May Constituent of the Month: Hazra Joanne Ali

HAZRA JOANNE ALI

President, New Hope and Beyond, Inc.

Hazra a Trinidadian American, founded her own small business New Hope and Beyond, Inc., a real estate investment company that deals primarily but not exclusively with foreclosure properties in Brooklyn, in 2003. A former fashion model and a graduate of UWI – St Augustine, she is a licensed Pharmacist and practiced for several years in Trinidad and Tobago before migrating to New York. She worked as an Accounts Executive with Akzo-Nobel, a large international Pharmaceutical Company and later, the Swiss Biotech giant, Ares-Serono, where she managed sales and marketing for the Manhattan market. For 13 years she successfully united her education as a Pharmacist with the wealth of marketing training she received in the Biotech industry. Special events planning of Medical Seminars and Symposiums was a tool often employed by her to produce her marketing success.

Hazra volunteers her time and expertise to serve on the advisory boards of several not-for-profit organizations, media companies, government agencies and colleges that support the Caribbean community. She also serves on the Land Use Committee of Community Board 2. She is very active in local politics, and frequently serves on the strategy team and assists by organizing political fund raisers for candidates running for office.

Ms. Ali served as Director of Special Programming for New York, a position created by The Institute for Caribbean Studies of Washington, DC, with a mandate to lead the charge in celebration of the very first “June as Caribbean American Heritage Month” in 2006. She represented New York at the White house reception to commemorate the first Caribbean American Heritage month. She continues to assist in organizing annual events Celebrating June as Caribbean American Heritage Month, and is part of both the Brooklyn Borough President’s and the NY City Comptroller’s Caribbean American Heritage Committee. She currently serves as Secretary of the Executive Committee.

The recipient of numerous awards for her service and commitment to the community, Hazra has made numerous radio and television appearances, including on Brian Lehrer LIVE for a one-hour discussion on Trinidad & Tobago.

She is an alumna of Leadership New York (Coro 2004), a one-year program that was created in 1988 as an investment in a special group of New Yorkers who will guide and lead the City in the years to come. Each year forty dedicated and talented individuals with leadership potential are given a unique opportunity to broaden their knowledge about the city and to improve their ability to confront difficult and sensitive public policy issues.

Hazra loves home decorating, traveling to exotic countries and enjoys as a hobby making fine jewelry using gold, precious and semi precious stones.