About Us
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Cecile Ablack
FOUNDER & CEO
Cecile Ablack is the Founder & CEO of Camp Tobago, a programme developing Future Leaders for Tobago.
She is the first Tobagonian to graduate from Yale University, the first to serve as Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles, and the first to become an Associate Dean at Yale University, a role she held for ten years.
Cecile has been an Advisor to President Bill Clinton and other leaders of the G-8. She was Director of International Trade Public Affairs at the U.S. Commerce Department and led Global Strategy and Communications for the William Morris Agency, an international entertainment company.
As Deputy Mayor in one of the world’s most influential cities, she was responsible for reputation management for the City of Los Angeles — covering a metropolis of ten million people; a U.S. seven-billion-dollar budget; the fifth busiest airport in the world; the largest port in the U.S.; the largest municipal public utility in the U.S.; and thirty of the largest national populations outside their country of origin.
Cecile began her career in journalism and later worked in rural Jamaica, bringing information and resources to isolated communities — “the least paying, but best job I ever had.”
Her motto:
“Believe in yourself. Find your strength. Make good difference.” -
Robert Ablack
CHAIRMAN PRO TEM / REGIONAL COORDINATOR/TALENT ACQUISITION
Robert Ablack serves as Chairman (Pro Tem) and Regional Coordinator of Camp Tobago, a programme developing Future Leaders for Tobago.
Robert provides strategic leadership to the mandate of developing future leaders for Tobago. In this role, he directs outreach and operational engagement across all regions of the island - North, South, East, and West - drawing on his extensive knowledge of Tobago’s communities and her people.
Through his travels - meeting exceptional people, discovering hidden vistas, and witnessing Tobago’s natural beauty firsthand—Robert has assembled a powerful portfolio of images capturing the rhyme and rhythm of Tobago. His award-winning photography brings international recognition to our island - and helps showcase Tobago’s potential as an Eco-Tourism destination.
Robert is responsible for Camp Tobago’s Leadership Partners Programme. He has strong relationships with respected and accomplished Tobagonians - who are integral to Tobago’s growth - from fishing and farming, to hospitality and healthcare - to name just a few. These are the entrepreneurs, businesses, and organizations providing sustainable employment - and attendant productivity - for Tobago’s future.
Robert also oversees the Camp Tobago Youth Leadership Partners Outreach Programme, consulting with young professionals - already contributing to the future of our island - to support workforce readiness and leadership capacity among the next generation.
Robert brings to Camp Tobago his wealth of knowledge about Tobago and his many years of professional experience in industries including Tertiary Education, Tourism & Hospitality, Marketing, and Sales.
His motto:
“ It only seems impossible until it’s done” (Nelson Mandela)
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John Bishop
SUSTAINABILITY DIRECTOR
John Bishop is from Auchenskeoch, Tobago.
A Heroine From Parlatuvier
My name is Cecile Ablack. I am a proud Tobagonian and the Founder & CEO of Camp Tobago.
My mother -Theresa Carrington Ablack - was a Tobagonian. Mum's mother was a Tobagonian. My great aunties (and uncle) were Tobagonian. Their parents were Tobagonian. The story goes that my great grandmother was the libertine daughter of Scottish missionaries. She had three husbands and four children. A strong Tobago woman.
I am descended from a long line of strong Tobago woman with legacies of independence, enthusiasm, and an unshakeable spiritual belief that every individual - no matter their circumstance - has a strength - it might not be obvious but your strength is there and you have an obligation to: Find it. Use it. Do good.
My mother was born in Parlatuvier, Tobago to Alice and Sydney Carrington. Alice, a white Tobagonian, born to the daughter of Scottish missionary parents, and Sydney, a mixed-race Barbadian man, met each other on a bicycle. Sydney got lost as he was cycling to his teaching interview - and Alice hopped onto the handlebars to show him the way. She could have pointed. It was visible. The building was next to her grandparents' church.
Sadly, my mother never knew her parents. They emigrated when she was a baby, leaving her in the care of her great aunt, Constance Anderson.
Alice and Sydney left Tobago to forge a new identity. Attitudes had changed. It was dangerous for a white woman and a black man to be a family. My Grandmother, who had a perpetual Tobago tan to go with her clear blue eyes, entered on the ship manifest that she was “Coloured” so as not to be separated from her Black husband.
When my brother and sisters and I were growing up, Mummy or Auntie Connie (who technically was our Granny) would take us to where Mum’s navel string was buried under a plum tree in country. The visit was her only connection to her parents, and we could tell that she was very sad. But thirty minutes later - after we said a prayer together - she was over it. That was my strong Tobagonian mother… We'd then head for the beach, happily wearing the matchy matchy outfits she had sewn for us. My brother was spared the indignity.
At nineteen, Mummy left Trinidad & Tobago to serve in World War II as a Stenographer. She needed to work; she and Auntie were struggling financially. My Mum left everything and everyone she knew and loved to join the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the volunteer women’s branch of the British Army. But, remember Theresa Carrington was a strong Tobagonian women. Mummy worked harder than her British counterparts, excelled - and soon became part of the Royal Signals Intelligence Corps, intercepting German Morse Code messages.
In London, between faking out German U-boats and lots of rain, fate intervened. One late night, as she left Churchill’s War Rooms, she met my father, Ken Ablack. My Dad , whose family hailed from Trinidad, also had joined the effort to save democracy and freedom. Their love lasted a lifetime. Their heroism as teenagers fighting a war for democracy and freedom… That’s all.
My parents never spoke of their heroism.
They led by example.
They worked hard.
They always tried to do their best and expected that of us.
In Good Times. In Bad Times.
Camp Tobago honours my parents. All my life I have worked to make them proud. To honour their love, their life, their legacy. To honour Tobago and our people. To share what they taught my brother, sisters, grandchildren, and me:
Believe in yourself.
Be kind and humble.
Believe in God.
If Camp Tobago changes one life for the better, my parents’ hearts in heaven will soar. Our goal at Camp Tobago is to make good difference. Our goal at Camp Tobago is to prepare Future Leaders for our beloved island. Our goal at Camp Tobago is to make every heart in heaven soar.
Warmest regards,
Cecile
