Guyanese Designer Sonia Noel Hosted Caribbean Fashion Showcase at Brooklyn Borough Hall

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…

We are so proud of the young women in Guyana as they continue to exceed academically. President’s College student Shalita Appadu, 18, of Corentyne, Berbice, has topped this year’s CAPE examinations. Appadu, a former student of the New Amsterdam Multilateral Secondary School, scored six grade ones and one grade two at the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE). In 2011, Shalita obtained 15 grade ones at this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations. Congratulations Shalita…

The extraordinary life of Baroness Valerie Amos has taken her from the small island of Wakenaam at the mouth of the Essequibo River in Guyana to the House of Lords. It is a journey that includes time spent at the United Nations headquarters in New York and the British High Commission in Australia. She has now returned to London where she has become the first black director of a British University at the School of…

Born in Guyana, Sharmilla Persaud, with a little unwilling help from her mother, discovered her love of fashion at an early age. Finding the perfect artistic playground in her mother’s colorful saris and jewelry, a young Sharmilla went to work cutting and combining them into her own creations. At five, she moved with her family to New York, and now credits the streets of Manhattan for lending an urban edge to her aesthetic as a…

The courage and passion that singer, Lisa Punch, showed during her appearance on the “Rising Star” TV Show inspired me to share this quote.  In just 6-months of living in a foreign country, she fearlessly took to the international stage and showed her fans and the world that nothing is impossible. Always remember that “If you have a dream, don’t just sit there. Gather courage to believe that you can succeed and leave no stone…

Oscar Wilde said it best “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” You should be your own biggest cheerleader. Forget about what you look like and be proud of who you are! Stop trying to measure up. The only person you have to compete with is yourself and always remember that You Rock!

B.G. is British Guiana; Bhagee is a fiery local stew. Philippa was the second daughter in a family of six children growing up in mid-20th century in colonial Guyana. She recounts her Sisyphean trials growing up a Carrington in Lot 10, First Street, Georgetown — from the women’s battles to the neighbours that never wore clothes to the relatives who walked with their shoes in their hands. B.G. Bhagee: Memories of a Colonial Childhood About…

Guyanese Girl Lisa Mary Johanna Punch wowed the judges and viewers last night  during the premiere of  ABC’s new singing show Rising Star,  belting out Whitney Houston’s “How Will I Know” to move on to the second round of the competition.  Lisa, who was born in Guyana, migrated with her family to the USA only 6 months ago and made it to the top 30 out of 40,000 auditions. The  Rising Star show follows a group…

A Resourceful Woman Who Faces Her Fears Head-On. Nathaalie Carey is the Deputy Commissioner for Administration and Chief Financial Officer at NYS Department of Labor. She manages the agency’s $4 billion portfolios and oversees internal operations. Nathaalie previously served as a member of Governor Cuomo’s NYS Women’s Pay Equity Panel and was the Assistant Comptroller for Local Government and School Accountability.  In 2018 the YWCA of the Greater Capital Region, Inc. named Nathaalie “Resourceful Woman of…

The Guyana National Cultural Center was ablaze  with talent on Monday evening for the “Let the Women Speak” Red Revolution Gala. Women from all over the country showed up decked out in a sea of red as a sign of solidarity and strength for the fight against domestic violence. The crowd was treated to live performances by local and overseas talent including poetry by 2014 Youth Poet Laureate, Ramya Ramana, choreographed dancing, skits and several…

Ingrid Pollard is an artist and photographer who uses portraiture and traditional landscape imagery to explore social constructs such as Britishness and racial difference. She was born in Georgetown, Guyana in 1953 and moved to England when she was four years old. Ingrid became interested in photography when she took her father’s box camera on a camping trip. Some of her first photographs were of the sewage works and wood yards along the Lee Valley…

She’s Mad Real: Popular Culture and West Indian Girls in Brooklyn In She’s Mad Real, Oneka LaBennett draws on over a decade of researching teenage West Indian girls in the Flatbush and Crown Heights sections of Brooklyn to argue that Black youth are in fact strategic consumers of popular culture and through this consumption they assert far more agency in defining race, ethnicity, and gender than academic and popular discourses tend to acknowledge. Importantly, LaBennett…

 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…

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…

Whether you are having a destination wedding on a tropical island of the Caribbean, or in a Luxury Hotel or Mansion in New York, London, Paris, Jordan, Dubai, or just an intimate celebration in a Boutique Hotel overlooking snow covered peaks of Aspen, Lydia Short is your Planner and Designer.​ Born and raised in Guyana, Lydia moved to New York in 1988.  She is the Owner and CEO of  TTT  Event Planning, LLC; a full…