born in Guyana

31 Oct: She Rock! Marian Joan Burnett: Two-Time Olympic Middle Distance Runner

Marian Joan Burnett (born 22 February 1976 in Linden) is a Guyanese middle-distance runner who specializes in the 800 and 1500 metres. She competed in the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympic Games, reaching the second heat of the 800 metres on both occasions. She won the first of her three national Sportswoman of the Year awards in 1998 including being a national champion in two sports – track & field and bodybuilding & fitness. In…

21 Oct: She Rocks! Gaiutra Bahadur – Award Winning Author/Journalist/Book Critic

Gaiutra Bahadur is a New York-based Guyanese-born journalist and book critic who writes frequently about the culture and politics of global migration. Her reporting, criticism and essays have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Washington Post Book World, The Nation, The Virginia Quarterly Review, The (London) Observer and Ms., among other publications. Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture is her first full-length book. A former daily newspaper staff writer, Gaiutra has covered schools,…

16 Oct: She Rocks! Chelsea Edghill: 2013 Junior Sportswoman of the Year – Table Tennis

Fifteen year old Table Tennis Star, Chelsea Edghill, was introduced to the sport at the tender age of 9, and she has served up quite an impressive career record. The Bishop’s High School student first got her start at the Teach Them Young training Summer Camp and later at Mae’s where she regularly competed for the school. In 2006,  Edghill made her first regional appearance at the inaugural tournament of the annual Caribbean Pre-Cadet Table…

22 Jul: She Rocks! Meet Nan Mattai – Aerospace Engineer, Avionic Magazine First-Ever Woman of the Year

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…

15 Jul: She Rocks! Deborah Misir, Former Ethics Attorney at the White House Counsel’s Office, Bush Administration

Deborah Nirmala Misir is a Guyanese/American attorney and founding partner of Lally & Misir, LLP. She is the daughter of New Amsterdam, Guyana-based attorney Jorawar Misir. A leading federal litigator and expert on administrative, constitutional and government regulatory law, she has over fifteen years of experience in both government and private practice, including briefing over seventy federal appeals cases up to and including the U.S. Supreme Court, and making seventeen federal appellate oral arguments. She…

10 Apr: She Rocks! Ruth-Anne Lynch, International Travel Writer and Radio Practitioner

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. …

26 Feb: Women in History: Pat Cameron: Radio Broadcaster/Actor/Poet & Celebrator of Guyanese Folk Traditions

Before there was American Idol, there was Pat Cameron, who as host of the influential radio show, `On Show Young Guyana,` helped give recognition to the musical abilities of many young Guyanese. Pat was born on October 3, 1924 to Lilian Gertrude Christiani and Henry Perot Christiani. A Bishop’s High School graduate, she  worked in the Guyana Civil Service and was trained as a Social Welfare Officer in Jamaica. She entered the world of broadcasting…

15 Feb: Women in History: Valerie Rodway – Patriotic and Classical Music Composer

Ms. Valerie Rodway (1919-1970) was a teacher and Guyanese composer.  She is best known for her national songs, which include, “O Beautiful Guyana,” “Kanaïma,” “Hymn for Guyana’s Children,” “Arise, Guyana,” and “Guyana the Free.  She also put to music the famed Guyanese independence poem by Martin Carter, “Let Freedom Awaken.” Ms. Rodway was a member of one of those families whose contributions to Guyana are still evident. Her father, Newton Berthier Fraser was born in…

11 Feb: She Rocks: Actress, Storyteller Patricia Gomes is a Special Person

  Born in Guyana in January 1923,  Patricia Gomes has purposefully dedicated more than half of her life to theatre and along the way has been quite accomplished in other areas. She has, as they say, “done it all” – from stage plays to storytelling to dancing her life away, much to the enjoyment of the audiences she thrilled.  In 2010, Ms. Gomes was named by “Special Person”  by Kaieteur News, and in an interview…