Twenty-four-year-old powerhouse Jénine Shepherd has earned recognition as the Best Youth Leader of the Year in Education, Art & Culture in the 2nd Annual Anthem Awards. She was honoured for her work spearheading the multinational award-winning NGO, Youths For Excellence Limited.
The non-governmental organisation currently serves seven Caribbean countries, inclusive of Barbados. The US Youths For Excellence joins other honourees like Lil Nas X, Planned Parenthood, Rihanna’s Clara Lionel Foundation, Michelle Obama’s When We All Vote, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, March for Our Lives, Etsy, Oprah Winfrey Network and so many other powerful game changers.
This honour comes hot on the heels of her receiving the Diana Award in 2021 from Princess Diana’s Estate which is the most prestigious award a young person can receive for social action and humanitarian work and the Prime Minister’s Youth Award for Excellence in the category of Nation Building in 2018 from the Government of Jamaica.
In 2021, she was also listed among the Caribbean’s Under 30 Changemakers. In 2022, the UK Based NGO, the Roy Anthony Reid Foundation, recognised her for Outstanding Academic Achievement and Citizenship.
Shepherd has been able to balance running her NGO with her academics, as she recently graduated from Amherst College with her Bachelors in Neuroscience and Economics after being awarded a full scholarship. (PR)
