Past Initiative Team Members

Akira Pickering-Haynes

Ms. Akira Pickering-Haynes (she/her/hers) is a born and raised Virgin Islands vocalist, national pageant queen and coach, and up and coming cosmetologist. She graduated from the Charlotte Amalie High School in 2019 where she was an active member of the Swans on the Lake female chorus group and Amalian Chapter of the National Honor Society. Her resume in the performing arts has taken her to the American Music and Drama Academy in New York City and has notably earned her the titles of U.S. Virgin Islands Talented Teen in 2015 and Miss Black U.S.A Talented Teen in 2018. 

Ms. Pickering-Haynes looks forward to facilitating engaging weekly vocal sessions with Positive Youth Development V.I. scholars interested in participating in interactive meetings focused on vocal technique, expression, and performance interpretation. As the new Vocal Instructor for Positive Youth Development V.I., she looks forward to using singing as a form of healthy self-expression to empower Virgin Islands youth to build confidence, discipline, and leadership skills. 

Kayla Rivers

Ms. Kayla Rivers (she/her/hers) is a proud born and raised Virgin Islander who is currently a senior at Seton Hall University where she excels in the Honors Program, her major of Anthropology and minors of International Relations and NonProfit Studies. In addition to her studies, she served various leadership positions in her school’s Student Government and facilitates diversity and inclusion workshops for students and faculty. She aspires to continue her studies acquiring a law degree. In her high school career at Peter Gruber International Academy, she was involved in various extracurricular activities, but especially enjoyed her performance arts experiences at the Pistarckle Theater and through her high school’s Arts Program learning poetry recitation, acting and an array of other arts skill sets.  

With passion, she takes on the role of Positive Youth Development VI’s Spoken Word Instructor, facilitating weekly engaging sessions on spoken word creation. It is her hope to help young scholars hone in on their artistic capabilities and view Spoken Word as an outlet for healthy self expression, connection with others and development of confidence. Moreover, she hopes to impress upon the young scholars the importance and power of their voice, celebrating their uniqueness and narrating their own stories.

Churon Bernier

Ms. Churon Micah Bernier (she/her/hers) is a born and raised Virgin Islands audio, video, media, and content creation professional. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Audio Production with a minor in Business and Entertainment from American University in 2019, where she served as the lead Video Editor for Academic Multimedia Services on campus. She has an extensive media portfolio as an intern at both The Brookings Institution and Studio Center in Washington D.C. creating and editing video, podcasting, and, voice audition audio content.

Currently she serves as the lead Content Creator at CEO Media, a boutique digital marketing agency out of Atlanta Georgia, as well as the new Video Media Editor for Positive Youth Development V.I. Churon looks forward to using her content creation skills to create engaging media and video content that best captures the talent and intelligence of our scholars.