COVER GIRL: Singer Lisa Punch on the cover of Guyana Entertainment Magazine (GEM)

Although I have not been back in years,  I am proud to be Guyanese says Sasha Pilgrim, author, motivational speaker and budding entrepreneur. Born in Linden in 1987, Sasha spent a few years of her childhood in Berbice before relocating to US.  She currently resides in New Jersey where she studied and obtained two (2) Bachelor degrees in General Sociology from Bloomfield College and BA in Business Administration & Management from Pillar College.  A devoted…

A stellar achiever at a very young age and one of Guyana’s youngest dental surgeons, Dr. Sulan Fung aims to empower young women and spread awareness on her interest – maintaining a healthy mouth. Twenty-four-year-old Sulan began her scholastic career at Stella Maris Nursery at three years old. She later earned a place at Bishops’ High School where she received awards for best debater and best actress, along with elocution prizes. “I got prizes mostly…

Maritza Lord is a NYC-based Artist and Musician, born and raised in Georgetown, Guyana. She became a professional musician after moving to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music. Marita grew up in a household filled with music. Her father sang and played guitar and her mother encouraged a career in music early on and began her education of classical piano and voice and performing publicly at a young age.   “As a kid, I loved to sing, play the…

Her stage name ‘Big Red’, is symbolic of her maturity; she considers herself a “big girl”, and Red- describes the intensity of her performances – red hot. Born in Georgetown Guyana, Michelle “Big Red” King is the eldest of six children of the talented Desiree Edghill. The proud mother of two sons, Steve and Jonathan, Michelle “Big Red” King is a class act who has mastered the ability to harmonize. She possesses a powerful voice…

Kadecia Baird has established herself as New York’s fastest female high school sprinters.  This 17 year old star athlete has made a big impact on the track and field community. Kadecia grew up in  Campbellville, Georgetown and is a senior at Medgar Evers High School in Brooklyn, New York.  She began competing in Guyana, passionately pursuing a junior national title. However her talent sky rocketed after she migrated to the U.S. three years ago. Kadecia is a member of her school’s…

Jill Gomez, Countess of Northesk was born in Guyana to a Hispano-Trinidadian father and British mother and was raised in Trinidad and Tobago. After studying briefly at St Joseph’s Convent (Port of Spain) in Trinidad and dominating at the islands’ biennial Music Festival, she moved to England at 13, where she studied at London’s Royal Academy of Music and Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She has made her career primarily in the United Kingdom….

Toronto-based Caterer Shaunna Marto never thought she could have a career doing what she loves.  Trained in culinary arts, Shaunna founded Party’s By Shaunna in 2006; a full service catering and party business. Born in Georgetown, Guyana to a middle class family, Shaunna started cooking at the of 11; much to the horror of her parents who were concerned that she would hurt herself at the stove. They soon realize she had a talent for…

Before there was American Idol, there was Pat Cameron, who as host of the influential radio show, `On Show Young Guyana,` helped give recognition to the musical abilities of many young Guyanese. Pat was born on October 3, 1924 to Lilian Gertrude Christiani and Henry Perot Christiani. A Bishop’s High School graduate, she  worked in the Guyana Civil Service and was trained as a Social Welfare Officer in Jamaica. She entered the world of broadcasting…

Martha nee Fung Kee Fung was one of the earliest female business owners in Guyana (1800s). She became a landed proprietor who owned many businesses including a rice mill. She bought two abandoned sugar estates Waller’s Delight and Ruimzight at Windsor Forest which she rented to tenants to plant rice. Martha Street in Windsor Forrest is named for her. Sarah Lam-a-Poo born in 1870, was the grandmother of Errol “Ping” Gillette, Guyana’s first Ombudsman after…

Look At You! You Are Beautiful Embrace people’s differences with Karen O. Roberts’s empowering debut children’s book, Look at You! You Are Beautiful. Brimming with vibrant pictures of kids from all walks of life, this charming collection stands in stark contrast to defeat the looks-obsessed culture in which children grow up today. Instead of focusing on physical beauty, Look at You! You Are Beautiful celebrates everyone’s uniqueness in a way that is easy, fun, and…

Waveney Ann Moore is a general assignment reporter for the Tampa Bay Times. She covers a wide range of topics in the metropolitan area, most recently the debate over the future of the St. Petersburg Pier. She was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for “For Their Own Good,” about abuse at Florida’s oldest reform school. The series won the Dart Award for covering trauma, the Casey Medal for exemplary reporting on children and…

Happy Birthday to our Beautiful Guyana! One People, One Nation, One Destiny!  

Pauline Melville was born in Guyana in 1948 and has emerged as one of the most accomplished talents on the modern literary scene. Her pre-school years were spent in the then British Guiana. Her father was “mixed-race Guyanese, part South American Indian, African and Scottish”, and her mother came from a “big working-class family” in south London. The family moved to south London in the early 1950s, when she was “five or six”. A professional…

Hon. Madam Justice Minnet Hafiz-Bertram is a Guyana-born Justice of Appeal, and is the first female judge to be elevated to the Belize High Court of Appeals. Before her appointment, Justice Hafiz-Bertram served as a Supreme Court Judge, Register General, Registrar of the Supreme Court and Crown Counsel in the Attorney General’s Ministry.  She studied law in Guyana and at the Hugh Wooding Law School, Trinidad and Tobago, where she received her legal education certificate…

  Born in Guyana in January 1923,  Patricia Gomes has purposefully dedicated more than half of her life to theatre and along the way has been quite accomplished in other areas. She has, as they say, “done it all” – from stage plays to storytelling to dancing her life away, much to the enjoyment of the audiences she thrilled.  In 2010, Ms. Gomes was named by “Special Person”  by Kaieteur News, and in an interview…