Girls Night Out: How to Rock Your GGR Tank Top

Donna Makeda is definitely a musical force to be reckoned with. She was born in Kwakwani and grew up in New Amsterdam, Berbice, Guyana. Donna started singing and performing over 25 years ago, her foundation in music came from the church, which she attended when she was a little girl. Donna started out as a dancer; she was trained in Afro-Caribbean Dance, Modern Dance, Folk Dance, Kathak and Classical Ballet. At age 16, she opened…

Owner and principal designer of Shasha Designs (shashadesigns.com), Keisha Edwards, says she has always had a designer’s mind. Born in Georgetown, Guyana, she recalls, as a child, sketching outfits and asking her mother, a seamstress, to bring her creations to life. In fact, coming from a line of seamstresses and tailors has given her an almost hereditary talent. She taught herself to sew, and the art of design, she says, came from God. “The seed…

ABOUT THE BOOK:  The Storm Within is a collection of poems that touch on various life themes. The emotional drama of life is expressed in themes ranging from romantic love to love of God and includes others such as joy, rejection,pain, childhood, parenthood, and emotional turmoil. The work is titled after one of the poems in the book. It was chosen because the book reflects life as it is often experienced, but rarely expressed—life as…

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!

Sasha Wintz, 18, who is born to Guyanese parents, was crowned Miss World BVI 2015 on Sunday, October 3rd. She is known for her stunning performance at BET Music Matters last year and her ‘Beauty with a Purpose’ project will be focused on persons with special needs. During her introduction, the teenager shared her personal experience, having an 8 year-old nephew who has Down Syndrome. Her nephew, Jaquan Wintz also shared the stage with Wintz after…

Guyanese, Debra Amata, received the top score out of 836 students who sat for the SEA examination in Tobago this year.  She scored 238.298 points and told the media her success was due to her spirituality, parents and teachers.  Debra moved to Tobago in 2014 with her parents, who are both medical doctors at the Scarborough General Hospital in Tobago.  Her mother, Dr Vivienne Amata, said her daughter was a well-rounded student and she was very proud of her…

Author Jan Lowe Shinebourne is a Guyanese novelist who was born in Canje, Berbice, Guyana and was educated at Berbice High School and the University of Guyana. After school she was a reporter in Georgetown. She began writing in the mid-1960s and in 1974 she was a prize-winner in the National History and Arts Council Literary Competition. In 1970 she emigrated to London, England. She did postgraduate literary studies at the University of London. She…

Tarana Dance Centre was a vision brought to life by Artistic Director, Deviekha Chetram.  Born and raised in Alexander Village, Guyana, Deviekha has always demonstrated a keen interest in Indian dance since childhood and developed her own free style as she performed and choreographed dances for local events in Guyana. This enthusiasm led her to seek formal training in Kathak at the Indian Cultural Centre, Georgetown, Guyana. She considers herself lucky to have received her…

 It was out of the need to connect with Guyanese who were interested in seeing films by Guyanese and Caribbean filmmakers that the Timehri Film Festival was born three years ago, according to Romola Lucas, one of its founders. And while the business community and the government And while the business community and the government have not fully bought in to the festival financially, Lucas is heartened by the response at the community level, in…

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…

Guyanese, Iris de Freitas, was the first female lawyer in the Caribbean and possible The chance discovery on eBay of a postcard featuring a portrait of a young black woman in university robes has led a Welsh university to honour one of its alumni. As part of its International Women’s Day celebrations on Tuesday 8 March 2016 Aberystwyth University,  a public research university in Aberystwyth, Wales officially named a room in honour of Iris de…

Why wait to be someone else’s queen when you can be your own queen!  The word Queen means woman – any women – a woman with or without riches, fame, position; women from any background, color or creed; women limbless or able-bodied; a Queen of her domain, a Queen to her King; her husband, a Queen is a woman, a woman is a Queen (Wisdom Beyond Being).  So what’s stopping you from being the queen…

Too often people mistake Guyana for Ghana.  During  a recent trip to Florida, I was having a conversation with a colleague about the Mashramani celebrations in Guyana and she said to me “that’s in Africa right?”  I’ve also been asked quite a few times “what other language do you speak in Guyana?  That’s why I decided to put together this synopsis  to enlighten some folks on the difference between “Guyana” in South America and the African nation…

When she entered her guidance counselor’s office earlier this year, it was not a big revelation. Bibi Sulaman, a senior at Jamaica Gateway to the Sciences High School, had met with her counselor to verify her credits and classes before graduating this June. Casually, her counselor revealed that she was valedictorian of her class of around 150 students. “It wasn’t a surprise,” said Bibi. “[Being valedictorian] wasn’t my goal. I just tried to do my…

Dr. Alisha Griffith, affectionately referred to as “Dr. Alisha”, is a compassionate professionally trained educator, speech language pathologist, and audiologist.  Over a span of nearly two decades, she has assisted countless people from all walks of life to overcome various challenges, empowering them to live their lives to the fullest. Dr. Alisha was born in Stillwater Oklahoma after both of her parent left Guyana on scholarship awards to study abroad.  Her mother, Ismay Griffith and father, Charles Griffith; returned to Guyana…