About Me
Cristal Elisabeth Niomie Legrand is a passionate serial entrepreneur, personal branding expert. business advisor, trainer, speaker, host and activist.
Her endeavors span a range of industries from
fashion, travel, media, and film to personal and
business development consulting along with
her women and children rights advocacy.
Founder
of her namesake enterprises, Le Grand Creatives,
Le Grand Solution, Le Grand Voyages, and her soon the be launched personal blog by Lady Le Grand.
An award-winning, Curacao-born, Sint Maarten-raised,
God-fearing businesswoman
Council Member
of the G100 Youth Leadership and Enterprise for
St. Marteen/St.Martin. Council Member of
Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry – USVI | Caribbean Chapter, and Chairwoman of the Entrepreneurship Division, were Cristal along with fellow council members envisions the development, competitiveness, and global impact of women
in the Caribbean region.
She is also a partner of the Caribbean Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Livelihoods (COESL) and Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) Caribbean.
Defined by Creativity
speaks to the very core of who Cristal is and is where her entrepreneurial journey started. From her early teens, Cristal was Ms. DIY (Do It Yourself), designing and selling handmade creations in her local community.
At the age of 30, with eyes set on the fashion industry, Cristal launched a line of tasteful, handmade statement jewelry called, Amanja Designer Accents.
Now rebranded
as Le Grand Creatives, Cristal focuses on creating unique. tailormade, grandeur designs, under the mantra “We Create Presence.”
In 2022, Cristal’s goal is to open,
Le Grand Creatives Studio & Boutique to showcase, inspire. train and enable the next generation of designers, crafters and creators in Sint Maarten.
fanning the flames
of her creativity is Cristal’s belief in people’s unlimited untapped potential. Fueled by this, in 2018, and funded by the EU’s COSME program, Cristal launched,
8 Acres of Diamonds.
This conference focused on highlighting the viable industries individuals and companies could explore to diversify their income portfolios. Cristal will continue this work through her talk show, 8 Infinite Diamonds, launching in September 2021.
in 2018
Cristal became one of the three certified independent Hospitality Assured Business Advisers in Sint Maarten for the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO).
She has since advised two hoteliers through the process of the CTO’s Hospitality Assured accreditation.
This advisory along with her full suite of business support services, consultations, training, and events targeted to helps entrepreneurs developed businesses from concept to commercialization to capitalism is offered through Le Grand Solution – Assess to Access.
Le Grand Voyages
is Cristal’s most recent venture with a mission is to reeducate travelers about unique multi-destination travel experiences in the Caribbean.
MSME stakeholders can leverage Le Grand Voyages’ international marketing initiatives to access new markets and grow their client base.
Cristal helps equip companies with solutions to enhancing their visitors’ satisfaction with tailored and authentic experiences that create lasting impressions while increasing their profitability.
The SSSAS Experience
is Le Grand Voyages award-winning business concept and inaugural initiative which focuses on highlighting St. Maarten’s unique positioning as the central hub for island-hopping experiences to the islands of Saba, Statia, Anguilla, St. Barths, and beyond.
Daily, this region seamlessly interconnects to its neighboring islands by boat, plane, or helicopter.
In addition, visitors are immersed in multicultural, multilingual, and multi-destination experiences, mixed with SSSAS’ Dutch, French and British influences and accented by its signature Caribbean flare.
In March 2019
at the Road to Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), Cristal pitched Le Grand Voyages’ SSSAS Experience business concept at Present Your Startup Caribbean
and was announced the winner after a three-day accelerator and two-round pitch competition.
She has since promoted Le Grand Voyages at
PYS New York, Venture Café Miami, Build Back Better, SMILE, SMART, Vakantiebeurs 2020 and was a
speaker on the “Resilient Islands” panel at
Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2019 in
the Hague, Netherlands.
In 2021
the Managing Director of the Caribbean Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Livelihoods (COESL),
Dr. Marcia Brandon and GEN Caribbean appointed Cristal as the Chief Implementation Manager for the Entrepreneurship World Cup Caribbean and
National Host of EWC St. Martin.
EWC is a global pitch competition that provides access to virtual training and mentorship as well as a broad range of perks and in-kind support to help
any entrepreneur at all stages, everywhere
to start and scale their businesses.
The EWC Caribbean
organizing team was able to mobilize 17 of the 26 islands in the Caribbean to host national competitions and hosted the EWC’s first Caribbean Regional finals, where the winner secured a guaranteed slot in the
EWC Global Top 100 Finals competition in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in November 2021.
Cristal will represent the team and join the delegation from the Caribbean in Saudi Arabia while also attending the GEN’s Global Entrepreneurship Congress 2021
Through every endeavor
Cristal has devoted her focus to developing sustainable socioeconomic growth initiatives, accessible especially, to the economically disadvantaged,
socially marginalized citizens and MSMEs in
Small Island Developing States (SIDs)
in the Caribbean region.