Dr. Solanges Vivens
Photo courtesy of Dr. Solanges Vivens

On International Women’s Day, Dr. Solanges Vivens’ story of going from a young girl facing chronic illness in Haiti to becoming a successful business owner in the U.S. is an inspiration for women with a dream.

Dr. Solanges Vivens’ journey from a young girl in Haiti to a successful healthcare business owner in the United States has been a testament of resilience for women around the world. 

Long before she gained recognition as the founder of a Vital Management Team, Long Term Care, Inc., a multimillion-dollar nursing home management company which she sold in 2018, she was simply Solanges, an Afro-Caribbean girl born and raised in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. 

Growing up in the city with her mother and father, she often looked to them for help as she navigated rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic autoimmune disease that causes joint pain. Her father, who had never attended school, created remedies that relieved her pain just as local doctors were able to do. 

“I was really crippled,” she told theGrio in an interview. “I couldn’t sit. I was in pain constantly.” 

Her father’s knowledge of science was a testament to the natural intelligence Vivens believes Haitians have–an intelligence that she saw in herself as well. However, at 19, she was urged by her parents to leave her community amid the rise of the Tonton Macoutes, a Haitian Creole term for the paramilitary and secret police force created by Haiti’s president at the time, François Duvalier, also known as “Papa Doc” in 1959. The Tonton Macoutes marked nearly thirty years of dictatorship and harsh rule that lasted until 1986. 

“I graduated school in June and in July, I was exiled,” she tells theGrio. “They said, ‘You better not come back.’” 

Arriving in America as a teenager and non-English speaker in 1965 on a two-month visa, Vivens found work as a seamstress at a factory in Manhattan, a skill she learned from her mother through sewing dolls and doll clothes as a child. Each skirt she sewed at the factory earned her a nickel. 

After one factory, she worked at another in the Garment District, sewing zippers onto suitcases. Later on, she was able to find work as a hospital aide, while her immigration lawyer focused on obtaining documents proving she was able to work and live in the United States. To Vivens, this symbolized a beautiful freedom in America: the right of immigrants to exist and thrive–a right she believes is no longer granted to immigrants today. 

“America used to take care of its own,” Vivens conveys. “America understood that immigrants make this America we live in today.” 

Through her lawyer, she found work with a wealthy family–an opportunity that changed the trajectory of her life. 

“I knew they were the haves, and I knew I was a have not,” she tells theGrio. “And I pledged to myself and God that one day I would become a have.” 

Vivens did just that. 

She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Long Island University, became a registered nurse and completed a master’s degree in Health Services Management at Georgetown University. With over 20 years of experience managing nursing homes, she eventually co-founded a company with two partners. After buying them out, she became the sole owner of Vital Management Team, Long Term Care, Inc, one of Washington, D.C.’s top geriatric nursing facilities. 

The main secret to her success was her and her husband living below their means so that she could accomplish her dreams. For her, that was owning the company she co-founded. 

“We lived like we had nothing,” Vivens reflects. 

Now that Vivens has experienced the highs of business success, she’s moved into media, creating Vivens Media Group. She hopes to create a movie adaptation of her book, “Educated Girl, Empowered Woman: The Art of Living with Grace, Joy & Dignity,” a memoir “for every woman on the path to self-discovery and empowerment,” and she’s also the author of “Girls Can Move Mountains: Rewriting the Rules of Female Entrepreneurship.” 

From the young Afro-Caribbean girl battling a chronic autoimmune disease to a determined 19-year-old immigrant in the United States, and now an ambitious business owner dedicated to helping others with their health challenges, Vivens aspires to empower all women with her story of courage and her message of hope. 

“We as women take care of people every day–and we forget we exist,” she says. “The first thing I ask women to do is look in the mirror. Love the girl in the mirror. Let her know you will do anything to protect her because if you don’t protect her, she can’t protect anyone else.” 

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