Joseph Bernadel was born in Haiti, where he completed his primary and secondary schooling at the Institution St. Louis de Gonzague. He emigrated to the United States in 1975 and soon joined the United States Army. He retired as a Major from the US Military in 1997 after 22 years of worldwide sensitive military assignments, which included positions as Attache Militaire in Haiti and Mozambique. He is fluent in five languages: Creole, English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. Major Bernadel is the co-founder of Toussaint L'Ouverture High School for Arts & Social Justice in Delray Beach, Florida, a charter high school that opened in August 2001, serving Palm Beach County students of diverse backgrounds. He is the first person of Haitian ancestry to have opened a public school in the United States. In October 2002, the school launched Haiti Museum of Arts & Culture. The Museum honors the culture of the Haitian Diaspora and will serve as a repository of the oral traditions of the Haitian people in Delray Beach and surrounding communities. Mr. Bernadel serves as the the Chairman of the the Delray Beach Housing Authority and is the Chair of the Joseph Laurore Foundation. Mr. Bernadel was appointed by Govenor Bush to the Board of the Community Hospital Educational Counsel, a statewide organization and served on the State of Florida Materials Selection Committee for the Department of Education. He is a national trainer for the Anti-Defamation League of Palm Beach County, Florida, and the winner of the Toussaint L'Ouverture Distinguished Service Award in 2007. He was instrumental in having May declared Haitian Heritage Month as proclaimed by the Delray Beach City Council. Joe Bernadel holds the Bachelor of Science in Administration from the University of Hawaii and has completed his graduate studies at the University of Florida in Latin American and Caribbean Affairs. His current professional priorities are to build institutions honoring the presence and contributions of people of color in South Florida and to enhance their welfare through education, political advocacy, and economic opportunities.

Diane Allerdyce, Ph.D., is the CoFounder of Toussaint L'Ouverture High School for Arts & Social Justice in Delray Beach, Florida, where she serves as Chief Academic Officer. She is also an adjunct professor of humanities courses at Lynn University, where she has taught since 1985 and held administrative positions from 1991 until cofounding the charter school in 2001. She holds the Ph.D. in English from the University of Florida. Her M.A. and B.A. in English are from Florida Atlantic University. Diane is the author of a scholarly book about Anaïs Nin (University of Northern Illinois, 1998). She has published articles, essays, book reviews, and poems in local, national, and international journals, including the Florida-based publication Koneksyon Magazine. She is a frequent contributor to Lynn University’s literary magazine, Quest, and she has been a featured poet on the Unitarian Universalists Poets Cooperative web page. Her poetry chapbook, Whatever It Is I was Giving Up, won the 2007 Red Wheel Barrow Prize by Pudding House Publications. Dr. Allerdyce was trained as a poetry therapy facilitator by, and is currently the President of, the National Association for Poetry Therapy (NAPT). She is a National Trainer for the Classroom of difference Program of the anti-Defamation League and a board member of the La Gonave Development Corporation (GDC). Diane lives with her family in Delray Beach.