Karin B. Refos (born 1958) is a Surinamese former model, entrepreneur, and public speaker on child welfare and women's rights. She founded the brand consultancy STAS International.

Career Modeling and music Refos' father, Ewald "Slim" Refos, was director of the mining company Suralco and president of the Surinamese Football Association. Her brother Erik Refos became a musician.De Ware Tijd, Ewald ‘Slim’ Refos , 7 November 2014

Refos participated in the 1978 Miss Suriname pageant. She was the second runner-up, with Peggy Ann von Stein as first runner-up and Garance Rustwijk as the title winner. The newspaper De Vrije Stem described Refos as "a personality that was very much the favorite of the room".De Vrije Stem, Garance Rustwijk Miss Sur., 2 May 1978 In that same year, she co-founded the SuriPop music festival. The first edition took place in Theater Thalia in Paramaribo.

In 2006, Refos and Jörgen Raymann set up the National Folk Music School, recruiting prominent music teachers and sponsors. The school initially operated out of the Grote Pastorie building in Paramaribo.Starnieuws, Volksmuziekschool viert jubileum met Doe Theater, 17 February 2016Werkgroep Caraïbische Letteren, Suriname 2015 NVMS special, 15 February 2017 From 2006 to 2017, she was chairman of the school.Starnieuws, Muziekschool verzorgt daverend jubileumconcert, 20 March 2011De Ware Tijd, Uitdagingen nieuw bestuur Volksmuziekschool , 7 December 2017

Business In the eighties, Refos lived in Amsterdam. She was the representative of a skincare brand for women with dark skin, and taught courses for cosmeticians.De waarheid, Tamarinde, 1 February 1984Nieuw Israelietisch weekblad, Couleur Internationale, 5 September 1986 She then moved to Oranjestad, Aruba in the early 1990s. As of 1993, she was an instructor for knowledge development courses offered to government employees.Amigoe, Cursus algemene ontwikkeling, 12 October 1993

While living in Oranjestad, Refos founded STAS Caribe around 1994. One of the company's first projects was with the Aruba Trade & Industry Association (ATIA), where Refos organised programs to encourage remigration of Arubans from the Netherlands.Amigoe, ATIA steunt nieuw remigratie-project, 3 August 1994 In Paramaribo, she established STAS International with divisions of brand positioning, management, public relations, and events.STAS International, about stas Through STAS, she was an advisor for Paramaribo's "City of Smiles" tourism campaign (2010)Starnieuws, Paramaribo, City Of Smiles, 12 February 2010 and for the new logo of the Central Bank of Suriname (2015).Dagblad Suriname, Na Centrale Bank wil Karin Refos ook huisstijl voor Suriname, 21 August 2015

In 2016, Refos received the "Communicator of Suriname" Award from the Suriname Centre for Communication & PR.Dagblad Suriname, Stemmingsronde Communicatie Award 2018 al gestart, 9 February 2018

Public work While leading STAS, Refos began working on issues of child welfare and women's rights.Parbode, Lust & Leven: Karin Refos , 1 June 2012

Children Visibly Safe In 2008, Refos became chairman of the Media Board for Children's Rights and led the national campaign Children Visibly Safe. In the preceding years, figures for child abuse had risen dramatically. In response, the board asked media houses to refuse offensive advertisements, video clips, and songs.Waterkant, Surinaamse kinderen moeten zichtbaar veilig worden, 21 November 2008De Ware Tijd, Media moeten aanstootgevende producties weigeren, 20 June 2009 In 2014, she designed the billboards and logo for the promotional campaign of the Child's Rights Office, which is part of the Ministry of Social Affairs.Starnieuws, Sozavo promoot billboards met kinderrechten, 10 April 2014

Pink Ribbon Around 2010, Refos was diagnosed with breast cancer. After recovering, she founded the Pink Ribbon Suriname Foundation in January 2012 to raise awareness of the disease. Her campaign included former boxing champion and actress Lucia Rijker. The foundation has continued to organise events, including a Pink Ribbonloop throughout the country.Dagblad Suriname, Pink Ribbonloop dit jaar in Commewijne, 14 February 2013Starnieuws, Pink Ribbon loop Moengo vraagt aandacht borstkanker, 8 March 2014 Refos later stepped down as the leader of the foundation, but was named honorary President.Dagblad De West, Bewustwording over borstkanker blijft noodzaak , 13 June 2019

Women in politics Together with Carla Bakboord, Betty Cederboom, and Nadia Raveles, Refos founded the Women's Rights Centre (WRC) Foundation on 27 January 1997.De Ware Tijd, ‘Ze heeft mij geleerd om een dyadya uma te zijn’ , 2 July 2019

When Refos was on a trade mission to Indonesia in 2013,Projekta Suriname, De bezem door de Kamer van Koophandel, November 2015 she discovered that there were no women between the 21 members and alternate members of the Board of the Chamber of Commerce and Factories (KKF). To change this, she decided to participate in the KKF elections of December 2015.Starnieuws, Karin Refos dient kandidatenlijst in voor lid KKF-bestuur, 31 October 2015 She denounced a 1962 bylaw that reserved day-to-day administration for the senior members, effectively excluding young members.Starnieuws, Refos rekent op steun om KKF-gezicht te veranderen, 6 December 2015 Refos filed her own list of candidates for Other Trade and Intermediaries, one of the eight branches of the Chamber.De Ware Tijd, De Nationale Vrouwenbeweging (NVB) juicht het toe , 19 november 2015 Her list consisted of four female and four male candidates.Dagblad De West, KKF bestuur Refos moet genderevenwicht brengen , 30 november 2015 However, the competing list of Rashied Doekhi won by a large margin.Dagblad De West, Lijst Rahid Doekhie wint KKF verkiezing branche B , 11 december 2015

Prior to the 2015 Surinamese general election, Refos organised the More Female Leadership campaign. Beginning in May 2014, her campaign consisted of the distribution of posters and the organization of debates between political leaders.Starnieuws, 'Ook Zij' bij de besluitvorming, 31 May 2014Dagblad Suriname, Meer vrouwelijk leiderschap in 2015, 29 July 2014 There were 80 female candidates for the National Assembly (DNA),Starnieuws, Refos: Waw, ruim 80 vrouwen gekandideerd voor DNA, 26 April 2015 of whom 13 (25% of the Assembly) were eventually elected.Starnieuws, Dertien vrouwen gekozen in nieuw parlement, 7 June 2015 The new cabinet had 3 women.De Ware Tijd, Karin Refos is niet ontevreden met de drie vrouwen die in het ministersteam , 14 August 2015 Refos organised the Balance campaign for the 2020 elections to pursue gender parity in candidate lists.Parbode, Meer evenwicht in de politiek met ‘Balans in 2020’, 12 May 2020Dagblad Suriname, “Balans in 2020” tevreden met 35% vrouwen in Kabinet Santokhi- Brunswijk, 18 July 2020 Some parties did nominate such lists.Starnieuws, Refos blij met balans vrouwen en jongeren verkiezing 2020, 14 april 2020 This time, 17 women entered the Assembly (33%)De Ware Tijd, Het fundament is gelegd , 17 June 2020 and 6 women joined the new cabinet (35%).

References

External links Pink Ribbon Suriname