Karin Refos

Karin Refos
Refos at TEDxParamariboWomen, 2015
Born
Karin B. Refos

1958
NationalitySuriname

Karin B. Refos (born 1958) is a Surinamese former model, entrepreneur, and public speaker on child welfare and women's rights. She founded the brand consultancy STAS International.

Career

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Modeling and music

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Refos' father, Ewald "Slim" Refos, was director of the mining company Suralco and president of the Surinamese Football Association. Her brother Erik Refos became a musician.[1]

Refos participated in the 1978 Miss Suriname pageant. She was the second runner-up, with Peggy Ann von Stein as first runner-up and Garance Rustwijk as the title winner. The newspaper De Vrije Stem described Refos as "a personality that was very much the favorite of the room".[2] In that same year, she co-founded the SuriPop music festival. The first edition took place in Theater Thalia in Paramaribo.[3]

In 2006, Refos and Jörgen Raymann set up the National Folk Music School, recruiting prominent music teachers and sponsors. The school initially operated out of the Grote Pastorie building in Paramaribo.[4][5] From 2006 to 2017, she was chairman of the school.[6][7]

Business

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In the eighties, Refos lived in Amsterdam. She was the representative of a skincare brand for women with dark skin, and taught courses for cosmeticians.[8][9] She then moved to Oranjestad, Aruba in the early 1990s. As of 1993, she was an instructor for knowledge development courses offered to government employees.[10]

While living in Oranjestad, Refos founded STAS Caribe around 1994. One of the company's first projects was with the Aruba Trade & Industry Association (ATIA), where Refos organised programs to encourage remigration of Arubans from the Netherlands.[11] In Paramaribo, she established STAS International with divisions of brand positioning, management, public relations, and events.[12] Through STAS, she was an advisor for Paramaribo's "City of Smiles" tourism campaign (2010)[13] and for the new logo of the Central Bank of Suriname (2015).[14]

In 2016, Refos received the "Communicator of Suriname" Award from the Suriname Centre for Communication & PR.[15]

Public work

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While leading STAS, Refos began working on issues of child welfare and women's rights.[16]

Children Visibly Safe

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In 2008, Refos became chairman of the Media Board for Children's Rights and led the national campaign Children Visibly Safe. In the preceding years, figures for child abuse had risen dramatically. In response, the board asked media houses to refuse offensive advertisements, video clips, and songs.[17][18] In 2014, she designed the billboards and logo for the promotional campaign of the Child's Rights Office, which is part of the Ministry of Social Affairs.[19]

Pink Ribbon

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Around 2010, Refos was diagnosed with breast cancer. After recovering, she founded the Pink Ribbon Suriname Foundation in January 2012 to raise awareness of the disease. Her campaign included former boxing champion and actress Lucia Rijker.[16] The foundation has continued to organise events, including a Pink Ribbonloop throughout the country.[20][21] Refos later stepped down as the leader of the foundation, but was named honorary President.[22]

Women in politics

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Together with Carla Bakboord, Betty Cederboom, and Nadia Raveles, Refos founded the Women's Rights Centre (WRC) Foundation on 27 January 1997.[23]

When Refos was on a trade mission to Indonesia in 2013,[24] she discovered that there were no women between the 21 members and alternate members of the Board of the Chamber of Commerce and Factories (KKF). To change this, she decided to participate in the KKF elections of December 2015.[25] She denounced a 1962 bylaw that reserved day-to-day administration for the senior members, effectively excluding young members.[26] Refos filed her own list of candidates for Other Trade and Intermediaries, one of the eight branches of the Chamber.[27] Her list consisted of four female and four male candidates.[28] However, the competing list of Rashied Doekhi won by a large margin.[29]

Prior to the 2015 Surinamese general election, Refos organised the More Female Leadership campaign. Beginning in May 2014, her campaign consisted of the distribution of posters and the organization of debates between political leaders.[30][31] There were 80 female candidates for the National Assembly (DNA),[32] of whom 13 (25% of the Assembly) were eventually elected.[33] The new cabinet had 3 women.[34] Refos organised the Balance campaign for the 2020 elections to pursue gender parity in candidate lists.[35][36] Some parties did nominate such lists.[37] This time, 17 women entered the Assembly (33%)[38] and 6 women joined the new cabinet (35%).[36]

References

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  1. ^ De Ware Tijd, Ewald ‘Slim’ Refos, 7 November 2014
  2. ^ De Vrije Stem, Garance Rustwijk Miss Sur., 2 May 1978
  3. ^ Hendriks, Henk (30 November 2008). "Barometer van de maatschappij". Parbode (in Dutch). Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  4. ^ Starnieuws, Volksmuziekschool viert jubileum met Doe Theater, 17 February 2016
  5. ^ Werkgroep Caraïbische Letteren, Suriname 2015 NVMS special, 15 February 2017
  6. ^ Starnieuws, Muziekschool verzorgt daverend jubileumconcert, 20 March 2011
  7. ^ De Ware Tijd, Uitdagingen nieuw bestuur Volksmuziekschool, 7 December 2017
  8. ^ De waarheid, Tamarinde, 1 February 1984
  9. ^ Nieuw Israelietisch weekblad, Couleur Internationale, 5 September 1986
  10. ^ Amigoe, Cursus algemene ontwikkeling, 12 October 1993
  11. ^ Amigoe, ATIA steunt nieuw remigratie-project, 3 August 1994
  12. ^ STAS International, about stas
  13. ^ Starnieuws, Paramaribo, City Of Smiles, 12 February 2010
  14. ^ Dagblad Suriname, Na Centrale Bank wil Karin Refos ook huisstijl voor Suriname, 21 August 2015
  15. ^ Dagblad Suriname, Stemmingsronde Communicatie Award 2018 al gestart, 9 February 2018
  16. ^ a b Parbode, Lust & Leven: Karin Refos, 1 June 2012
  17. ^ Waterkant, Surinaamse kinderen moeten zichtbaar veilig worden, 21 November 2008
  18. ^ De Ware Tijd, Media moeten aanstootgevende producties weigeren, 20 June 2009
  19. ^ Starnieuws, Sozavo promoot billboards met kinderrechten, 10 April 2014
  20. ^ Dagblad Suriname, Pink Ribbonloop dit jaar in Commewijne, 14 February 2013
  21. ^ Starnieuws, Pink Ribbon loop Moengo vraagt aandacht borstkanker, 8 March 2014
  22. ^ Dagblad De West, Bewustwording over borstkanker blijft noodzaak, 13 June 2019
  23. ^ De Ware Tijd, ‘Ze heeft mij geleerd om een dyadya uma te zijn’, 2 July 2019
  24. ^ Projekta Suriname, De bezem door de Kamer van Koophandel, November 2015
  25. ^ Starnieuws, Karin Refos dient kandidatenlijst in voor lid KKF-bestuur, 31 October 2015
  26. ^ Starnieuws, Refos rekent op steun om KKF-gezicht te veranderen, 6 December 2015
  27. ^ De Ware Tijd, De Nationale Vrouwenbeweging (NVB) juicht het toe, 19 november 2015
  28. ^ Dagblad De West, KKF bestuur Refos moet genderevenwicht brengen, 30 november 2015
  29. ^ Dagblad De West, Lijst Rahid Doekhie wint KKF verkiezing branche B, 11 december 2015
  30. ^ Starnieuws, 'Ook Zij' bij de besluitvorming, 31 May 2014
  31. ^ Dagblad Suriname, Meer vrouwelijk leiderschap in 2015, 29 July 2014
  32. ^ Starnieuws, Refos: Waw, ruim 80 vrouwen gekandideerd voor DNA, 26 April 2015
  33. ^ Starnieuws, Dertien vrouwen gekozen in nieuw parlement, 7 June 2015
  34. ^ De Ware Tijd, Karin Refos is niet ontevreden met de drie vrouwen die in het ministersteam, 14 August 2015
  35. ^ Parbode, Meer evenwicht in de politiek met ‘Balans in 2020’, 12 May 2020
  36. ^ a b Dagblad Suriname, “Balans in 2020” tevreden met 35% vrouwen in Kabinet Santokhi- Brunswijk, 18 July 2020
  37. ^ Starnieuws, Refos blij met balans vrouwen en jongeren verkiezing 2020, 14 april 2020
  38. ^ De Ware Tijd, Het fundament is gelegd, 17 June 2020
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