You should be your own biggest cheerleader. Forget about what you look like and be proud of who you are! Stop trying to measure up. The only person you have to compete with is yourself and always remember that You Rock!
On Saturday, July 4, Guyana’s first female World Champion Gwendolyn ‘Stealth Bomber’ O’Neil defeated Sonya Lamonakis and captured the heavyweight title in Philipsburg, St Maarten. O’Neil who is now a five-time boxing world champion while at the same time a mother of five children, thanked the fans, her management team and God for the heart-stirring win which put her back on top of the world heavyweight boxing scene. A huge crowd favourite, O’Neil fought to…
Originally reported by Jerry Bembry – The Undefeated As Sachia Vickery prepares for Wimbledon in this, the breakthrough year of her career, she’s asked about the lowest moment she faced to get here. She’s silent for a moment, reflecting. For Vickery, the 23-year-old from Miramar, Florida, there are many from which to choose. Maybe it’s the hotel room she stayed at during an International Tennis Federation (ITF) stop early in her career in Europe, where…
Jamila Keizia Sanmoogan will be one of two, and the only female swimmer representing Guyana at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The 19-year-old, who recently trained in Columbia on a swimming scholarship, is slated to compete in the Women’s 50m Freestyle event. In an interview the Guyana Chronicle, Jamila shared the following: “It felt as if my dreams finally came true, there were so many feelings, from excitement to happiness” she…
Dr. Oneka LaBennett is Associate Professor of Africana Studies at Cornell University. She received her Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from Harvard University in 2002, and her B.A. in Sociology and Anthropology from Wesleyan University in 1994. Born in Guyana and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Dr. LaBennett’s research and teaching interests include popular culture; race, gender and consumption; urban anthropology; transnationalism and diaspora; and Caribbean migration. Dr. LaBennett is the author of She’s Mad Real:…
Shawna Rochelle Kimbrell is a major in the United States Air Force, and the first female African-American fighter pilot in the Air Force history. She was born in Lafayette, Indiana on April 20, 1976, to Guyanese parents, Dr Norman Ng A Qui, and Eve Blackman Ng A Qui after they migrated to the US. Their hard work and dedication paid off in her father earning a degree from Howard University and a doctorate from Purdue University. That focus on…
Supriya Singh-Bodden, C.C.H., is a native of Guyana and the Founder/Trustee of the Guyana Foundation. The Guyana Foundation was created by a group of highly dedicated men and women who see an urgent need to contribute meaningfully to the rebuilding of Guyana. Driven by the conviction that great change can be made by people who are encouraged and supported, the Foundation empowers local and international volunteers to transform the lives of individuals, families, and entire…
Born in Guyana, Sharmilla Persaud, with a little unwilling help from her mother, discovered her love of fashion at an early age. Finding the perfect artistic playground in her mother’s colorful saris and jewelry, a young Sharmilla went to work cutting and combining them into her own creations. At five, she moved with her family to New York, and now credits the streets of Manhattan for lending an urban edge to her aesthetic as a…
Marianna Hansen (born 17 February 1983), known professionally as Shaya, is a Danish–Greek singer of Guyanese and Indian descent. Shaya was a member of the girl band Hi-5, the result of the Greek version of the talent show Popstars. She is currently pursuing a solo career and finished fifth in Greece’s version of Dancing on Ice. Shaya was born in Denmark to a Danish father and a multiracial Guyanese mother of Greenlandic and Indian descent….
Knowing yourself means understanding who you are as a person and accepting the truth of what you discover. It means knowing what you’re good at and what needs improving, knowing what you’re passionate about and what scares you, knowing your goals and dreams, knowing your habits and behaviors, your likes and dislikes, being aware of your physical being, accessing your health, well being and your relationships. Everyone has a purpose in life and and knowing what…
Donna Makeda is definitely a musical force to be reckoned with. She was born in Kwakwani and grew up in New Amsterdam, Berbice, Guyana. Donna started singing and performing over 25 years ago, her foundation in music came from the church, which she attended when she was a little girl. Donna started out as a dancer; she was trained in Afro-Caribbean Dance, Modern Dance, Folk Dance, Kathak and Classical Ballet. At age 16, she opened…
Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame 2012 Inductee, Charmaine Hooper, was born on January 15, 1968, in Georgetown, Guyana. She was raised in Ottawa, Canada, and is a former striker for the Canadian Women’s National Soccer Team. She began playing soccer as a child in Zambia, where her father was posted with the Guyana High Commission. Known as one of the world’s most lethal strikers throughout her career, Charmaine has been a fixture on the Canadian…
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…
Professional bodybuilder, Alana Shipp, has muscled her way to the top echelon of Women’s Body Building in just a few years. Born in 1982 in Barbados to Guyanese parents, Alana spent her early childhood in Guyana prior to moving to Queens, New York at age 11. After graduating high school, Alana enlisted in the US Marine Corps and spent almost 8 years as a non-commissioned officer, working as a logistics procurement manager in Okinawa,…
Guyanese, Debra Amata, received the top score out of 836 students who sat for the SEA examination in Tobago this year. She scored 238.298 points and told the media her success was due to her spirituality, parents and teachers. Debra moved to Tobago in 2014 with her parents, who are both medical doctors at the Scarborough General Hospital in Tobago. Her mother, Dr Vivienne Amata, said her daughter was a well-rounded student and she was very proud of her…
Kite Flying in the Village: A Guyanese Girl’s Story A Guyanese Girl’s Story is a series of short stories from my childhood. One of my favorite is “Kite Flying in the Village”. Kite flying is a family outing for many in Guyana, South America. Easter is a very special holiday in my village of Vreedenhoop in which the children of many ages make and decorate kites to fly in celebration of Easter. Another part of…