Christopher Brazela

The child of Haitian immigrants, Christopher Brazela watched his parents struggle to support their family by working overnight jobs. When he graduated from North Miami Beach Senior High School and entered the Honors College at FIU, he knew he wanted to make his parents proud. He never imagined, however, that he would spend his last semester ofcollege in Washington, D.C., as a project intern at the U.S. Department of Commerce. There, he works on efforts to help small business owners, particularly minority entrepreneurs, succeed.

At FIU, Christopher was active as a Student Ambassador and represented the Honors College in talks with human rights organizations about the plight of international students. In 2021, when FIU received a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Community Navigator Pilot Program, he launched a congressional outreach to ensure that South Florida representatives would promote the grant program, creating jobs for their constituents.

Upon the death of his father two years ago, Christopher turned to a supportive family and FIU community to help him cope. He vowed to work even harder to help others achieve the American Dream ― an achievement that was cut short for his father. Today, he hopes to combine what he has learned in information technology with his minor in business administration to continue helping Miami-Dade County’s small businesses, whether he works ingovernment or in the private sector.

By Elizabeth Calzadilla
Director, Communications and Marketing
College of Engineering and Computing