Become the leader of your own life….

Mashramani is carnival like in nature. This year’s theme is “Showcasing our Culture, Sustaining Our Heritage.” Customarily, this is a colourful festival and is a combination of costume competitions, float parades, masquerade bands and much dancing and merriment in the streets to the sweet sounds of steel pan along with calypso and soca music. The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport continues annually to create and manage the Mashramani celebrations as the largest national event.

Kaieteur News, October 18, 2018 Guyana has yet another year claimed the top spot at the regionally offered Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination [CAPE]. The top performer is Aadilah Ali, a consistently outstanding student of Queen’s College. According to information released by the Caribbean Examinations Council [CXC], the administrator of the examination, Guyana’s Ali, by virtue of being the most outstanding regional CAPE performer, is the winner of the Dennis Irvine Award. This award, according to…

Oonya Kempadoo is an internationally published and acclaimed author, born in England in 1966 to Guyanese parents. She was brought up in Guyana and studied art in Amsterdam. Oonya has lived and worked for most of her life in various Caribbean islands including Trinidad, Tobago, St. Lucia, and is currently based in Grenada. A creative writer and novelist, she also works freelance as a researcher and consultant in the arts, private sector, with youth and…

We are so proud of the young women in Guyana as they continue to exceed academically. President’s College student Shalita Appadu, 18, of Corentyne, Berbice, has topped this year’s CAPE examinations. Appadu, a former student of the New Amsterdam Multilateral Secondary School, scored six grade ones and one grade two at the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE). In 2011, Shalita obtained 15 grade ones at this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations. Congratulations Shalita…

Two female pioneer aviators were recently presented with their own commemorative stamps, which were launched by the Guyana Post Office. Cheryl Moore was the country’s first female military pilot in 1977 and Beverley Drake, the first female commercial pilot in the same year.

Lorna E. Welshman-Neblett has reached a pinnacle that few women of color have attained in the fragrance industry. More than 20 years ago she launched Angel, the first Thierry Mugler perfume, in the U.S. market. The fragrance has been flying off high-end shelves since. Welshman-Neblett’s career in the fragrance industry began in the late 1970s, when Elizabeth Arden established a separate fragrance company with Chloe, Burberrys and others. Welshman-Neblett started working with Thierry Mugler Parfums…

Maureen Bunyan is an Emmy Award winning Anchor at WJLA TV 7, ABC Affiliate in Washington D.C.  She is of  Guyanese and Aruban heritage.  Her parents moved from Guyana to Aruba in the 1930s, where Maureen was born.  The eldest of three daughters,  immigrated with her family to the United States when she was just eleven years old, after her father, Arthur Bunyan, accepted a job with a company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her mother Wilhelmina was…

We all know that curry and roti is one of Guyana’s most popular cuisine and a common dish within the Caribbean community. It is also much more enjoyable when you indulge with your fingers. However, one can also admit that it’s sometimes quite messy and will ruin your pale nail polish or fresh manicure. For this very reason I sometimes prefer to eat this dish only while at home where I can really dive in with my fingers. I recently attended a function and observed one…

Aminta Kilawan Narine is an attorney, community activist, and writer. Born in the Bronx, New York to Guyanese parents, Aminta’s passion for social justice manifests in various aspects of her life. Aminta writes a weekly column for The West Indian newspaper titled, “Civics, Culture, and Community Engagement” in efforts to increase involvement and stewardship in areas such as politics and volunteerism. Aminta uses her voice for multifold purposes: she is a spirited bhajan singer but…

IT was no surprise recently when the dazzling Onesha Hutson outclassed a field of other talented competitors to whisk away the coveted Miss Guyana Global International 2014 crown. In a ‘chit-chat’ with Entertainment Bombshell, the bubbly lass related that while she was not intimidated by her competition, she however had to bring her ‘A’ game to outrun the other beauties who were all intelligent and gifted in one way or the other. Expressing her pleasure…

Ready to take the world by storm, the sultry songstress known to audiences as “Petra” crosses effortlessly into the realms of Caribbean music infused with pop, jazz and R&B melodies that places her in the evolving category called “Island Pop.” Born Roshell Petra Hooper, the singer/songwriter who hails from Guyana, South America was raised in Trinidad and Tobago in a family of professional musicians; her mother was a talented singer and her father is the…

Dr. Padmanee Sharma is a leading figure in Oncology.  She currently holds Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointments as Professor in the Department of Genitourinary Medical Oncology and Professor in the Department of Immunology, Division of Cancer Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr.  Sharma specializes in renal, bladder and prostate cancer. Her prime focus is to understand the mechanisms and pathways within the immune system responsible for tumor rejection. Since 2005 she has been…

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently announced the appointment of Catherine Pollard of Guyana as Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management. She will succeed Tegegnework Gettu of Ethiopia, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his dedicated service and able leadership. Since 2014, Pollard served as Assistant Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management, prior to which she served as Assistant Secretary-General for Human Resources Management from 2008 to 2014.  She was previously Chief of Staff…

A Resourceful Woman Who Faces Her Fears Head-On. Nathaalie Carey is the Deputy Commissioner for Administration and Chief Financial Officer at NYS Department of Labor. She manages the agency’s $4 billion portfolios and oversees internal operations. Nathaalie previously served as a member of Governor Cuomo’s NYS Women’s Pay Equity Panel and was the Assistant Comptroller for Local Government and School Accountability.  In 2018 the YWCA of the Greater Capital Region, Inc. named Nathaalie “Resourceful Woman of…

Afuwa Granger is a visual artist, writer, and poet who uses her work to construct a visual language around intersections of identity, particularly race and gender. She was born in Guyana to current President, David Granger and First Lady, Sandra Granger.  Afuwa studied in Jamaica at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, and lives and creates her artwork in Vancouver, Canada. Afuwa’s  art is based on her family photos and the idea of the immigrant…