Stéphane Gilles

Stéphane Gilles was born on March 20, 1981, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the son of Colonel Emmanuel Gilles, MD and Marie Thérèse Gilles, RN. Mr. Gilles grew up in the city of Delmas, where he attended the Institution Saint-Louis de Gonzague, a Roman Catholic school, from the first to the sixth grade. In 1993, he moved to West Palm Beach, Florida, where he graduated from Cardinal Newman High School, a private Catholic coeducational secondary school. Mr. Gilles continued his studies at Palm Beach State College, and at Florida Atlantic University where he majored in Finance.

While pursuing his finance degree, Mr. Gilles began his first entrepreneurial endeavor. Leveraging his talents as a keyboardist, he launched a career as a professional musician in the Haitian music industry, which led to a variety of roles including band manager, band owner, and music producer. As the founder of a band named Groov’La he gained massive recognition for his musical talent and discipline that would propel him to become a high demand music figure within the Haitian community.

In collaboration with four other partners, Mr. Gilles founded and became Vice-President of Mercury International Group, Inc., a marketing and holding company based in Margate, Florida. At the helm of the company, he oversaw multiple entities, including KompaTV, Mercury Property Holdings, and Mercury Entertainment Group.

Broadcasted in South Florida, KompaTV produced a popular weekly TV show, released several nationally distributed Kompa albums and promoted large music festivals. Mercury Property Holdings included a portfolio of section 8 rental and lease-to-own properties, as well as new home construction that Mr. Gilles was instrumental in planning, developing and executing. Mr. Gilles also negotiated an exclusive national distribution contract with Koch Entertainment, which was met with much success and helped launch the debut DVD for current MTV personality Lil Duval and a well-received French Caribbean compilation album, “It Must Be the Heat”, that sold prolifically in the international market.

Building on recognition gained from his exposure to the Haitian entertainment industry, at the age of 24, Mr. Gilles became the business manager, as well as instrumentalist of the group Sweet Micky. While in this role, he earned the trust and respect of the band’s founder, Michel Martelly, which would later thrust him into his true calling of serving his native land of Haiti.

In 2011, Mr. Gilles was appointed Consul at the Consulate General of the Republic of Haiti in Miami. During that time, he also served as a Special Advisor to Haiti’s Minister of Diaspora, and as with his previous business endeavors, his natural leadership skills, charisma, and dedication to the Haitian community afforded him the honor of becoming Chief of Mission of the Consulate General of the Republic of Haiti in Miami at the age of 33. Enjoying the challenges and the satisfaction of making a difference in this realm, Mr. Gilles aspires to continue a life in politics as a means to help Haiti and his long term aspirations include inspiring other Haitians to re-connect with their homeland, in an effort to build a stronger nation one step at a time.