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

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…

Avril Anande Trotman–Joseph is a Guyanese-born accomplished attorney-at-law, whose career spans over twenty-five years.  She is admitted to practice by the Bars of Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, Grenada and the British Virgin Islands.  A Founding Partner of Chapman and Trotman – Georgetown, Guyana, she was the President of the Guyana Bar Association, the Guyana Association of Women Lawyers, and the Tourism Association of Guyana and has been a consultant for USAID, UNICEF and the OAS…

Guyanese Asahi Pompey is the highest-ranking Black person at Goldman Sachs and has earned a well-deserved spot on the December 2024 inaugural ForbesBLK 50 list, celebrating the wealthiest and most impactful African Americans, reshaping industries, driving change, and inspiring communities. Sharing this coveted honor with global female icons like Beyoncé, Rihanna, Oprah Winfrey, and Shonda Rhimes, and trailblazing entrepreneurs like Iman Abuzeid, Thasunda Brown Duckett, and Mellody Hobson,  Pompey stands out as a corporate powerhouse, philanthropist, and role model….

With a yearning desire for success and the belief that anything is possible, 21 year old Rafieya’s ambitions include becoming a CPA ( Certified Public Accountant), owning and operating a Financial Business, winning Miss World, walking the Runways of Paris and Milan and to support a Non-Profit that focuses on children. With several titles to her name, she is no stranger to pageantry and describes herself as fearless, persistent and dedicated and practical. She is…

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…

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…

Ruth-Anne Lynch is a Guyanese travel writer and radio practitioner  based in England.  With parents from Guyana and Jamaica, she was educated in Guyana, Jamaica and the UK with degrees in International Tourism Management and Radio (Production and Management). In 2010, the writer embarked on a travel research tour of the three Guianas in South America, to update the Guianas chapter of Rough Guides’ South America on a Budget (2nd Ed.), published in August 2011. …

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…

Vannetta Seecharran has been influencing art and design in the jewellery field for nearly 20 years. Born in Guyana in 1969, the London-based jewellery teacher migrated at the age of 11 with her parents to New York City. She graduated in 1991 from the prestigious Parsons School of Art with a BA in Product Design, and in 1996 earned an MFA in Jewellery from State University of New York at New Paltz.   She later moved…

Congratulations to Dr. Paloma Mohamed, poet, playwright & educator on being named one of four honorees for the Anthony N. Sabga Caribbean Awards for Excellence (Arts & Letters).  Dr. Mohamed  is currently the Director of the Centre for Communication Studies at the University of Guyana. The Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Awards is the only programme in the Caribbean which seeks out and rewards outstanding nominees in Arts & Letters, Public & Civic Contributions, and Science…

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….

Sometimes, when Dionne Hammiel wants the attention of her rambunctious kindergarten class, she stands on the table. Other times, she lowers her voice to a whisper, making her instructions a very important secret that every child strains to hear. The hushed message at John Burroughs Education Campus in the District was utterly routine on a recent day: “We need to go to the bathroom, drink some water, come back, and pick out our books to…

(By Mondale Smith) From winning the Star Guyana show many moons ago to becoming a celebrated Guyanese artiste under the DP Records Label, Lisa Mary Johanna Punch is no stranger to the local music scene. Infact she has a new song set for release on Monday and eventually an an entire album featuring 12 songs to be released incrementally under the DP Records Label. That album album will be available on over 40 online music…

  Keisha Edwards has been designing from a very young age. As a child growing up in Guyana, she would sketch outfits and ask her mother to make them for her. Born on September 8th, 1986, Keisha grew up in North Ruimveldt and then moved to East Ruimveldt at the age of 7. One of 8 kids, Keisha treasures her friendship with her siblings, and still reminisces on her childhood and the good times they…

Educator, author, researcher, community advocate and TV and radio host Dr. Janice Emanuel-Bunn was born in Guyana and migrated to the United States in 1983 and settled in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. Dr. Emanuel-Bunn has always demonstrated great interest in the community by conducting mentoring, domestic violence prevention, health and youth empowerment programs for many years. She said her passion is to “sow seeds of greatness in others.” She has served the Seventh-day Adventist church in…