Nicole Joseph is the
founder of Ms Brafit - an initiative that deals with breast care, education,
retail services and consultancy. Supporting everything from medicine to
fashion, Nicole’s work traverses a massive spectrum of needs and provides solutions
to them. Here’s her story in her own words.
I am a fan of the outdoors and the ocean. I
also love good food and love spicy food. I am a huge fan of anything that says
home-made because that means it is an old family tradition or recipe and I love
meeting people.
I am the last of 6 children and grew up in a
small suburb in Trinidad and Tobago, going to school in the community where I
lived and enjoying the days of growing up with elder siblings, loads of
cousins, aunties, the extended family and a neighborhood that was very caring.
It was like the adage of the village raising the child - a close knit and
caring community.
I continue to wear many hats but my work
seems to always revolve around being a leader and a teacher, whilst it truly
also has social impact at the core. For example, after graduating from my alma
mater – St. Georges College, I found the need to return and teach voluntarily,
just my give back to the place that molded and shaped me alongside my family
and other communities. The best thing that could have happened to me as a young
woman growing up in Trinidad and Tobago, was the co-educational college
experience.
Learning from a very early time, how to
harmoniously dwell amongst the opposite gender yet not be sexually or
emotionally engaged and to be able to negotiate, broker and disagree but
respectfully. That was amazing….so anyway, yes then my career segued into
banking and in that area, I found the “teacher” in me being aroused very
frequently. And so did the organization,
as I was assigned to conduct/facilitate many leadership training programs for
new trainees for intake at the bank after every formal training module that was
run by the technology centre – ROYTEC, which is now a division of the local
university. I moved up the ranks in banking and enjoyed my 15 year career
immensely, especially when I had to create programs or develop product packages
for our clients. I spent many years in Business Development, Private Banking and
VIP Banking. All very specialized areas where we build relationships and
managed client’s needs!
Then during my tenure, I felt the need to
serve differently and to offer a more specialized and focused service to women
and to help develop the self esteem and confidence of women and girls, but more
than that. I felt that I need to offer
women solutions that would bring about more informed actions for their health,
lifestyle, well-being and family/community sense. I have always been passionate
about people and serving people.
Let me share something about the genesis of
the name “Brafit” for my company. Brathwaite or Braithwaite is a very popular
Caribbean name and it is pronounced “Brafit”. So, I took some poetic license
and used a household name to become a household brand akin to women of the
Caribbean and by extension the world! We are a BRA FITTING company and we deal
with breast care, education, retail services and consultancy.
We have done lots of research over the years
within our work environment and we have developed a strong collection of very
viable protocols for breast health beyond the clinical aspect. We support
medical needs, fashion needs and educational needs. We have developed
programming and created systems for wider conversations on breast health beyond
the clinical needs of women. We have innovated in areas of breast health
research that focuses on women and girls to engage conversations about
confidence, about comfort in the workplace, about comfort during exercise about
changes that the body may be subject to at many stages of the life of a woman.
But, Ms. Brafit came about somewhere in my
childhood to be the next path of my adult service, because at age 9, I was
already blessed with a fair share of breast tissue which made me an early
candidate for using a full-fledged adult sized bra. So my parents and my dear
Godmother, found the need to ensure that I always had a good and secure
foundation and this was absolutely the catalyst to my comfort and my confidence
growing up.
I cannot imagine my life any other way, but
to have always worn a good fitting and comfortable bra….thanks to these women
in my life who always ensured that I had great bras!
From my Godmother in the US to my auntie in
the UK, I was always “fortified” with a good hold and loads of back
support…..so today I can be assured that my good posture was part of the love
and attention that was brought to me and so I found this was a good focus for
my enterprise, whilst ensuring that we engaged in a strong educational, community
and social advocacy component to empower women. I am fully educated in my area
of work and have been certified in diverse areas that all sum up the needs for
girls and women with healthy breasts no matter what her situation, age or stage
of life.
Breasts are the first form of nourishment for
the newborn baby once there is no mother to child viral transmission. They also
define gender and most of all, they are the catalysts for many global
discussions from “free the nipple” campaigns to “breastfeeding in the
workplace” debates to “plastic surgery mishaps” to reality television shows, to
malpractice lawsuits and even down to transsexual surgery. Breasts are a global
topic that stretches beyond economics, beyond gender and way beyond even the
old civilizations. Look at ancient art and sculptures, read mythology, and then
watch an awards show, with all the red carpet models. What do we see? Boobies! Everywhere!
But then, we also have to delve into the
psychology of breasts, who dictates what is the perfect pair, the perfect size,
the perfect mound and who names them??? Boobies, boobs, knockers and all the
rest! We are often forced to dislike our bodies by the way the breasts are
glorified. We forget the importance of a self-breast examination but would pay
tons for a push up bra. We would wear tight shoes but complain that breast
screening (if necessary for some) is not comfortable! So the debates are
extensive but girls are also forced into sexual dysfunction because they do not
accept their bodies and their breasts. Women are objectified by the size of their
breasts. It is a very long conversation
The education and advocacy programming that
Ms. Brafit have developed engages discussion for girls and women in diverse
settings (corporate, health, fashion, developing teens, maternity)
understanding that there are diverse needs for each woman and she must take
full responsibility for her comfort and her self-care, where it is possible,
professionals like Ms Brafit has engineered professional solutions for women
and girls and to support the medical and clinical communities.
Our policy development allows women to
understand they can and should engage discussion for post-surgical care needs
and to educate women on solutions-oriented ways of addressing medical and
clinical needs – our reach with this needs to expand, but it has already been
very effective.
Our Treatment Companion Medical Journal was
designed for women to take full charge of their health care way beyond a
diagnosis and to keep a comprehensive medical personalized medical records
system that would allow her to make health decisions with confidence,
understanding that she has all her personal details as a fully accessible
personal catalogue designed just for her needs.
We are still doing huge research and
development and we continue to add value to women’s lifestyle as a key
component of our Social Enterprise
I believe in hugs. It is the only currency
that has a similar exchange rate: You Give ONE You Get ONE!
