Uploaded November 2022 | Updated September 2026, 4 hours ago
Yasmin Solitahe Odlum
"The Edge"
Yasmin Solitahe Odlum is a gender and development specialist with over 25 years in promoting women's rights and gender equality as an avid Afro-Caribbean feminist and regionalist committed to promoting racial and gender equity in the social, cultural, political and economic development of the Caribbean. Her advocacy began in Saint Lucia until she became a diplomat attached to the Embassy/Permanent Mission of Saint Lucia in Washington, DC. As Alternative Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), Ms. Odlum specialized in the areas of Juridical and Political Affairs, Hemispheric Security, Education and Culture; and Women and Gender.
For 8 years, she was an Alternate Delegate to the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM/OAS), and Saint Lucia’s first Expert to the Committee of Experts to the Follow-Up Mechanism to the Inter-American Convention to Punish, Eradicate and Protect Women against Violence (MESECVI). In 2007, Ms. Odlum became the first Caribbean Specialist to work with the CIM and leads its Caribbean portfolio to implement gender-based policies, plans, projects and programming in the region in Democracy, Integral Development, and Multidimensional Security; and to strengthen engagement with national and regional stakeholders to promote the Caribbean’s priorities and interests within the CIM.
Ms. Odlum holds an M.A. in English from the University of the West Indies; and as Warwick University’s Sir Shridath Ramphal, Ulric Cross and Sir Hugh Springer Caribbean Scholar, she graduated (with merit) with an M.A. in Interdisciplinary Gender Studies. She has won national literary awards from Saint Lucia for her creative work in the print and broadcast media as an outspoken advocate for women and families. A former Vice President of Saint Lucia’s chapter of the Business and Professional Women’s Club and an associate member of the St. Lucia Association of Social Workers, Ms. Odlum also pioneered, produced and presented a provocative gender-focused program, SoulTalk, a popular weekly radio broadcast. In 2016, Ms. Odlum became co-author of: Running in Heels: Women and Politics in Saint Lucia: 1961-2016 which highlights women who were in the forefront of politics, governance and nation-building in Saint Lucia. A former media personality in Saint Lucia, she is a published poet, a columnist, an editor, a researcher and an author who is currently working on a collection of poetry to be released in the coming year.
Ending Slavery’s Legacy of Racism: The Imperative for Strengthening Justice and Resilience in Afro-Descendant Communities in the Americas
The Organization of American States (OAS), through its Art Museum of the Americas (AMA), and the Office of the OAS General Secretariat in Saint Lucia join forces with the Headphunk organization and artists of the Caribbean to relaunch the activities held to commemorate the Fourth Inter-American Week for People of African Descent in the Americas in 2021.
From November 1st to 17th, several Caribbean artists will be showcased by the Art Museum of the Americas. This program is exemplary of the museum’s mission to exhibit and study modern and contemporary art of OAS member states, as a culturally diplomatic instrument in promoting cultural exchange and advancing the OAS four pillars of democracy, human rights, security, and development.
The program will feature the work of Kendall Barthelmy, Fiona Compton, La Tasha N. Nevada Diggs, Quince Duncan, Chevy Eugene, Khadijah Halliday, Jason Haynes, Christian Kristof Joseph, Black Kalagan, Geena Mc Phee, Yasmin Solitahe Odlum, Kishma Serieux, and Gemma Weekes. They emphasized the importance of the topic “Ending Slavery’s Legacy of Racism: The Imperative for Strengthening Justice and Resilience in Afro-Descendant Communities in the Americas,” through their artistic contributions.
Similar to the current exhibition Afro-Caribbean Motifs of the Art Museum of the Americas Collection, this exhibition offers an artistic component to the OAS’s Plan of Action for the Decade of Afro-Descendants in the Americas (2016-2025), in recognizing the Victims of Slavery, and the struggle against racism.
OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro has applauded the initiative in favor of tolerance and cultural diversity in Saint Lucia, and the OAS Resident Representative, Lilly Ching-Soto has expressed her interest in the promotion of Saint Lucian artistic expressions. AMA’s Director, Adriana Ospina highlighted that the Museum strives for greater awareness and respect for diversity and cultures in all their richness and that AMA is pleased to serve as a platform for this collection of artistic voices of Saint Lucia.
Yasmin Solitahe Odlum
"The Edge"
Yasmin Solitahe Odlum is a gender and development specialist with over 25 years in promoting women's rights and gender equality as an avid Afro-Caribbean feminist and regionalist committed to promoting racial and gender equity in the social, cultural, political and economic development of the Caribbean. Her advocacy began in Saint Lucia until she became a diplomat attached to the Embassy/Permanent Mission of Saint Lucia in Washington, DC. As Alternative Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), Ms. Odlum specialized in the areas of Juridical and Political Affairs, Hemispheric Security, Education and Culture; and Women and Gender.
For 8 years, she was an Alternate Delegate to the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM/OAS), and Saint Lucia’s first Expert to the Committee of Experts to the Follow-Up Mechanism to the Inter-American Convention to Punish, Eradicate and Protect Women against Violence (MESECVI). In 2007, Ms. Odlum became the first Caribbean Specialist to work with the CIM and leads its Caribbean portfolio to implement gender-based policies, plans, projects and programming in the region in Democracy, Integral Development, and Multidimensional Security; and to strengthen engagement with national and regional stakeholders to promote the Caribbean’s priorities and interests within the CIM.
Ms. Odlum holds an M.A. in English from the University of the West Indies; and as Warwick University’s Sir Shridath Ramphal, Ulric Cross and Sir Hugh Springer Caribbean Scholar, she graduated (with merit) with an M.A. in Interdisciplinary Gender Studies. She has won national literary awards from Saint Lucia for her creative work in the print and broadcast media as an outspoken advocate for women and families. A former Vice President of Saint Lucia’s chapter of the Business and Professional Women’s Club and an associate member of the St. Lucia Association of Social Workers, Ms. Odlum also pioneered, produced and presented a provocative gender-focused program, SoulTalk, a popular weekly radio broadcast. In 2016, Ms. Odlum became co-author of: Running in Heels: Women and Politics in Saint Lucia: 1961-2016 which highlights women who were in the forefront of politics, governance and nation-building in Saint Lucia. A former media personality in Saint Lucia, she is a published poet, a columnist, an editor, a researcher and an author who is currently working on a collection of poetry to be released in the coming year.
Ending Slavery’s Legacy of Racism: The Imperative for Strengthening Justice and Resilience in Afro-Descendant Communities in the Americas
The Organization of American States (OAS), through its Art Museum of the Americas (AMA), and the Office of the OAS General Secretariat in Saint Lucia join forces with the Headphunk organization and artists of the Caribbean to relaunch the activities held to commemorate the Fourth Inter-American Week for People of African Descent in the Americas in 2021.
From November 1st to 17th, several Caribbean artists will be showcased by the Art Museum of the Americas. This program is exemplary of the museum’s mission to exhibit and study modern and contemporary art of OAS member states, as a culturally diplomatic instrument in promoting cultural exchange and advancing the OAS four pillars of democracy, human rights, security, and development.
The program will feature the work of Kendall Barthelmy, Fiona Compton, La Tasha N. Nevada Diggs, Quince Duncan, Chevy Eugene, Khadijah Halliday, Jason Haynes, Christian Kristof Joseph, Black Kalagan, Geena Mc Phee, Yasmin Solitahe Odlum, Kishma Serieux, and Gemma Weekes. They emphasized the importance of the topic “Ending Slavery’s Legacy of Racism: The Imperative for Strengthening Justice and Resilience in Afro-Descendant Communities in the Americas,” through their artistic contributions.
Similar to the current exhibition Afro-Caribbean Motifs of the Art Museum of the Americas Collection, this exhibition offers an artistic component to the OAS’s Plan of Action for the Decade of Afro-Descendants in the Americas (2016-2025), in recognizing the Victims of Slavery, and the struggle against racism.
OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro has applauded the initiative in favor of tolerance and cultural diversity in Saint Lucia, and the OAS Resident Representative, Lilly Ching-Soto has expressed her interest in the promotion of Saint Lucian artistic expressions. AMA’s Director, Adriana Ospina highlighted that the Museum strives for greater awareness and respect for diversity and cultures in all their richness and that AMA is pleased to serve as a platform for this collection of artistic voices of Saint Lucia.
