With Christmas right around the corner, it’s a delight to bring you Guyanese-born author Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra who serves up exquisite recipes in her cookbooks “Warm Breads and Honey Cakes: Home Baking from Around the World” and “Sugar and Spice: Sweets and Treats from Around the World”, and much more. Gaitri is a food writer and historian. She currently resides in The Netherlands where she researches and writes about food and food traditions and culture. Gaitri grew up balancing…
Our Sheroes
Anjulie (born Anjulie Persaud; 1983) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She was raised in Oakville, Ontario, the youngest of four children by her Guyanese parents. Anjulie is a self-described music addict and has been writing and composing her own music since she was 17. She is credited for writing many songs performed by famous artists most notably “The Boys” by Nicki Minaj, which she co-wrote. She wrote the song “Say Goodbye to Jr. High”, contributed background vocals and played…
In a once unthinkable career for women, aviation in modern times has seen a multitude of females excelling in the field. One such example is US-based Guyanese (Captain) Beverley Drake, who knocked down the stereotype in her aviation career to prove that women can do a man’s job. Beverley, who grew up in Georgetown, in an interview with Guyana Times Sunday Magazine revealed that her father always wanted her to become a pilot, so he…
Dawnn Lewis is a popular actress and singer, perhaps best known for her roles on sitcoms such as A Different World and Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper. She was born on August 13, 1961 in Brooklyn, New York, to Guyanese parents Joyce and Carl Lewis. She attended the High School of Music & Art and graduated at age 16. After high school, Dawnn went on to the University of Miami where she graduated Magna Cum Laude. Career: Dawnn made…
In 2004 Maritza Correia McClendon made history when she became the first Black woman to earn a place on the U.S. Olympic Swim Team. She helped to secure the silver medal in the 400-meter freestyle relay at the Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Maritza was born on December 23, 1981 in San Juan, Puerto Rico to Guyanese parent, Vincent and Anne Correia. In 1988, when Maritza was seven years old, she was diagnosed with severe scoliosis which is…
As a young girl growing up in Georgetown, Guyana, Kelly-Ann Gibbs Cartwright had a talent for challenging others in conversation. “My parents always told me that I should be a lawyer because of my constant debating technique as a child,” she explains. Her family moved to the U.S. in 1978, and just a few years later when she was a junior in college, Kelly-Ann became seriously interested in following the career path her parents had envisaged. She attended the University…
Carmen Munroe is a British actress best known for her role as Shirley, the wife of barber Desmond Ambrose, played by Norman Beaton, in the British TV sitcom Desmond’s (1989 to 1994). She was born in Berbice, Guyana on November 12th, 1932 and has been a resident of the UK since the early 1950’s where she performed with the West Indian Students’ Drama Group. In 1962 she made her professional stage debut at London’s Wyndham’s Theatre in Tennessee Williams’…
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…
Windee Algernon will go down in history as Guyana’s first female army Colonel and the first full-serving female member of any of the Caribbean’s armed forces to hold such a rank. Colonel Algernon was promoted in the Guyana Defense Force from Substantive Lieutenant Colonel to this male dominated rank in January 20, 2012. Reflecting on this milestone, Colonel Algernon told reporters that she has been in the army since 1980, served in a number of appointments and underwent several training…
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…