Happy New Year! Rock on in 2015!

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…

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);…

Soyini George is the designer behind the Washington, DC, handmade baby brand, Yinibini Baby. As a little girl growing up in Guyana, Soyini’s learned to sew from watching her Great Aunt Jean cut, pin and put fabrics together to create stylish clothing.  That was just the beginning of Soyini’s love for art, design and color. One year after graduating from college, and with $100, a dining room table and tons of motivation, she started the Yinibini brand of…

Kaieteur News, October 18, 2018 Guyana has yet another year claimed the top spot at the regionally offered Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination [CAPE]. The top performer is Aadilah Ali, a consistently outstanding student of Queen’s College. According to information released by the Caribbean Examinations Council [CXC], the administrator of the examination, Guyana’s Ali, by virtue of being the most outstanding regional CAPE performer, is the winner of the Dennis Irvine Award. This award, according to…

A few weeks ago, people across America celebrated Veterans Day in honors military personnel who served in the United States Armed Forces, but sometimes life after service isn’t easy. That’s where Sharmin Prince comes in. As the program director for veterans services at Volunteers of America-Greater New York, Sharmin is running the Battle Buddy Bridge, a peer-to-peer program that trains veterans to help other veterans deal with a mental health diagnosis. “In basic training, you are…

Celebrity choreographer and actress Shakira Marshall combined her passion for African and Caribbean dance into a class. Marshall, who is of Guyanese ancestry, now shares her love of dances from the diaspora as an instructor at the Center for African and Diaspora Dance in Brooklyn. NY-based video reporter, Melissa Noel, (also a Guyanese Girl) recently caught up with Marshall at her studio and witness her in action. Check out the video. Shakira grew up in…

On Tuesday June 26, 2018, Queen Elizabeth II presented Guyanese Marva Langevine with a Queen’s Young Leaders Award at a special ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London. According to her bio published on www.queensyoungleaders.com, Marva is transforming the lives of bereaved, sick and underprivileged children and families in Guyana. She is the founder of the Guyana Golden Lives Organization, which she has used to open up a national conversation about the loss of a loved one…

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…

Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame 2012 Inductee, Charmaine Hooper, was born on January 15, 1968, in Georgetown, Guyana. She was raised in Ottawa, Canada, and is a former striker for the Canadian Women’s National Soccer Team. She began playing soccer as a child in Zambia, where her father was posted with the Guyana High Commission. Known as one of the world’s most lethal strikers throughout her career, Charmaine has been a fixture on the Canadian…

Samantha Cross is a new up and coming triple threat singer/songwriter and dancer who goes by the name SCross. She was born in Linden at Mackenzie Hospital, but now lives in Canada. Growing up Samantha always knew that she wanted to be an entertainer. She started singing at the age of 8 and performed her  first solo with her church choir. Over the years, Samantha has performed at many venues including some well known clubs,…

Maya A. Trotz, Ph.D., born in Georgetown, Guyana is an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of South Florida (USF), Tampa. She works at the nexus of geochemistry/water quality and global/community sustainability and education with current and previous student research projects in Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Bolivia, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, and Peru. She currently holds a patent on “Functional composites formed from colloidal polymer particles with photocatalytic metal oxide nanoparticles.” Dr….

Dr. Marilyn Fraser is the Chief Executive Officer at the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center and the co-Director of the Brooklyn Health Disparities Center. In her previous capacities as the Deputy Director and the Associate Director for Research & Training, she was primarily responsible for overseeing the Institute’s community outreach and research programs. In March 2019,  Dr.  Fraser was named…

London-based saxophonist and composer, Nubya Garcia, is one of the leading forces behind the resurgence of jazz-influenced sounds in the UK. Raised in a creative environment built by a set of Caribbean parents, her brand of afro-tinged Jazz has made her a key component in a string of new and established groups: from work with MOBO Award-winning drummer, Moses Boyd, legendary Jungle producer and toaster, Congo Natty, through to her own works as part of…

WASHINGTON, DC June 10, 2018 (CMC)  — Guyanese American television host Joy-Ann Reid has been inducted into the into the “Wall of Fame” of the Washington-based Institute of Caribbean Studies (ICS)  Reid, is also a political analyst, journalist, and national correspondent for MSNBC. Reid was born in Brooklyn, New York to a father from the Democratic Republic of Congo and a Guyanese mother. She graduated from Harvard University in Massachusetts with a concentration in film…

Born on January 16, 1982, Thara Natalie Prashad, musically known as Thara, is an American R&B singer/ songwriter/actress of Guyanese Heritage. Her father is Indo-Guyanese and her mother is part Irish and part African-American. While pursuing degrees in biology and acting at Fordham University, the sassy singer gave up her scholarship to pursue a music career.  Thara impressed DJ Clue of Desert Storm Label with her audition and was offered a music contract in 2004….