jerry George
Nina Compton is a native of Saint Lucia and the daughter of Sir John and Lady Janice Compton. She is a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America (2001) in Hyde Park and Nina began her professional journey at Daniel in New York City, working and learning alongside Daniel Boulud and Alex Lee.
After moving to Miami, she had the privilege of working alongside South Florida’s top toques including Norman Van Aken at Norman’s and Philippe Ruiz at Palme d’Or. Eventually, Chef Compton was recruited to Casa Casuarina (The former Versace Mansion), a private club and intimate boutique hotel in Miami Beach where she rose from Sous Chef to Executive Chef of the exclusive, highly-acclaimed restaurant.
The excitement behind the renovation of the famed Fontainebleau Miami Beach in 2008, combined with the chance to work with Scott Conant at Scarpetta, lured Chef Compton to the iconic property where she joined the pre-opening team as Sous Chef. For over three years she continued to excel as a chef, becoming a key member of Scarpetta’s culinary team. Chef Compton took over the lead role in the Scarpetta kitchen in April 2012, introducing new items to the menu while maintaining the restaurant’s high standards and four star rating.”Nina Compton’s rise to the helm of Scarpetta at Fontainebleau was a natural decision.
Nina placed in the top two of Top Chef Season eleven and won fan favourite.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chefninacompton
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nina_compton
Instagram: http://instagram.com/ninacompton
As a musician, producer, arranger, composer and performer, Ronald “Boo” Hinkson has been making sweet music in his homeland ‘Simply Beautiful’ St. Lucia for more than three decades. His mother was instrumental in his early musical development having taught him to play the guitar. Growing up as an island boy, listening to jazz, provided the background for fusing jazz with Caribbean rhythms evidenced by his approach to music. His unique styling on the guitar moves from one musical genre to another with consummate ease.
Hinkson formed the well-known Tru Tones in the 60s comprising his brothers and friends. The group had a following much like the Beatles in the UK in their time. The group recorded its first album in the 70s. The group recorded a total of five albums and six singles including, “Burning Eyes,” “Hungry Belly,” and a remake of Hot Chocolates “Sexy Thing.”
When the group broke up, Hinkson continued performing as a solo artist. In the process he set up his own session bands and began leaning towards Jazz music. His first solo CD, Alive and Well was released in 1995, containing a blend of Jazz with a Caribbean and R&B twist. Recently he released a Calypso album featuring both Trinidadian and St. Lucian artists. He has written songs for both himself and others. These include Reggae, Calypso, Soca, R&B and Blues. One of his reggae songs made it on the British reggae charts in 1998.
Among countries he has toured extensively are: Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. Frequent performances at the Caribbean’s Jazz Festivals have made him a household name throughout the region.
Hinkson has opened for guitar greats such as George Benson and Kenny Burell
Check out his Website: http://www.boohinkson.lc/
