Wynnie Lamour-Quansah

Wynnie’s Story

Immediately following the earthquake of 2010 that devastated many parts of Haiti, Wynnie Lamour (a Brooklyn-based Educator & Linguist) was looking for a way to help her home country. Not wanting to follow the path of typical (and often unproductive) post-catastrophe relief efforts, Wynnie decided instead to fall back on her training as a linguist and native Kreyòl speaker. That year, she conducted several community workshops in Brooklyn and Manhattan that focused on teaching Haitian Creole to those who were interested in genuinely engaging with Haitian people. The workshops turned into more long-term classroom sessions and increasing private lessons with people who were interested in Haiti for a wide variety of reasons. After several years of being the go-to person in the New York City area for learning Haitian Creole, Ms. Lamour decided that it was about time that the Haitian Creole language had a dedicated space of its own. In the Fall of 2013, Wynnie founded the Haitian Creole Language Institute of New York and the rest is history! Since that time, HCLI has provided full-length courses in Haitian Creole along with a wide array of other language-related services, such as dialect coaching, translation & interpretation, voiceovers, and much more! Wynnie and her staff have continued to provide a space in which the Haitian Creole language is celebrated and uplifted in a way that reclaims the power of all aspects of Haiti and its people.

Wynnie is an Educator with a focus on Language & Communication. Wynnie has a BA in Linguistics from Cornell University and an MA in Urban Affairs from CUNY Queens College. Both degrees have allowed her a flexibility to blend effortlessly into many different sectors. Wynnie’s philosophy of teaching is rooted in the idea of “Mindfulness”, which promotes community and connectedness, while establishing a sense of pride and respect for both the Haitian language and culture. Wynnie’s work includes a translation of an excerpt of the Franketienne novel “Dezafi” published May 2013 by Transition Magazine (Issue 111 “New Narratives of Haiti”), a publication of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University. Most recently she has presented a workshop titled “#ReHumanizingHaiti or The Role of Technology and Social Media in Language Activism/Advocacy for Historically Undervalued Languages” at the Annual WikiConference in San Diego, California.