The Sisterhood

Three women, Janet Jagan, Jane Phillips Gay and Jessica Burnham, were the first females elected as Members of British Guiana Parliament in May 1953 after  the first universal adult suffrage elections were held in the same year. Former first lady Janet Jagan became the first female Deputy Speaker of the Legislature in 1953; the first female Prime Minister in March 1997 and the first female President of Guyana in December 1997.  Jane Phillips-Gay was a…

New York-based lawyer Denise M. Grant was born in Guyana and is a Partner in the  Project Development & Finance Group, Shearman & Sterling,LLP. She is the daughter of Guyana’s former ambassador to the United States, the late Hon. Cedric Grant and the second oldest of four girls (three of whom are lawyers). Denise was raised in England before migrating to the United States in 1982 where she graduated with an International Relations degree from…

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…

Submitted by daughter, Darcy George Yvette Irving was born and raised at Saxacalli Mission on the Essequibo River. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Laboratory Science from Lake Head University in Toronto Canada as well as a Masters of Medical Science degree majoring in Pathology from Charles Stuart University in Australia. Yvette wanted to be of service in her homeland and later returned to Guyana where she held the position of Director…

An accomplished, well-respected Guyanese Television Host/Producer, Tanuja Raghoo began her tenure in the television industry nearly 25 years ago. She is the proud Founder and President of Caribbean Spotlight Television Programming, the first full-service Indo-Caribbean Media Network in New York, launched in 1986, which airs several television programs on two Time Warner Channels, Channel 96 and ITV Channel 77. Tanuja first entered the business as a co-host with her father, Eshri Singh, also a legendary…

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. …

Linisa George is a creative outburst of energy. Born in Guyana, Linisa migrated with her family to Antigua, the island where she calls home, at the tender age of 4. She wrote in secret from the age of 6; her poems were her escape from a world that she didn’t think she fit into. It wasn’t until 2003 while living in Toronto where she discovered the writings of the amazing Maya Angelou, that she realised…

Female Officers of the Guyana Defence Force and the Guyana Police Force at the National Park on May 26, 2013 Source:  Stabroek News  – Photos by Arian Browne        .

The Honourable Madam Justice Désirée Bernard, a citizen of Guyana, was born on 2 March 1939. A lawyer by profession, she began her career in 1963 when she attained a Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of London.  Qualifying as a solicitor in 1964, Justice Bernard engaged in private practice in the High Court of the Supreme Court of Guyana from 1965 to 1980. During that period, she was appointed a Magistrate (1970), Commissioner of…

Congratulations Yvette Irving and daughter, Darcy George, grand prize winners of the “My Guyanese Mom Rock Contest! Runner up contestants Odetta Abiola Young and Angela McPherson will also each receive a GGR T-shirt. .

UK-based Guyanese Jurist Dale Simon, Chairperson of the United Kingdom Chapter of the Guyana Law Association (GLA) and Director of Equality and Diversity of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), has been awarded a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2013 Queen’s New Year Honours List! Growing up in London’s East End, Dale overcame barriers such as racism and low expectations to excel as a Crown prosecutor. These experiences left her with a desire…

Elizabeth Jaikaran is a New York-based author and lawyer who has  published work across a spectrum of print and digital media.   She began writing at a very young age and published her first article to Stardust Magazine when she was only eight years old.  Elizabeth has since published fiction, nonfiction, comedy, poetry and legal commentary. She is a proud child of Guyanese immigrants, born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Queens. Elizabeth is most…

Joy-Ann (“Joy”) Reid is the former managing editor of TheGrio.com and host of the AM Joy show on MSNBC.  She is also a political columnist for the Miami Herald and editor of the political blog The Reid Report and is known for her very insightful and liberal political views.  Joy was born to an African father from the Congo, and her late mother was from Guyana. Joy has also worked as an Internet news editor…

Submitted by daughter, Florence James My mom is an ambitious, strong black woman and a one of a kind person. She taught me how to respect myself and how to detect right from wrong without her around. She showed me that a woman can be a woman without a man in her life. She provided for me and my other 5 siblings and she did a great job at it because today two of my…

Guyanese-born media powerhouse and business mogul, Felicia Juanita Persaud, has made notable achievements and strides in the Investment and PR industries.   The 39 year old award-winning journalist is  the founder  CaribPR Wire; a PR and news agency focused on the distinct Caribbean, Caribbean American and ethnic marketplace,  Hard Beat Communications; a Special Events, Promotions and Digital Media Solutions Company and Invest Caribbean Now, a company that connects global investors with investment opportunities in the…