When Ingrid Berkeley-Brown began her career in law enforcement 30 years ago, she wanted to be the best that she could could be and leave above the rank of constable.
Today the Guyana-native has risen far above that rank On January 29, she made history when she was promoted to Superintendent in Peel County, Ontario, making her the highest-ranking Black female police officer in Canada.
Berkeley-Brown was one of only two Black female recruits in a class of about 300 at the Ontario Police College in 1986, and the only Black female officer in Peel County after graduation. Her career choice is not surprising since she followed in the footsteps of her father, Cardwell Pellew, (deceased) who was a member of the Guyana Police Force.
One of 11 children, Berkeley-Brown migrated from Guyana in 1974 and completed high school at Sir Sandford Fleming in Toronto, before volunteering as a probation and parole officer. While helping young people find community service placements, she met retired Toronto cop Sid Young who suggested she consider a policing career. Five years after applying to several police services in the Greater Toronto Area and the Ontario Provincial Police, Peel made the call. Over the years, she has worked in the child abuse & sexual assault, media relations, diversity, crime prevention and uniformed patrol & investigative units.
In March 2013, Berkeley-Brown became the only Black female Police Inspectors in Peel County. Now 3 years later, she is one of only three female Superintendents in Peel County, and the highest-ranking Black female police officer in Canada..
“This is a very significant milestone,” Berkeley-Brown said. “There are 11 children and I am the only one in policing,” “I have worked hard to get to where I am and I certainly think I deserve this promotion. It’s a proud moment for me and my family.”
Berkeley-Brown hopes her milestone promotion will inspire Blacks and other minority women to pursue a career in policing and aspire to be senior officers. She also believes that..
“The key is to do everything you can to make yourself the best candidate for a position and that includes hard work, pursuing higher education and community involvement.”
Superintendent Ingrid Berkeley-Brown being presented with her new badge on 1/129/16
Remarried since 1989 to St. Lucian-born constable Joseph Berkeley who works in Peel’s Forensic Identification Services, Berkeley-Brown holds a Master’s in Leadership from the University of Guelph.
The mother of two and recipient of the Police Exemplary Service Medal and the United Achievers Club of Brampton Community Award is also the past president and current secretary of the Caribbean Canadian Association of Waterloo Region and an avid soccer player and marathon runner.
In her new role, Berkeley-Brown is the officer in charge of 21 Division overseeing 300 members.
Cloyette Harris-Stoute is a proud Guyanese nonprofit leader, tech enthusiast, and entrepreneur based in Queens, New York. She founded Guyanese Girls Rock Blog and Guyanese Girls Rock Foundation, Inc. and is Owner of Guyanese Girls Rock Apparels and Alliyette, a fine jewelry brand.
Born to Guyanese parents, Bronx native Leah Persaud, is a Ph.D. candidate in biology pursuing cancer research at the CUNY Graduate Center at Lehman College. Since 2015, Persaud has been conducting research in the lab of Moira Sauane, a professor in Lehman’s Department of Biological Sciences, that she hopes will ultimately lead to new cancer therapies and drug treatments. “The Lehman campus was always my first choice,” said Persaud, who expects to earn her Ph.D….
Congratulations goes out to the Bollers Sisters! Two young ladies who migrated to the USA from Guyana, and have achieved academic success. Samantha Nazena Bollers is a former student of Queens College (Guyana) and graduated from Cornell University (Class of 2013) with a Degree in Government Studies. Natasha Lazena Bollers-Robert, is former student of Bishops High School (Guyana) and a recent Graduate of Medgar Evers College CUNY (Class of 2015) with a Degree in Mathematics. Well done ladies! Your accomplishments will inspire…
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing (1 Thessalonians 5:11). This five young women definitely epitomize this phrase. Meet Trea, Michelle, Sonya, Corlecia and Feigel who reign from the small town of Amelia Ward Linden in Guyana, and playfully call themselves the “Amelia’s Ward USCians.” These “beauties with brains” all attended the University of Southern Caribbean (USC) in Trinidad; an affiliate of Andrews University in Michigan and over the years have form a…
Sachia Vickery was born to Guyanese Parents and lives and train in Florida. She also trained with USTA and Mouratoglou Academy in France. Sashia comes from a family full of athletes.Her father was professional soccer player and her mother, Paula Liverpool, ran track in high school. Her brother plays football at South Carolina State (defensive back). Sachia Vickery qualifies for Wimbledon Singles main draw Sachia long-term goal is to win a Grand Slam and be the best…
Source: Guyana Chronicle FOLLOWING their recent successes at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE), Fatima Karim and Ashley Anthony have scored positions in a few of the top-tier universities in the United States. Karim, currently an Upper Sixth form student at Queen’s College and 2016’s top CSEC performer, was able to gain admission into the Princeton and Stanford Universities. Though preparing to sit her second and final…
The extraordinary life of Baroness Valerie Amos has taken her from the small island of Wakenaam at the mouth of the Essequibo River in Guyana to the House of Lords. It is a journey that includes time spent at the United Nations headquarters in New York and the British High Commission in Australia. She has now returned to London where she has become the first black director of a British University at the School of…
GUYANA’S good streak at international pageants this year is continuing, with well-known make-up artist, turned pageant contestant, Tenisha Garnett-Billington, winning the Mrs Tourism International crown two weeks ago at The Theater Center in New York, New York. After representing as Miss Tourism International Guyana, the 23-year-old beauty bested 12 other contestants to collect the crown, donning a stunning Derek Moore turtleneck evening gown. “I was just so surprised when I won because I felt super…
BMCC Student Government Association President, Okeema Humphrey’s ultimate goal is to give back to the country of her birth, Guyana, but in the meantime she’s sharing very smart advice with her peers. During her recent graduation ceremony, Okeema told the class of 2015 “whether you are employed, unemployed, or moving on to higher education … use what you learned at BMCC to be the best version of yourself that you can be.” Okeema is a…
Dr. Nicola Corbin, Ph.D is an assistant professor in the Communication department at Weber State University, in Ogden, Utah. Dr. Corbin was born in Georgetown, Guyana and immigrated to the United States when she was 16 years old. She graduated magna cum laude, with a BA Degree in Communications from Seton Hall University and later became an adjunct profession teaching Media Writing, Oral Communication and freshman orientation courses at both Seton Hall and the University of Maryland. Following her…
Guyana’s Female Amateur Baseball Team recently competed in Halifax, Canada for the first 21U (21 and under) women’s invitational tournament. The tournament, which was hosted by Halifax and Team Nova Scotia, ran from August 4th to August 8th and included teams from different regions in Canada (Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, British Columbia), and Guyana. Team Guyana was made of 15 players and 4 coaches. See Scoreboard HERE. Congratulations ladies, You Rock! This is the Team’s first time playing…
In celebration of National Nurses Week, we honor all of the amazing women in the field. Ameela Singh is the Owner/Nurse Practitioner at Carpe Diem Concierge Medicine; a concierge/house-call medical service for adults in Maryland that she launched in early 2017. “I’m excited because this practice allows you to have a deep relationship with your medical provider, which is a golden opportunity today. Knowledge is power, and knowledge about your health sustains life.” ~ Ameela…
Guyanese-born legislator, Roxanne Jacqueline Persaud, was elected to the New York Senate on November 3, 2015 after defeating her two challengers in the elections for the 19thSenatorial District. Back in November 2014, she became the first female, first black, first Guyanese to hold the position of Assembly member for the 59th Assembly District in Brooklyn, New York . Persaud, 49, polled 6,980 votes, or 88 per cent of the votes cast, while Jeffrey Ferretti, the Republic Party challenger, received…
The Honourable Madam Justice Désirée Bernard, a citizen of Guyana, was born on 2 March 1939. A lawyer by profession, she began her career in 1963 when she attained a Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of London. Qualifying as a solicitor in 1964, Justice Bernard engaged in private practice in the High Court of the Supreme Court of Guyana from 1965 to 1980. During that period, she was appointed a Magistrate (1970), Commissioner of…
During the colonial period in Guyana, the country’s coastal lands were worked by enslaved Africans and indentured Indians. In Creole Indigeneity, Shona N. Jackson investigates how their descendants, collectively called Creoles, have remade themselves as Guyana’s new natives, displacing indigenous peoples in the Caribbean through an extension of colonial attitudes and policies. Looking particularly at the nation’s politically fraught decades from the 1950s to the present, Jackson explores aboriginal and Creole identities in Guyanese society….
Among the senior vice presidents at Rockwell Collins; the Iowa-based provider of avionics and information technology systems and services, Nan Mattai is the only woman. “Just the thought that something I say or do may change a life inspires me to be the best I can be,” Ms. Mattai, the Senior Vice President for Engineering and Technology, wrote in an email interview. “So, as a successful woman in a traditionally male-dominated field, I will try…
Thank you Cloyette Harris-Stoute YOU ROCK!!!
#blackhistory
Congratulations Ingrid! You rock!
Congratulations my dear , i am proud of you , and it’s an honour that we were childhood friends . God blessings P