Melinda Shankar (born February 18, 1992) is a talented young actress who is best known for her role in the Canadian teen drama television series: Degrassi – The Next Generation. She was born and raised in Ottawa, Canada to Guyanese parents and has 3 siblings. Melinda started her acting career at age 10 appearing in TV commercials, print ads and some theatre work. She made her starring mark in 2008 in the 8th season of Degrassi as…
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Meet Sonia Godding-Togobo, Guyanese-born documentarian, director and filmmaker currently based in the UK. First migrating to Canada at age two, Sonia graduated from Archbishop Denis O’Connor Catholic High School in Ontario. Sonia has worked in broadcast television for the last decade with broadcast credits in Canada and England. She has also produced short films in both Haiti and Ghana. In 2001, after graduating from Humber’s Film and Television program, Sonia went on to work in numerous post production houses before…
Abiola Abrams is a first generation Guyanese-American author, columnist, speaker, filmmaker and multimedia personality who was raised in New York City. Also a certified wellness coach, Abiola gives heartfelt, no-nonsense, stigma-free advice on self esteem and self worth, body image issues, healthy relationships, mental health, sexual health, and how to live with verve. The first person in her Guyanese family born in the US, Abiola was bullied in her African American neighborhood for being “the…
Ann is one of the few Black female employees at the senior management level at the Nova Scotia Public Service Commission, and has become a well-known and respected Ambassador for change and inclusivity in the Commission, and her community. She was born in Guyana and currently resides in Canada. Ann is currently leading a two-year, province-wide, Research Initiative to engage academic institutions, government, businesses and communities in Nova Scotia on Employment Equity Partnership. In addition,…
Alicia “Smiley” Harris is a Professional Body Builder, born on March 2nd in Wheaton, Illinois. She is a former track star known for her lightning speed on the racetrack, setting records in the 400- and 600-meter sprints. After graduating from college a friend introduced her to the world of Figure and this Pieces Powerhouse has never looked back! Alicia credits both of her parents for her atlethic genes. Her father was a collegiate basketball, football and track athlete and her…
Born in Guyana, the seventh of eight children, Gloria Rajkumar moved to Canada after graduating high school. It was an entry-level position in the insurance industry that started Gloria on the path that led to where she is today and she spent the next 19 years climbing the proverbial corporate ladder. Gloria is the President and CEO of SIMAC Canada Inc., an Ontario-based independent medical examination company, primarily serving the auto insurance industry. In 2001 Gloria was involved in…
Tessa McWatt is an internationally published author born in 1959 in Georgetown, Guyana. Her family migrated to Canada when she was three, and she grew up in Toronto where she pursued her love of writing and music. She is the author of five earlier novels; her second, Dragons Cry, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction and the City of Toronto Book Award. As an adult, Tessa worked as an editor in Toronto…
‘Gwen’ grew up in the Barima River area of the North West District in Guyana, the twentieth child in a family of 21 kids. She says she owes her toughness in the ring to long hours spent doing hard work on her parents’ farm at an early age. Her father, who was from St. Lucia, died when she was five. She had also had to fight her way through school, so as not to be taken advantage of…
When June Haynes was a young girl in Guyana, she would spend her afternoons in her mom’s clothing store flipping through Vogue magazines that had been sent from America. Her love of style brought her to New York, where she attended the Fashion Institute of Technology and majored in fashion buying and merchandising. The combination of determination and felicity landed her the Senior Vice President of Retail & Brand Ambassador position at Valentino, the luxury fashion house founded by…
Grace Nichols is a Guyanese poet. She was born in Georgetown, Guyana in 1950, the fifth of seven children. She was raised in the village of Highdam and attended the school where her father worked as headmaster and her mother taught piano lessons. At age eight she moved with her family to Georgetown, and at age sixteen she left high school with the hope of becoming a teacher. Earning a degree in communications at the University…