YoPro delivered a Carnival experience to Trinidad and Tobago’s young professionals, beyond fetes and mas, to help in their careers and professional lives

The Avenue is always abuzz with excitement but on Thursday 22nd January, YoPro added something extra with its event: ‘The Business of Carnival’.  Hosted at hotspot on the Avenue, Nuvosera, a great atmosphere was created as curious young professionals were put in the same forum with icons in Carnival, for the opportunity to interact and network.   Recognizing the abundance of talent and entrepreneurial spirit that exudes from young persons in Trinidad and Tobago, YoPro decided to celebrate this and foster it through this very engaging event. 

Guests heard from key influencers in the Business of Carnival and were able to take away essential advice.  The event’s feature speakers were music producer Carl ‘Beaver’ Henderson and music artiste Lyrikal.    Carl Henderson provided valuable perspectives on the hard work and dedication that is required to remain relevant in the Carnival Business and he also brought to light that there is a lot of opportunity within the Business that is Carnival, one of, if not Trinidad and Tobago’s largest export products.   Lyrikal spoke on the importance of finding your talent, practicing and developing it and standing firm in believing in your dreams even when others are doubtful.  Both speakers shared these best practices and lessons learnt with a very appreciative crowd.  

If you’ve been to a YoPro event, the one thing that you know you can expect is a fun and unique networking exercise and the YoPro team didn’t disappoint.  Guests were paired up to create teams of ‘Mas & Music’ and were given several fun activities to complete including sharing some of their experience on social media.   Event sponsors USHARE made this possible with their photo booth which allowed guests to do instant posts of the fun they were having on the night.  Also on board at the event was the Mermaid Designs team and guests took the opportunity to purchase their unique Monday wear and Carnival accessories at the event.  

Other key sponsors who were present at the event include Beacon Insurance and Flagship sponsor NEDCO.  Beacon Insurance kept the excitement going with their infectious ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ promotion where guests had the opportunity to win great prizes. Lucky patrons left very happy with several prizes including mas and j’ouvert costumes from Harts, Kallicharan Carnival and Generation Lion amongst other prizes.  But the undisputed highlight of the night was the pore-raising moment when Lyrikal surprised the guests by singing a bit of his 2k15 hit ‘Cloud 9’ in an a cappella version with the crowd joining in and singing out the lyrics.

YoPro’s Director of Communities Brett Torina encapsulated the night by saying “Great information sharing and memorable networking experiences, this is the YoPro purpose and this is what we delivered tonight. I encourage anyone who hasn’t had the YoPro experience as yet to come out to our upcoming events in 2015 because we are seeing the real benefits that people are grabbing hold of at each YoPro engagement.   These are invaluable opportunities that no one should miss out on.”    

For more information about YoPro and upcoming events, check out the YoPro Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/yoprott, or by contact Brett and Ty at 362-3945.

Membership is free at www.yoproglobal.org. For more information, please visit www.eypglobal.com, the official website of The Community Project, or email admin@yoproglobal.org

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About YoPro Global: YoPro Global is a global, social impact community powered by a social network for graduates and young professionals just leaving school throughout their first 20 years of their professional career. Established in March, 2012, YoPro provides tools, information and resources ranging from individuals to network with, content, workshops and products and services members can avail of, as they establish themselves in the workforce and grow into seasoned professionals. YoPro currently has members on over 20 countries and plans to expand to over 80 by 2016. Membership is free. For more information and to sign up, please visit www.yoproglobal.org.