The TPOT STORY
The Pride of Tobago (TPOT) Foundation was sparked from one deeply rooted Tobago family’s initiative to use the “collective pause” created by the pandemic to inspire and support its next generation of mostly creatives in starting down the path of entrepreneurship.
“Catch The Wave”
Out of this family collaboration was born Catch The Wave Solutions, Inc. (CTW) ,which was designed to support struggling Tobago businesses (especially tourism businesses) in finding opportunity and prosperity out of the devastation brought on by the pandemic. Quoting one of her Bishop’s High School classmates, TPOT and CTW Co-Founder, Corelli, preaches the mantra “Never let a good crisis go to waste”, which has become one of the calling cards of Catch The Wave Solutions and The Pride of Tobago Foundation.
Uncovering The Hidden Talents of Tobago
The more CTW worked in the Tobago business community to help businesses rebound, the more we discovered incredible talents hidden in plain sight, on the brink of despair with no productive outlets for their talents. So, two of the Lyons sisters, Corelli and Arlene, decided to take on the challenge to help transform our beautiful island of Tobago into a thriving entrepreneurial economy – one person, one entrepreneur, one heartbeat at a time!
TPOT’s Origin
It was serendipity that one of TPOT’s founders, Corelli, for fifteen (15) long years had been holding on to a registration for a non-profit organization with the name “TPOT Indigenous Foundation”. Once purpose met passion, the name of the foundation emerged very naturally when the other TPOT Co-Founder Corelli’s youngest sister, Arlene, instinctively rolled off of her tongue the perfect meaning for the 15-year-old registered name “TPOT” – The Pride of Tobago!
The Teapot Connection
TPOT has significance not just in words but in the imagery of a classic teapot. For the Lyons family, a teapot was a symbol of family unity and community. A Lyons family ritual was to have all six girls join our Mommy and Daddy for supper each evening at 6PM sharp with a beautiful teapot as the centerpiece from which we all poured our tea as we ate and talked about everything from politics to community service.
A Family Tradition of Service
In retrospect it’s easy to see how two Lyons sisters are following in their parents’ footsteps by dedicating their lives to mentorship, empowerment, training and development to assist average and disadvantaged young people in fulfilling their maximum potential. As well-respected primary school teachers and school principals, both our parents went way above and beyond the call of duty to coach, mentor, and build self-esteem in the hundreds of students they touched.
So too Corelli has mentored hundreds of young people in Trinidad and Tobago during her 30+ years in banking and community service, and Arlene has likewise mentored and trained hundreds of young creative talents pursuing their dreams in the beauty industry in the US.
And now with the support of all generations of the Lyons family and dozens of other like-minded visionaries in Tobago, Trinidad, and across the diaspora, a new chapter of the TPOT Story is about to unfold. And the heroes of the story will be the resilient and resourceful people of Tobago.