Understanding & Embracing Your Season of Singleness: Single, Saved & Young

Sixteen year old swimmer Onika George, was Guyana’s only swimmer at the 2014 Commonwealth Games last month in Glasgow, Scotland.  She finished 4th in the Women’s 50m Freestyle – Heat 2 and 5th in the Women’s 100m Freestyle.  What’s commendable about Onika is her determination to inspire her fellow Guyanese to take up swimming Onika  was part of the small Guyana team in Glasgow and the only athlete in the pool after men’s freestyle and…

Born in Guyana, Sharmilla Persaud, with a little unwilling help from her mother, discovered her love of fashion at an early age. Finding the perfect artistic playground in her mother’s colorful saris and jewelry, a young Sharmilla went to work cutting and combining them into her own creations. At five, she moved with her family to New York, and now credits the streets of Manhattan for lending an urban edge to her aesthetic as a…

Vannetta Seecharran has been influencing art and design in the jewellery field for nearly 20 years. Born in Guyana in 1969, the London-based jewellery teacher migrated at the age of 11 with her parents to New York City. She graduated in 1991 from the prestigious Parsons School of Art with a BA in Product Design, and in 1996 earned an MFA in Jewellery from State University of New York at New Paltz.   She later moved…

Cindy Rajkuma, a dual-enrollment student who graduated from Valencia College and Ocoee High School in Orlando, is determined to get into medical school. “Becoming a doctor has always been my career path,” says Cindy, who will begin classes at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in January 2016, right after she completes an internship in Washington, D.C., with the National Institutes of Health. She doesn’t have to worry about paying for college because Cindy has been named…

“My name is Raaqima Mc Rae and I migrated to New York from Guyana four years ago. Today (June 25th, 2014) was my graduation, I graduated with honors. Adjusting to this new environment was definitely not easy, but the challenge was worth it. I am proud to say that this Fall I would be attending Johnson and Wales University to major in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Management, and minor in Pre-Law and Spanish. If I…

Professional bodybuilder, Alana Shipp, has muscled her way to the top echelon of  Women’s Body Building in just a few years.   Born in 1982 in Barbados to Guyanese parents, Alana spent her early childhood in Guyana prior to moving to Queens, New York at age 11. After graduating high school, Alana enlisted in the US Marine Corps and spent almost 8 years as a non-commissioned officer, working as a logistics procurement manager in Okinawa,…

The Slipper is a classic tale of love and loss portrayed in the most unconventional style. Included are lovable, colorful characters such as Meetu, Vishnu, maa and baap who’s humor infuses a serious subject matter in a very unique, warm and touching manner. What happens when a headstrong teen falls for an unsuitable suitor? What becomes of her future when her strict parents desire another path? And what ensues years later when Meetu’s past catches…

Last Saturday evening the The Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale in Florida hosted the  “Translation of Art” Fashion Event showcasing designs from 10 countries, including Guyana, Africa and many Caribbean Islands.  Guyanese Designer, Sonia Noel, presented her “First Resort” collection to a very impressed crowd of fashion enthusiasts.   This is what event coordinator, Ruth Michel Dupoux, had to say about Sonia and her collection “The museum of art of Lauderdale was illuminated last Saturday by…

Dr. Yvette Westford is a board certified Obstetrician/ Gynecologist with a pending board certification in Laser Medicine. She specializes in Cosmetic Gynecology and Aesthetics. Dr. Westford was raised in Guyana and immigrated to the United States after high school to attend college in New York.  She received her AAS in Physical Therapy from Nassau Community College in Garden City, New York, and her BS in Biology from Pace University in New York City. Dr. Westford’s…

For those of us who have emigrated from Guyana, Demerara Gold is a refreshing reminder of the expectation, excitement and anxiety that we experience in our journey to  join our families in America. I recently had the pleasure of sitting in the front row to watch Ingrid Griffith, the star of Demerara Gold, as she seamlessly transformed into a slew of characters and captivated the audience with her raw emotions and hilarious depictions of events from her…

Dr. Padmanee Sharma is a leading figure in Oncology.  She currently holds Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointments as Professor in the Department of Genitourinary Medical Oncology and Professor in the Department of Immunology, Division of Cancer Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr.  Sharma specializes in renal, bladder and prostate cancer. Her prime focus is to understand the mechanisms and pathways within the immune system responsible for tumor rejection. Since 2005 she has been…

Pop music singing sensation Zandra Brown, was born in Guyana, South America. She grew up listening to a diverse array of artists that inspired her, including Tina Turner, The Beatles and Bob Marley. Before moving to America at the age of 18 with her family, she was always in the spotlight, representing her school in dancing performances and fashion shows. Zandra joined her church choir in 2008 and shortly thereafter began writing songs as an outlet to…

Yaani King is an American actor of Guyanese descent. The only daughter of an NYPD officer mother, Yaani was born on August 10, 1981 in Flatbush, Brooklyn, and raised in Queens. She has two elder brothers, she spent most of her childhood around the theater, as her mother was a stage and commercial actress before becoming a police officer. As a teen, she was accepted to the High School of Performing Arts at Lincoln Center…

Today children across the country engaged in many activities in celebration of National STEM/STEAM Day.  The focus of this designated day is to encourage students to explore and pursue interests in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math, and D’Arcy Ortiz provides the perfect inspiration especially for young women. D’Arcy was born in Georgetown, Guyana and was raised by her mother, Yvette Irving, a Medical Laboratory Scientist, who worked with the Ministry of Health Guyana and later years…

Domestic Violence Awareness! When you allow yourself to be dominated by someone else, you begin to lose respect for yourself. You become silently enraged, both at …the person who is dominating you and at yourself for allowing the domination. Someone else is in control of your life, just as assuredly as if you were a slave obeying orders. Stop doing this to yourself!’ “Reflect on how much pain you’ve suffered, and remember your abuser’s broken…