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

Maya Tiwari (born April 16, 1952 in Liverpool Village, Guyana) is a humanitarian, world peace leader and author. Also called “Mother Maya,” she is an international teacher of Ayurveda, a health activist and the founder of the Wise Earth School of Ayurveda and Mother Om Mission.   Biography Maya Tiwari was born in Guyana, the daughter of Brahmin priest Pandit Bhagawan Ramprasad Tiwari, whose family originated from Lucknow, India. Thereafter, she became a fashion designer…

Flora Zeta Zhang Elizabeth Tian Ai Cheong-Leen was born in Hong Kong in 1959.  Her father Hilton Cheong-Leen was born in Georgetown, British Guyana but is of Chinese descent and her mother Pauline Chow is from Beijing. Flora graduated from The Royal Ballet in the UK and at the Paris Opera in France. She starred as the lead actress in movies such as: “Life After Life”, “Duel to the Death”, “Chasing Girl” and “Return of…

Last night Lisa Punch was crowned Miss World Guyana 2015 during a coronation ceremony held at the Marriott Hotel in Georgetown, Guyana. The Miss World Guyana Committee decided not to hold a pageant this year, but to select a delegate instead, a practice which is not uncommon. The newly crowned Queen is a former Bishops High School student, is a talented singer and became well known around the world when she was a contestant on…

In celebration of National Nurses Week, we honor all of the amazing women in the field. Ameela Singh is the Owner/Nurse Practitioner at Carpe Diem Concierge Medicine; a concierge/house-call medical service for adults in Maryland that she launched in early 2017. “I’m excited because this practice allows you to have a deep relationship with your medical provider, which is a golden opportunity today. Knowledge is power, and knowledge about your health sustains life.” ~ Ameela…

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…

Fifteen year old Table Tennis Star, Chelsea Edghill, was introduced to the sport at the tender age of 9, and she has served up quite an impressive career record. The Bishop’s High School student first got her start at the Teach Them Young training Summer Camp and later at Mae’s where she regularly competed for the school. In 2006,  Edghill made her first regional appearance at the inaugural tournament of the annual Caribbean Pre-Cadet Table…

Stabroek News – La Jalousie, West Coast Demerara resident Sasha Mahadeo was admitted to the local bar after Attorney General Anil Nandlall presented a petition on her behalf to Justice Navindra Singh. Mahadeo, who is the daughter of ND&S Furniture Store owner Parasram Mahadeo, is a former student of Queen’s College and School of the Nations. She completed her Cambridge A-levels programme at the latter mentioned learning institution. She successfully completed her LLB Degree in…

Guyanese, Tracey Lewis, of Engine 222 in Bedford-Stuyvesant Brooklyn has become the second black female in the department’s history to be promoted to Lieutenant.   Lewis has been a firefighter for 17 years, starting off as a cadet in 1997. She was an emergency medical technician before joining Engine 222. “You encounter resistance every day, but I can’t let that stop me from going forward,” Lewis said during  the promotion ceremony at the Christian Cultural…

During the colonial period in Guyana, the country’s coastal lands were worked by enslaved Africans and indentured Indians. In Creole Indigeneity, Shona N. Jackson investigates how their descendants, collectively called Creoles, have remade themselves as Guyana’s new natives, displacing indigenous peoples in the Caribbean through an extension of colonial attitudes and policies. Looking particularly at the nation’s politically fraught decades from the 1950s to the present, Jackson explores aboriginal and Creole identities in Guyanese society….

Roxanne Jacqueline Persaud was elected to the  New York State Assembly in November 2014. In January, 2015 she was sworn in as the first female, first black, first Guyanese to hold the position of Assembly member for the 59th Assembly District in Brooklyn, New York . Assemblywoman Persaud is a longtime advocate for her community and an avid volunteer. Her dedication to serving her community has motivated her to serve in various capacities. Assemblywoman Persaud …

via www.ustimesnow.com Born in Guyana and raised in Toronto, where she lives, Samantha McGregor was always destined to be great. She started off her journey to success bright and early. Now, she is an accomplished Email marketing expert and digital strategist with a solid background in Customer Success, SaaS, and marketing technology. She started her consultancy firm sometime in 2019, and she soon discovered that she has a passion for bringing big business strategies to…

Lisa Punch is a talented singer, songwriter, dancer and actress. She was born on September 4, 1992 in Guyana; the daughter of John Errol Punch and Nafieza Aiana Daniels and is the eldest of five siblings. Lisa spent the first few years of her life in Berbice before relocating to Georgetown. By age 11, she was performing across the country and appearing on local TV shows such as Talent Exclusive. At her alma mater, North Georgetown Secondary…

Marcie De Santos started designing over five years ago. She always had a passion for unique clothes, so she started by designing for herself and soon realized that she had a flair for designing. She prides herself in the uniqueness of the color blends that she uses. Her target is mainly women whose desire is to exude femininity in unique, exuberant, eye catching styles. The Guyana Fashion Week (GFW) 2008 was her debut runway show…

Three women, Janet Jagan, Jane Phillips Gay and Jessica Burnham, were the first females elected as Members of British Guiana Parliament in May 1953 after  the first universal adult suffrage elections were held in the same year. Former first lady Janet Jagan became the first female Deputy Speaker of the Legislature in 1953; the first female Prime Minister in March 1997 and the first female President of Guyana in December 1997.  Jane Phillips-Gay was a…

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…