GGR Book Club: The Black Man Drought by Lorraine Jonelle Stephens

Mona Williams is a storyteller, children’s writer and educator whose action-packed stories and dramatic presentations enthrall audiences of all ages.  She covers a vast spectrum of stories including myths, legends and heroic tales; folk, fairy and wisdom stories, fables, riddles and autobiographical adventures. Born in the town of Mackenzie, Guyana on 27 July 1943,  Williams secured a place at the exclusive girls’ school Bishops. The school lends it name to her autobiography, Bishops: My Turbulent…

Saskia Christian is an accomplished Trauma Healing and Global Resilience Expert born in Georgetown, Guyana, and resided in Antigua and Barbuda in her early adulthood. She completed her undergraduate studies in Chemical Engineering at The University of The West Indies in Trinidad. With over 17 years of corporate visionary engineering leadership experience in the high-tech sector, Saskia has a track record of success and a passion for empowering others. Little did she know that her…

Bishops: My Turbulent Colonial Youth More books by Mona Williams:  Her list of books include: How we made a colour television show (1973); The turtle who longed to be a bird (1973); Christmas in Guyana (1974); The day I swam the river (1974); How the goat lost his voice (1974); Old Medicine (1974); The ant who refused titles (1975); Granny (1975); Father Martin Heale (1975); Old Bell (1975); When I went to the pictures (1975);…

Guyanese-born art curator Grace Aneiza Ali has made it her mission to create spaces for works of art that bring more visibility and awareness to the many experiences of the little-known Guyanese community across America. Migrating to Washington D.C. at the age of 14, her curatorial work heavily focuses on migration, particularly from Guyana, and examines the intersections at which art, activism and social change connect. Ali spoke with Brown Girl Magazine recently about the…

Rashada Harry is the Founder of  Your Future Your Ambition,  a social enterprise she created in 2012, which aims to encourage people from Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority backgrounds into Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) related careers.  Since its launch 6 years ago over 4500 students have attended the YFYA annual event.  The social enterprise has been recognized for its excellence and the directors as leaders and role models in STEM.  Rashada was motivated to…

“To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.” ~ Oscar Wilde

Congratulations Salma – You Rock! Salma Majeed of the ISA Islamic Academy School in Georgetown is the top performer out of the 16,811 students who sat the National Grade Six Assessment scoring 548 out of 560. Story: http://www.stabroeknews.com/2013/news/stories/06/07/samo-majeed-tops-grade-six/ .

Dr. Oneka LaBennett is Associate Professor of Africana Studies at Cornell University. She received her Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from Harvard University in 2002, and her B.A. in Sociology and Anthropology from Wesleyan University in 1994. Born in Guyana and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Dr. LaBennett’s research and teaching interests include popular culture; race, gender and consumption; urban anthropology; transnationalism and diaspora; and Caribbean migration. Dr. LaBennett is the author of She’s Mad Real:…

BMCC Student Government Association President, Okeema Humphrey’s ultimate goal  is to give back to the country of her birth, Guyana,  but in the meantime she’s sharing very smart advice with her peers. During her recent graduation ceremony,  Okeema told the class of 2015 “whether you are employed, unemployed, or moving on to higher education …  use what you learned at BMCC to be the best version of yourself that you can be.” Okeema is a…

Gertie Wood’s name has appeared at fleeting moments on the periphery of scholarship on the Guyanese women’s movement. As such not much has been said or published on the significant volume of work and activism she undertook for women and girls in British Guiana. Social worker, women’s rights activist, accomplished concert artist, and politician, Wood was sometimes the sole female voice articulating for women and equitable conditions of work in the period of her greatest…

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…

Farah Valentina Bates, who was recently crowned the first Miss Berbice 2017, hails from the smallest Town in Guyana, Rose Hall, but she has big dreams of making it on an international pageant stage and being her own boss someday. Born in July 1999, this tenacious 18-year-old is a second-year student at the University of Guyana pursuing her diploma in Public Management. She is the first born for her parents and has one sibling. This…

Guyanese Singer Lisa Punch named “Profile of the Year” in local New York Newspaper. This comes as no surprise as the young #RisingStar has had a fantastic year. Congratulations Lisa – Keep on Rocking in 2015!

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…

Understanding & Embracing Your Season of Singleness: Single, Saved & Young In a time where both the young and old are giving up on their dreams; Single, Saved & Young addresses these issues and more. Too many times we fail to turn to the only person that can make us better and to bring change in our lives. We look for temporary void fillers to relief the pain inflicted upon us while walking this pathway…