Today, Hanna Fitz is a multidisciplinary entrepreneur: international brand strategist, designer, author, and the creator of the proprietary Brand IT Factor® method used by leaders to become everyone’s favourite brands. She has worked with business leaders in 25+ countries globally and was recognised by SUCCESS magazine in the United States as one of their 125 Most Influential Leaders. But to understand who Hanna Fitz is today, you have to understand where she started.
Born in Saint Lucia, she left the island at just five weeks old for Martinique, where she spent her early childhood before returning at age five and a half. She attended the Anglian Infant and Primary School, later Castries Comprehensive School, followed by Sir Arthur Lewis Community College.
A major turning point in her life arrived just before her seventeenth birthday. Hanna Fitz lost her mother. It was what she describes as a “tower moment” in her upcoming book — a moment that either breaks a person or quietly forges something unbreakable inside them. Her sister Cecilia stepped forward to guide her through.
After leaving SALCC, she pursued her undergraduate degree in Corporate Management through Anglia Ruskin University, graduating with First Class Honours — the only student in 14 years within the programme, delivered through a private institution in Trinidad, to achieve that distinction.
Her early career was marked by the kind of range that resists easy categorisation. Whilst still studying, she represented Saint Lucia at the Miss Earth pageant in Manila in 2005, one of the world’s largest international pageants, before returning home to acquire the local Miss Earth franchise and train future contestants herself.
After graduating, together with her sister, she opened a fashion boutique in Vieux Fort before moving into the financial sector, serving as New Product Development and Product Management Officer at ECFH, parent company of Bank of Saint Lucia, from 2007 to 2010. One month before leaving her position to start her own venture, her father passed away.
That loss did not slow her. Inspired by her father’s journey of leaving school for work at only seven years old, Hanna would later create Empowered to Prosper, a free youth empowerment workshop that has since reached over 400 teenagers across eight countries — the Caribbean, Africa, and the USA — helping them discover their personal brand and sense of purpose.
Whilst still completing a Master’s Degree in International Commercial Law, she founded Seashell Consulting, working with leading luxury resorts on island and publishing Saint Lucia’s first luxury lifestyle print magazine. She also served as a brand advisor on the CARILED Gros Islet town rebranding project.
In 2012, she moved to Milan, Italy — a decisive act of reinvention. It was there that she developed a conviction that cuisine is one of the most powerful expressions of national identity. That conviction translated into action: in 2014 and 2015, she created the San Pellegrino and Acqua Panna Caribbean Junior Chef Competition, the first of its kind. The winner earned intensive training at ALMA, Italy’s premier culinary institute. Many participants now hold senior positions in leading Caribbean resort restaurants.
Today, Hanna leads Cultured Life, a US-based company offering digital programmes, tools, and executive workshops that help leaders become more influential and successful brands. She is also the creative director of OMEROSE, a limited-edition island lifestyle brand designed by a Saint Lucian and crafted in Europe, marrying Caribbean ease with European refinement. In addition, she is a partner in FITZGUTHMANN, a strategy and design agency with German advertising film director and architect Steffen Guthmann.
She is the author of I Am The Gatekeeper and her upcoming book The Magic Hour, both centred on personal growth and self-led success.
According to Hanna:
“Every day I remind myself that what happens to me is defined by what I choose to learn and build from it. I dedicate each day to God and try to listen to how I am meant to show up. I’ve come to understand that life isn’t meant to get easier; it’s meant to refine us. So I focus on becoming better every day. In the past, I was focused only on pushing through what I wanted a day to be. Now I see that there is a higher power guiding me, giving me courage and purpose, especially in challenging times.”
Nominated this year for the upcoming Vice Chancellor Alumni Awards by Anglia Ruskin University in the UK, Hanna Fitz continues to bridge her Saint Lucian roots with the world. She speaks French, Creole, some Italian, and is currently learning German. She has travelled to over 175 cities globally — often with her Maltese poodle Chloe-Ella in tow — and remains rooted in a singular commitment: that you are not limited by where you came from or what has happened. Where you come from is never the ceiling.