Happy Birthday to Our Beautiful Guyana!

Among the senior vice presidents at Rockwell Collins; the Iowa-based provider of avionics and information technology systems and services, Nan Mattai is the only woman. “Just the thought that something I say or do may change a life inspires me to be the best I can be,” Ms. Mattai, the Senior Vice President for Engineering and Technology, wrote in an email interview. “So, as a successful woman in a traditionally male-dominated field, I will try…

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…

Kite Flying in the Village: A Guyanese Girl’s Story A Guyanese Girl’s Story is a series of short stories from my childhood. One of my favorite is “Kite Flying in the Village”. Kite flying is a family outing for many in Guyana, South America. Easter is a very special holiday in my village of Vreedenhoop in which the children of many ages make and decorate kites to fly in celebration of Easter. Another part of…

US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris received her COVID-19 vaccine live on television Tuesday and urged the public to trust the process.  A mask-wearing Harris received the first of her two shots at United Medical Center, located in an area of Washington, DC with a large African-American population. Her husband Doug Emhoff was also to be vaccinated. Patricia Cummings, clinical nurse manager at United Medical Center, administered the vaccine. Cummings was born in Guyana and is…

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…

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);…

SOURCE: ABC7NY Crystal Cranmore is the Race and Culture Reporter for WABC-TV’s Eyewitness News, New York’s #1 News. Crystal is thrilled to be back home to tell your stories as a member of the legendary Channel 7 Eyewitness News Team – a dream come true! She was born in Manhattan and raised in Maplewood, N.J. Prior to joining WABC-TV, Crystal reported for KYW-TV in Philadelphia. She chased breaking news, covered general assignment and feature stories,…

Zorena Jagnandan, who is Guyanese, and her staff offer many different medical and nonmedical services — wound care, occupational and physical therapy, nursing care, post-surgical care, speech therapy, medical social worker, shopping and errands, cooking and meal planning, help for new and expectant parents, light cleaning, help with paperwork, assistance to outside medical appointments, laundry, help with bathing and companionship. Jagnandan’s background in nursing and her experience in different nursing settings is what helped her…

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…

Award winning singer/songwriter Maiko Watson brings a fresh take on soul music to the Canadian independent music scene. Whether performing with a band or minimal instrumentation, her radiant sultry voice shines through… delivering a powerful, earthy, organic sound that sets her apart from the rest. Born on April 29, 1981 in Georgetown, Guyana Maiko’s family migrated to Canada when she was just a few months old. Maiko has sung her entire life, and started singing…

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…

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….

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…

The year was nineteen seventy-five. Barren couple, Pearl and Edward Riley stumbled upon a newborn baby girl. Her cries could only be heard by a true mother, which Pearl immediately became. Bundled up with their new child, they discovered a parcel of artifacts and a scribbled note that read: Sakkara. Pregnant seamstress, Petrina Dugal, became a runaway at the age of twenty-six. She ran away from a brutish husband, Roger, and a well-loved South American…

Guyanese Girl ShaMain needs your Vote to Win. Go to http://www.dmvlife.com/bestrbartist.html and Vote. She Rocks!  Check out her story here. Listen to her sing > http://www.dmvlife.com/shamain1.htmlbird/