Singer Shamain Greaves: Nominated Best R&B Artist 2013 by DMV Life

Guyanese born Catherine Pollard has a new top position at the United Nations.   UN Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Catherine Pollard of Guyana as the next Under-Secretary-General for Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance.  She will succeed Jan Beagle of New Zealand to whom the Secretary-General is deeply grateful for her extraordinary work in management reform in the United Nations system and 40 years of dedicated service to the Organization. Ms. Pollard brings to the position…

A family that braids together stays together!  The braiding technique developed by the talented Smith sisters has made them a household name in Kansas City, Missouri and earned them a well-deserved feature in the May issue of Allure Magazine.  Originally from Linden, the five sisters (Glynnis, Shelly, Rhonda, Alecia and Leslyn Smith) are the powerhouse stylists at “Braid Heaven” Hair Salon who have perfected the “bubble braiding” technique.  Here’s their story by Allure Magazine. They…

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…

Dame Sybil Theodora Phoenix DBE, MBE (born Sybil Marshall, 21 June 1927) is a British community worker. She was born in British Guiana (Guyana), and grew up in Georgetown. She and her fiancé Joe Phoenix moved to England in 1956, and married in June of that year.  In 1973 she became the first black woman to receive an MBE (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) from Queen Elizabeth II.  Dame Phoenix initially refused to…

Meet Domini Alleyne, 2014 Miss Barbados Senior Fitness Queen. The 30 year old fitness model, who reings from Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo and Den Amstel West Coast Demerara in Guyana, migrated to Barbados at age 13. She later returned to Guyana and in 2011 worked briefly for the local HJTV television channel and was also a fashion model. However, chronic overeating following a failed marriage propelled Domini to embark on her fitness journey. Here’s Domini…

Dr. Faith Azelia Harding leaves behind a legacy of impressive political accomplishments and passionate advocacy. A former Minister and PNCR’s first female presidential candidate, Dr. Harding was one of Guyana’s leading political advocate for issues affecting women and children. Born on October 5, 1947 in Georgetown, Guyana to Egbert and Beryl Blackmore, she was the sixth child of a very closely knitted family which consist of three brothers and three sisters. Dr. Harding attended St….

Award winning London-born saxophonist and composer Nubya Garcia makes the cover of Jazzwise Magazine.  The September issue  features an interview with Nubya, one of the leading forces behind the resurgence of jazz-influenced sounds in the UK.  Nubya was born in 1991 in the Camden district of northwest London to a Guyanese mother, Loraine Jansen (Bishops High School alumni); and former civil servant, and a British Trinidadian film maker father. Garcia followed her older siblings to the local…

Grace Aneiza Ali is the founder and editor of  OfNoteMagazine.org, an online magazine that celebrates people of color in the arts. She was born in Guyana and moved to the United States when she was fourteen years old. Having grown up surrounded by a culture of illiteracy among women, she is committed to the work of educating girls in developing nations. Grace launched Of Note in 2009 as a platform to honor “artists whose work values compassion,…

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…

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:…

Kenise Etwaru was born in Guyana and emigrated with her parents at age nine along with her sister who was then six in order that they would have greater education opportunities.  They wanted to ensure them having the best possible opportunities in life.  They left a very comfortable life at the church her father Pastor Lionel Etwaru and his wife Margaret had started for a completely new life in a new country.  Seeing them persevere…

From Stabroek News Archive When she married David Granger, Sandra Chan-A-Sue knew she was going to be a military wife which meant her husband would be away from home a lot of the time. But what she did not know was that forty years down the line she would be married to a politician, still with the name of David Granger. “I did not believe him…” the then 62-year-old Sandra Granger told the Sunday Stabroek…

Ruth-Anne Lynch is a Guyanese travel writer and radio practitioner  based in England.  With parents from Guyana and Jamaica, she was educated in Guyana, Jamaica and the UK with degrees in International Tourism Management and Radio (Production and Management). In 2010, the writer embarked on a travel research tour of the three Guianas in South America, to update the Guianas chapter of Rough Guides’ South America on a Budget (2nd Ed.), published in August 2011. …

As the Executive Director of the Guyanese & American Business & Professional Council (GABPC), Shanie Persaud works tirelessly to develop stronger ties between Guyana and the United States in an effort to forge a closer relationship between the business and professional communities of both nations. GABPC is the first and leading Guyanese-American business organization that provides a vast array of services aimed at promoting and advancing business relations between Guyanese and Americans. Persaud move to…

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…