After an eventful and exciting evening of talent showcase, evening wear and question and answer segments at the Miss West Indian Canadian Pageant, Canadian-Guyanese contestant Alexsis Theodore came out on top and was crowned Miss WI Canadian 2017, taking on the title from last year’s winner Chanelle Lee.

The event hosted by prominent emcee Reneil Kistodial was held on Sunday, October 22nd at the Red Rose Convention Centre in Mississauga. With the beautiful sunny weather and a full action-packed day of dance competitions, fashion shows, expos and also a Little Miss WI Canadian pageant, community members and supporters were out in numbers indulging in the annual festivities. The Miss WI Pageant being the main event of the day was left for last and ended the evening on a celebratory note with a newly crowned winner and audience members walking away with special prizes and gift baskets donated by special sponsors.

Organizer and CEO of WI Canadian Julie Rambali a Guyanese-Canadian, started the organization in 2010 after she felt a need “to not only give back but take it to the next level and coordinate different opportunities for the West Indian Canadian community” here in Canada. Her goal going forward with the organization is to get more support from community businesses to continue the event.

Click here to view original article at torontocaribbean.com

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SHE was recently elected the first woman president of the Guyana Press Association (GPA), shattering the glass ceiling that existed for seven decades.

Although excited for her new role, Nazima Raghubir is ready to hit the ground running with plans to have the GPA offer more training for its journalists.

“There is a high turnover of media workers, journalists in Guyana. A lot of us aren’t trained and we don’t have a journalism programme at our university. A lot come in after being trained in public relations and, to give an example, we have the oil and gas industry that is proving to be a major sector and a lot are not trained to understand the very basics. We recently had an issue with the Government and ExonMobil and the media came under criticism for not dissecting the contract the way we ought to have done. Part of that has to do with being under-resourced and the fact that media houses across the region have the same constraints, in that you’re here today at a feminism conference but when you go back you may have to cover a fire, the business chamber, a presentation on investment. A lot of us are not trained in specialised areas and so training has to be sustained,” Raghubir said.

Her other plans include transforming the GPA into a project-based body, supplying particular services as a media association and generating it’s own income. She also intends to focus on broadening the GPA’s base as a press association and has proposed to have some amount of constitutional reform to ensure more people in the profession are represented.

Click here to view original article at www.jamaicaobserver.com

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In some ways, Shion Fenty’s campaign is similar to that of many others taking place this year across the U.S. She’s a 37-year-old Black woman, a first-time candidate, and is facing two middle-aged white men in the primary. But there’s something that sets her apart from the wave of other women of color running for office this year: Fenty is a Republican.

The fact that she’s a Black woman and the daughter of immigrants in a Virginia congressional district that recently turned blue would make many think she’s a Democrat. But the fashion designer and business owner doesn’t resent that assumption.

“They automatically stereotype you: ‘Since you’re African-American, you must be Democrat.’ So I get a lot of shocked faces like, ‘What the heck is going on?!’ and a lot of people have been … kind of suspicious,” she told Refinery29. “Once people talk to me, and they get to know me, and they understand where I’m coming from — after that they’ve just been very welcoming and very open.”

Fenty’s lighthearted, optimistic tone sounds like a contrast with how many other women, typically spurred to action by Hillary Clinton’s loss and President Trump’s policies, talk about running for office. There’s anger and passion in their voices. That ire doesn’t seem to exist within Fenty, though she comes across as someone who deeply cares about changing things for her community.

Fenty’s parents migrated from Guyana and she was born two months later in Brooklyn, NY. She was the second of seven children, and moved to Virginia when her parents divorced. Fenty said she had “a typical life”; she went to school and worked, even though at times, her family had to rely on public assistance. But what changed her most growing up was seeing her mom take on the American dream by becoming a small business owner. Inspired by her mom, Fenty focused on being a fashion designer and having her own business.

“I’ve never had any political aspirations,” she said, adding that she has always cast a ballot based on “who I felt was right for the moment.”

Throughout the years she has volunteered with low-income and foster children. Seeing the problems some of the kids faced — struggling schools, incarcerated parents, abusive homes — spurred something in her. Grassroots work, she reasoned, was not enough.

“There has to be a holistic view of helping out these kids. It’s more than just, ‘Oh, let’s make the schools better.’ It’s how can we invest in the community,” she said. “I realized this issue is bigger than just volunteerism. There are some things that have to be done on a federal level and local level.”

When a friend suggested she run for office, Fenty was skeptical at first. She said, “Why would I do that?” But after doing some research and deliberating for more than two months whether it was worth it to throw her hat in the ring, she decided that by running she could “give everyone the voice they need.”

Democratic Rep. Donald McEachin currently holds the 4th District seat Fenty is vying for. But before she can face him, she needs to defeat David Leon and Ryan McAdams for the Republican nomination. When she announced her run, Fenty said the federal government “had too much control over our personal, academic, and economic successes,” so it was necessary “for policies that will return that control where it belongs: back home to our families and communities.” Her platform is based on three components: workforce and small business development, education, and immigration reform. She opposes the No-Child Left Behind Act and Common Core standards, wants to reform the student loan financing system to prevent young people from racking up more student debt, and is interested in helping small business through regulatory and tax reform.

Click here for more on this story at www.refinery29.com

fentyforcongress

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Elizabeth Jaikaran is a New York based author and lawyer, with work published across a spectrum of print and digital media. The first time her words were in print was in Stardust Magazine when she was just eight years old. She 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 interested in themes related to femininity, as well as global, social, and economic justice. She is a Staff Writer for Brown Girl Magazine, Literally, Darling Magazine, and The Muslim Observer.  She’s graduated with her B.A. from The City College of New York in 2012 and with her J.D. from New York University School of Law in 2016 where she served on the boards of the Women of Color Collective and the Muslim Law Students Association.

In addition to her other contributions to the magazine, Elizabeth is the author of BG’s Bollywood Social Consciousness Series, a series that dissects the Bollywood canon through a contemporary social lens.

Click here to for Elizabeth’s interview with jacket2.org

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Alyssa Raghu shed tears of joy Sunday night when she was advanced to Hollywood for the next round of American Idol.  The 15 year old songbird auditioned on the premiere episode on season 16 of the ABC’s singing competition before judges Katy Perry, Lionel Ritchie and Luke Bryan.

Born to Guyanese parents, Alyssa is a student at Lake Nona High School in Orlando Florida and also plays the guitar. According to www.wftv.com, Alyssa’s ‘American Idol’ journey started  in Orlando when she stood in line for over 12 hours to sing for a group of producers at Disney Springs. The in-person audition at Disney Springs was the first stop on the show’s ‘Idol Bus Tour.’ Over the summer, the ‘Idol’ producers traveled coast to coast, stopping at 20 different locations, in search of their next superstar.

After getting past the bus tour, Alyssa flew to Los Angeles for a nerve-wracking audition in front of the ‘American Idol’ judges. She was the second to last contestant to sing that day.

“I told myself that I had to do my best no matter what…to be myself and not to change, and to give myself to the judges,” Raghu said.

She sang ‘Almost is Never Enough’ by pop singer Ariana Grande.

Alyssa has been working hard up until this Idol moment. In April, she played Nina Rosario in a production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “In the Heights”. The character Nina is the first in her family and from the Barrio to go to college (Stanford, no less). Nina is known as “the one who made it out” until she returns home after dropping out. Nina was originally played on Broadway by actress/singer Mandy Gonzalez, who went on to play Elphaba in Wicked and Angelica Schuyler in Hamilton. Four months after playing Nina, Alyssa released her first original song “Leave” in August.

On Facebook,  describes herself as “just a 15-year-old girl chasing her dreams, one song at a time.”

On Instagram, she informs us: “It’s pronounced Raa-G-OO, like the sauce!” That’s shortened from her full last name of Raghunandan.

On YouTube, she takes on songs by a wide range of artists, from the country-pop of Brett Young to the rock of Aerosmith to Drake’s “Home On, We’re Going Home.”

The judges were so impressed with Alyssa’s singing that Katie Perry told her she will be in the top 10.

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Rochelle Porter has never met a blank surface she didn’t want to draw on. A lifelong lover of global design traditions, the Atlanta-based artist takes cues from the breezy hues of her Caribbean roots, the stark simplicity of Scandinavian prints and the bold geometrics of West African weaves to create vibrant, eye-catching textiles for the home décor and apparel markets. Her travel-inspired patterns feature joyful, unexpected burst of color and classic motifs with a fresh, modern twist.

Upon learning of the unethical and environmentally hazardous labor practices of today’s globalized “fast fashion” industry, Rochelle nearly abandoned her dream of becoming a designer. That is, until she figured out that style could also be sustainable. Combining her passion for patterns with her commitment to social responsibility, she formed Rochelle Porter Design (RPD), a lifestyle brand specializing in thoughtfully made, eco-friendly home and fashion accessories.

True to its tagline, “Design for abundant living,” the company believes everyone along the value chain should have the chance to live well—from the farmer who picks the pesticide-free organic cotton for its textiles, to the customer who puts them on her sofa. RPD prioritizes fair pay, environmentally safe manufacturing, and the use of allergy-free and organic materials whenever possible. Additionally, a portion of the company’s proceeds go to organizations that help human trafficking survivors and displaced families rebuild their lives.

The talented designer’s journey began in Georgetown, Guyana where she was born. Her parents both grew up in West Coast Berbice; her mother is  from Yeovil, and her father is from Lovely Lass Village.  Rochelle shared the following about her childhood years in Guyana and beyond.

“When I was one-year-old, my parents emigrated to London, where my dad was a University student, for a short period. During that time, I lived with both sets of grandparents. I was the first grandchild on both sides of the family. Both of my parents come from huge families, so I was spoiled rotten by my many aunts, uncles, cousins, and family friends.  After  my parents returned from England, we moved to Linden where my father held a job as a civil servant for GuyMine. At 5 years old, I moved with my parents and 18-month old sister to Brooklyn, New York.”

Rochelle has been featured on Caribbean Life, In Her Shoes, Black Southern Belle, Emory University News, and on mybrownbox.com’s Brown Girl Boss Owned Businesses to Support in 2017 and Beyond list. She was recently selected at the featured artist for the High Museum of Art’s celebration of the MAKING AFRICA: A Continent of Contemporary Designexhibition. RPD’s playfully sophisticated products have been sold at West Elm, on Zuvaa.com, and in local boutiques.

To learn more about Rochelle’s designs, visit rochelleporter.com

Instagram, Twitter, Facebook: @roporterdesign

www.linkedin.com/in/rochelleporter

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Guyanese designer, Keisha Edwards of Shasha Designs, on February 19 represented Guyana at the first-ever Commonwealth Fashion Exchange programme, which saw designers and artisans from 52 Commonwealth countries producing a fashion ‘look’ using principles of sustainable excellence. The design was unveiled at a special reception at Buckingham Palace for London Fashion Week.

In an interview with The Pepperpot Magazine Keisha said that she feels excited, honoured and humbled to have been selected to participate in the project and was elated to have represented Guyana at this event. “The event at Buckingham Palace was emotional to experience,” she said. “The Palace itself is gorgeous- I had to take a moment to take in the décor- and the designs from the Commonwealth, showcased at the event were each unique and special.”

The Guyanese designer was also in the presence of the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton; Editor in Chief of Vogue, Anna Wintour; and British model, Naomi Campbell, who also attended the event. “I had a very long conversation with Princess Beatrice of York, who was intrigued by how the gown I designed merged Antiguan and Guyanese aesthetics,” Keisha said. “We spoke at length about the textile aspect of the design and about the weaving which was used at the bodice of the garment and at the bottom of the dress.”

Speaking on the concept behind the look, Keisha said that she chose to do weaving because unlike Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana does not have a national fabric or a traditional garment, and what is known about Guyana’s indigenous peoples is that the country has nine tribes which use a particular style of weaving when creating craft. “I wanted my design to incorporate that style. Instead of using a traditional basket weave, I did a plain weave for the dress. It was an opportunity to highlight this as part of our heritage as Guyanese.

The natural dyeing was something I had never done before, but since the exchange was about sustainability, I wanted to use an environmentally friendly method by using onion skins and beet roots as natural dyes. Designer Sydney Francois from Guyana assisted me with this aspect of the design process. He learned this dyeing technique from Selana Gental, an Arawak,” Keisha said.

ABOUT THE LOOK:

Keisha, who is currently enrolled at the Caribbean Academy of Fashion and Design, pursuing her Bachelor’s Degree in Fashion Design, said that the look she presented was inspired by Antigua and Barbuda’s National Costume and the Indigenous peoples of Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda, and fused elements of the Arawak tradition with Antigua’s National wear.

The neck of the dress is made with burlap and is covered with seeds from the ‘shac shac’ (flamboyant) tree. It is in the shape of a stick figure which represents one of the creatures that the Arawak shaman transforms into. The bodice is made with hand dyed Madras, which is Antigua and Barbuda’s national fabric for their national costume. The centre of the bodice is made with palm leaves and fibres woven into a plain weave. ‘Shac Shac’ seeds, ‘jumbie’ seeds and buck beads create a triangular form on the front bodice of the design. The architecture of the Arawak Ajoupa (home) specifically the roof, inspired the full skirt of the dress, which is made with brown cotton and dyed burlap.

The centre of the skirt is tie-dyed using onion skin and beetroot. Buck beads were sewn on the red panels of the skirt. Tibiseri straw (a fibre extracted from a Mauritia flexuosa found in Guyana) was woven with the palm leaves from Antigua (date palm) to create the plain weave used along the bodice of the dress as well as the front panel of the skirt.

For more on this story: Click here to view original article at guyanachronicle.com

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Assemblywoman Alicia L. Hyndman was elected to the New York State Assembly on November 10, 2015 in the 29th AD, encompassing the neighborhoods of Laurelton, Rosedale, St. Albans, Addisleigh Park, Hollis, Springfield Gardens and Jamaica. The daughter of Guyanese  immigrants, Assemblywoman Hyndman emigrated to the U.S. from London, England as a young child. She spent her formative years growing up in Hollis & South Ozone Park attending public schools, PS 34, IS 109, JHS 226 & John Adams High School.

Prior to being elected to the State Legislature, Assemblywoman Hyndman worked closely with community stakeholders as an active member of Community Boards 12Q, and 13Q, serving as a member of the Boards Education Committees, and also as a regular participant of the Rosedale Civic Association. Additionally, Assemblywoman Hyndman served on the NYC Department of Education’s Community District Education Council 29 (CEC 29) for ten years, the last four years as President. Leading the advocacy for the 36 elementary and middle schools in the district, through collaborative leadership, she was able to bring in $30 million in capital funding for technology upgrades, facilities improvements, playground rehabilitation and other amenities to enhance the quality of education for students.

Assemblywoman Hyndman’s professional career spans over a decade and a half with the NYS Department of Education as a Senior Professional Conduct Investigator, overseeing trade and vocational schools. She previously has held many positions in the fields of education and higher learning including but not limited to: Counselor for the Brooklyn College Talent Search Program; Director of Minority Affairs at the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine of NYIT; Assistant with the New York State Education Department Office of Higher Education. Assemblywoman Hyndman also helped create the Long Island Barber Institute which graduated hundreds of Queens residents, allowing them to obtain jobs and become entrepreneurs, and opening dozens of establishments throughout the Borough.

As a longtime community education advocate, Assemblywoman Hyndman will focus heavily on bringing resources and information back into the community to support youth and senior services, alleviate flooding, grow small businesses, and provide access to living wage jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities. She will continue her advocacy in Albany as a tireless fighter for residents of the 29th Assembly District.

Assemblywoman Hyndman holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the State University of New York at New Paltz, and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Framingham State College, Mass. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. She currently resides in Rosedale, Queens with her two lovely daughters Nia and Nyla.

Assemblywoman Hyndman is up for re-election this coming November.   To learn more about her work visit:  http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/Alicia-Hyndman   Click HERE to support her Campaign.

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One week ago Letitia Wright lit up the purple carpet at the Avengers: Infinity War premiere in Hollywood. The 24-year-old Guyanese-born British Star is inspiring the next generation of young women in STEM & Style and we’re definitely a fan!  Letitia is soaking up her new Hollywood fame after appearing in ‘Black Panther’, ‘Black Mirror’, and even Drake’s music video ‘Nice for What.’

Letitia character “Shuri”, which she played in both Black Panther and Avengers, is being touted as the smartest character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  The down-to-earth actress even took some time on the purple carpet for photos with her fans.

Check out her “purple” carpet interview.

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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 rock!

Photographed by Fumi Nagasaka

Before the three-month waitlists and clients from both coasts, there were just the five Smith sisters, who moved from Guyana to Kansas City. That was over 25 years ago, and the oldest, Glynnis, was beginning to play with a new form of braiding hair. A bubble braid, she’d call it. Her brother’s girlfriend begged her to braid her hair in the same style, and demand zipped through the neighborhood. Glynnis soon found herself braiding for 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week, and still had to turn away clients. In 2006, she opened Braid Heaven, a five-chair salon on Kansas City’s Lloyd Street.

Glynnis Smith has only ever shared her bubble-braiding technique with her four sisters (one of whom sees clients out of her Dallas home) and one niece; they remain the salon’s only employees. So what exactly is this family secret?

Instead of just pulling their clients’ natural hair into braids, the Smiths braid human or synthetic extensions into the hair in such a way that the natural hair rests, protected, underneath the braids. If you don’t totally follow, it’s OK — we don’t, either. But the secret wouldn’t be much of a secret if they gave us any more information. What we can totally grasp: The technique lets women toss their braided hair up into a ponytail or switch the part without revealing tracks or wefts. It also allows the bubble-braiders to work with hair that has different curl patterns.

The first appointment can take four to six hours, but the technique lasts a month longer than a traditional weave.

“With natural black hair, there is no uniformity on a single head,” says Shelly Smith. “With our technique, we can add in several different textures of hair, and that inconsistency makes it look real.” Bubble-braiding, very simply, creates the illusion of a full, fluffy head of natural hair. It’s so dramatic that if you were this Allure editor, you’d have to stop a woman in a restaurant to find out where she got her hair done. (And during your two-minute conversation, another stranger would interrupt to ask the same thing.) There’s word of mouth, and then there’s full-on phenomenon.

Click here to view original article at www.allure.com

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Last night our very own princess “Letitia Wright” made her debut appearance at the Met Gala with a handsome date at her side. The internet was abuzz after the Black Panther & Avengers star showed up on the red carpet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with Star Wars actor, John Boyega. But although the two breakout stars look great together, they are just friends who have know each other before they both became famous as they were both students at London’s Identity School of Acting.

The year’s Met Gala had a Catholic theme and Letitia’s gown was inspired by Ethiopian pastors. According to her stylist, Ade Samuel, as a devoted Christian Letitia wanted to stay true to who she. She decided that she wanted to do an Ethiopian interpretation of Christianity. A close look at her Coach gown reveals the golden cloth and embroidery that was inspired by Ethiopian pastors’ clothing. She even decided to go with a traditional Ethiopian hairstyle, to keep the African theme going.

Letitia, now 24, has always been vocal about her faith. “Everybody has their thing that they’re truthful about,” the actress told Vanity Fair in February. “My thing is just a love of God.”

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Congratulations to Rukia Henry who recently graduated at the top of her class with dual degree and high honors.  The aspiring Virologist earn a B.S in Biology and  Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa at Howard University and a PhD in Molecular Genetics and Pharmacology at Rutgers University.

A Linden native, Rukia has experienced a long history of breast cancer in her immediate family and is determined to continue the fight against this terrible disease.  As a result, she founded the Community Health Access Missionary Program (CHAMP) and has led a team of health professionals who administered health screening and care to communities in Guyana with no immediate access to healthcare.

In 2017,  Rukia won the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS) Outstanding Achievement Award for her research project on the “Entry and Transport of Pseudorabies Virus Infection in Central Nervous System Neurons.”  Rukia was also selected for the Atlantis Fellowship program and was able to witness the practice of medicine first-hand in a global setting.  She a was placed in Zaragoza Spain for 3 weeks, where she was given the opportunity to gain insight on international medicine.

On Saturday June 23, 2018, Dr. Rukia Henry will one of 10 women honored at the Guyanese Girls Rock Foundation, Honors and Awards Luncheon, for her dedication and achievements in research and science.

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When you think of a well rounded student, Ayisha Jackson comes to mind.  This weekend the senior at Brown University will be among the Class of 2018 and will graduate with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Materials Engineering.  Ayisha’s academic achievement is not the only impressive thing about this very bright young woman.  She has interned at NASA and Vanderbilt Institute for Nanoscale Science and Engineering, studied in Hong Kong,  traveled throughout the continent of Asia and is also fluent in Manderin.  Here’s Ayisha’s story….

“I was born in Georgetown, Guyana and I moved up to American (New York) with my mom around the age of three years old. My mother was born and raised in Buxton, and to my knowledge that is where my grandparents are from as well. I visited when I was about fourteen and I absolutely fell in love with my home country, I hope to visit again in the near future, and more often as I grow older. I attended school and church during my three years there, although I do not remember the names of the institutions. I can ask my mother about the names of the school and our church if you are interested in those details.

I attended Bard High School Early College Queens in Long Island City, New York. It was an early college program that provided me with a fast paced “two years of high school-two years of college” curriculum. I learned a lot, and was able to graduate with a high school diploma and associates degree from Bard College in Liberal Arts and Sciences. In high school I took really interesting courses like History of New York, Anthropology, Childhood in Literature, Organic Chemistry, Chemistry of Food and Cooking, and advanced my mathematics knowledge up to Multivariable Calculus. I was also part of an intensive Mandarin Chinese language program that helped develop my skills in Chinese as my second verbal and written language. During the spring of my junior year (or first year of the college program), I was given the opportunity to travel to China as part of a Bard exchange program with a Yale founded high school in ChangSha, China. In addition to the foreign exchange experience in ChangSha, we also traveled and toured Shanghai, Suzhou, and Hangzhou during that time. This deeply strengthened my love for the language and region.

I ended up attending Brown University, an Ivy League University in Providence, RI, where I am currently finishing up my last year. I decided to study Materials Engineering. During my time here I was able to develop my interest and knowledge in the engineering subject and picked up a few hobbies like industrial design and photography. I was able to hold two great summer research internships at Vanderbilt Institute for Nanoscale Science and Engineering in the summer of 2016, and NASA’s Glenn Research Center during the summer of 2017. I was also able to study abroad in Hong Kong and continue studying and practicing Chinese there, while receiving the opportunity to travel to Taiwan, Beijing, a few more small cities in the Guangdong province, Tokyo and Kyoto in Japan, and Seoul, South Korea.

Congratulations on your amazing achievement Aisya.  You rock!

Linda McPherson is the current President of District Council 1707 of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employee (AFSCME).  She represents some 28,000 non-profit social services ranging from home care, social services, direct care, public center-based day care, educational, fundraising and her own local Heat Start.  She is employed at Community Parents, Inc. /Medger Evers Head Start where she works as a Family Service Coordinator.  She praises the federally-funded Head Start program for its comprehensive approach towards children of working and poor families assisting them to become social and stable in the classroom and in society.

In 2017, Linda received the Caribbean Life Impact Award for her innovative programs and strengthening communities in the union.   Most recently in May 2018, she was one of eight women who were honor with the “Women of Power” Awards by the New American Voters Association (NAVA).

Linda holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Science from the College of New Rochelle and is active in the Brownsville community.  She credits much of her success to her immediate family for supporting her ambitions and for giving her the latitude to spend long hours building her union, her second family.  Here’s Linda’s personal story.

Originally published by Queens Tribune: A native of Georgetown, Guyana, Linda arrived in Brooklyn as a teenager accustomed to small-town life and warm weather.

“It was a culture shock, especially the changes in the weather,” said McPherson, who, in in the last two decades, has risen through union ranks to become president of District Council 1707 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a position that she has held for a year.

McPherson described her hometown in Guyana as a small city that valued community above all else. Those values of interdependence and community, she said, allowed her to see a future for herself in unions.

After landing in Brooklyn, McPherson spent a few years taking odd jobs, working at a bank and running a hair salon out of her home. It was when she enrolled her daughter in a Head Start program that her career started to take form. For two years, McPherson worked as a Parent Volunteer at her daughter’s head start program. She said that eventually people started to take note of her contributions.

“They saw I was able to do the work of a family worker, which is sort of like a social worker—you advocate for parents,” McPherson said.

As a family worker, McPherson was employed by a union attached to Head Start. She began attending meetings and became a member at large of Local 95, a union under the umbrella of District Council 1707.

Eventually, those around her convinced McPherson to run for an official position within the union. She did, and she won, and she kept on climbing. First, she was treasurer of Local 95. Then, she became vice president. From there, she moved up to the larger union establishment and became treasurer of District Council 1707. A year ago, she was inaugurated as the district council president. She now oversees 30,000 union members in New York City, Westchester County, Long Island and New Jersey.

McPherson said that she took the position because she wanted to address some of the antagonisms between union members and union leadership.

“I ran because I wanted to see a change in the administration of the union,” McPherson said. “I wanted to make it into something more friendly to membership. They’re the ones that pay dues. They should be satisfied.”

McPherson directly credits her success as a union leader to her upbringing in Guyana.

“Where I grew up in Guyana, the community base was very strong.” She said. “Because I had that background, I could get involved in community work here. It’s not strange for me to mobilize communities.”

McPherson continues to hold a position as a family coordinator with Head Start, where she acts as an advocate for families enrolled in the program.

One of her priorities as president of District Council 1707 is to provide Head Start child-care workers with sufficient pay and resources.

“We are working with the mayor to get parity for head start workers statewide,” McPherson said of her current agenda. “We need parity with all the Department of Education’s teachers and staff.”

Click here to view original article at queenstribune.com

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 and is a 2003 Knight Center for Specialized Journalism fellow.

During the 2004 US presidential campaign, Reid served as the Florida deputy communications director for the “America Coming Together” initiative and was a press aide for President Barack Obama’s Florida campaign in 2008.

Over the course of her journalism career, Reid has written numerous political pieces, which have been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian and Miami Herald.

According to ICS, Caribbean immigrants have been contributing to the well-being of American society since its founding – Alexander Hamilton, the First Secretary of the US Treasury was from Nevis.

“We count among our famous sons and daughters, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Cicely Tyson, WEB Dubois, James Weldon Johnson, Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier, to name a few,” ICS said.

It said its effort began in 1999 with a petition to President Bill Clinton for the recognition of a Caribbean American Heritage Month.

In 2000, ICS said it began leading activities in celebration of June as Caribbean American Heritage Month in Washington, DC, “building on efforts started by a now defunct ad-hoc group of Washington DC residents to have a Caribbean Heritage Month designated in Washington, DC in 1999.

The official campaign for a National Caribbean American Heritage Month began in 2004 when a legislative bill was tabled in the US Congress by Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

Since the declaration, the ICS said the White House in Washington, DC has issued an annual proclamation recognizing June as Caribbean-American Heritage Month.

“Through the commemoration of this month, we hope to ensure that America is reminded that its greatness lies in its diversity, with Caribbean immigrants. from founding father Alexander Hamilton to journalist Malcolm Gladwell, who have shaped the American dream,” said ICS founder and president, Jamaican Dr Claire Nelson.

“Every day, members of the Caribbean Diaspora contribute to shared prosperity here in the USA, as well as in the Caribbean region,” she added. “They contribute to America’s well-being through their participation in all walks of life from the military to the board rooms, to the school rooms, as they strive to make better lives for themselves, their families, and their communities.

“They also contribute to the well-being and welfare of the Caribbean region through remittances of treasures, time and talent to families and schools, and churches they left behind,” Nelson continued.

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 in childhood.  The organisation provides financial and psycho-social support services for bereaved children, job opportunities for widows, and food hampers and building materials for low income families.

Marva has also created Camp Golden, a camp for bereaved young people, which provides counselling, food, shelter and educational opportunities. In addition, Marva is a founding member of Den-Amstel Dynamic Network, a youth group focused on restoring the cultural art forms for which her home village of Den-Amstel was once famous.

The Queen’s Young Leader Award recognises and celebrates exceptional people aged 18-29 from across the Commonwealth, who are taking the lead in their communities and using their skills to transform lives. Winners of this prestigious Award will receive a unique package of training, mentoring and networking, including a one-week residential programme in the UK during which they will collect their Award from Her Majesty The Queen. With this support, Award winners will be expected to continue and develop the amazing work they are already doing in their communities.

Two years ago, Marva was a finalist of the 2016 Miss World Guyana Pageant,  and won the “Beauty With A Purpose” segment of the Pageant.  Following the competition she posted the following very touching statement to her Facebook Page.

“As a finalist in the MissWorld Guyana 2016 pageant and the eventual winner of the Beauty With A Purpose award ,I was able to use my voice to spread awareness of Childhood bereavement through various initiatives. I worked with an amazing team to create the first “grief camp “in Guyana which provides support through mentoring for children who lost a parent or loved one. With Support from my generous sponsors, friends and family, assistance was also provided for financially burdened bereaved families. Giving grieving children a chance to cope, grow and succeed has definitely changed my life !” 

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen nor touched, but are felt in the heart, hope is grief’s best music.Grieving allows us to heal, to remember with love rather than pain.” ~ Marva Langevine

In the future, Marva hopes to hold ‘grief in the classroom’ workshops for teachers and community outreach initiatives on bereavement.

Originally reported by Jerry Bembry – The Undefeated

As Sachia Vickery prepares for Wimbledon in this, the breakthrough year of her career, she’s asked about the lowest moment she faced to get here.

She’s silent for a moment, reflecting.

For Vickery, the 23-year-old from Miramar, Florida, there are many from which to choose.

Maybe it’s the hotel room she stayed at during an International Tennis Federation (ITF) stop early in her career in Europe, where the lack of a bathroom drain in the older structure resulted in the entire room flooding each time she took a shower. “One of the worst experiences of my life,” Vickery said. “And, by far, the worst hotel room I’ve ever stayed in.”

Or maybe that 2013 Innisbrook event near Tampa, Florida, when Vickery, then 18, found herself crammed in a room with five other girls in a money-saving move. “That’s the only affordable option I had that week,” said Vickery, who won five matches before losing in the semifinals. “At least as girls lost, the numbers in the room got better.”

Or, perhaps, the time spent away from family and friends as she traveled, for as many as 35 weeks a year, while attempting to live up to the early comparisons to Serena Williams. “Not seeing my family and missing out on what was going on at home was hard,” Vickery said. “But I had to remind myself that I was getting a chance to see the world at a young age, and that I had goals that I wanted to achieve.”

Vickery has yet to arrive at the place she wants to be.

But, over the course of the last year, she’s made huge progress as she attempts to join the Williams sisters (Venus and Serena), Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys as a prominent African-American woman in tennis.

After ending 2017 ranked No. 116 in the world, Vickery began the year with what was at the time the best week of tennis in her career. After winning three qualifying matches to reach the main draw of the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, Vickery beat the No. 5 seed (Lauren Davis) and No. 4 seed (Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets before losing to Caroline Wozniacki, the 2018 Australian Open champion, in the semifinals.

That run in Auckland elevated Vickery just outside the top 100 (No. 105) and began a momentum shift that leads her this week to play in the second Wimbledon tournament main draw of her six-year career. Vickery, the No. 83 player in the world, will face Markéta Vondroušová (of the Czech Republic, ranked No. 106) in an opening-round match on Tuesday.

For the Florida-born Vickery (her parents are from Guyana), this has been the best year of her career. Two months after her impressive showing in Auckland, Vickery earned the signature win of her career by beating Garbine Muguruza, the No. 3 player in the world, in three sets in the BNP Paribas Open.

She concluded that stunning victory with the Wakanda salute, an action Vickery had doubts she’d be able to attempt, as she had never beaten a top-10 opponent.

“I beat [Eugenie] Bouchard in the first round, and my brother told me to do it if I won the next match,” Vickery said.

She agreed, then realized who she was playing.

“I don’t think he knew I was playing No. 3 in the world,” she said, laughing. “I didn’t know I would get the chance, but as soon as the match finished I looked over to him and was like, ‘This is my moment.’ ”

Vickery posted the video on Twitter and Instagram, which exposed her to a new following of fans — many of whom had never heard of her.

“Chadwick Boseman liked my post, and Letitia Wright inboxed me,” Vickery said of the star of Black Panther and the Guyana-born actress who played his sister, Shuri, in the blockbuster movie. “It blew up a lot bigger than I expected it would, and that made me happy that doing it had some sort of impact.”

Beyond the gesture that made her a social media star, the win over Muguruza gave Vickery confidence that she could live up to the potential of the young phenom who was predicted to be a tennis star when she was the No. 2 ranked 12-year-old player in the United States, hype that only increased as she won the USTA Girls’ 18s National Championship in 2013 (which earned her a trip to her first Grand Slam Event, the 2013 US Open).

“Playing the match of my life and beating Muguruza on center court with so many people watching, that was special,” Vickery said. “That was my moment to finally show everyone that I can play.”

Vickery didn’t get a chance to follow up with another Wakanda salute at Indian Wells, as she lost in the next round to the tournament’s eventual champion, Naomi Osaka.

But she cracked the top 100 after Indian Wells (she was ranked 89 on March 19) and has stayed there since then.

“I was stuck for a while at that 150 kind of ranking for a few years, so it’s definitely a big hurdle for me to get a break into the top hundred,” Vickery said. “That had been a goal of mine for a long time, and it was just nice to get over that hump and allow me some breathing room financially.”

Vickery, who once worked with the Williams sisters’ father, Richard, for a summer, spent a lot of years sweating her finances while grinding it out every week in tournaments that paid little if one didn’t advance. The $530 she received after her qualifying match in a tournament in Prague last year didn’t cover her airfare or accommodations, but at least it nearly doubled the $228 she made the year before at a 2016 ITF event in Landisville, Pennsylvania.

“At that point, everything you make goes right back into your career,” Vickery said. “Staying four or five girls in a room at tournaments was tough. But when I finally got some breathing room, I was able to hire a proper team that has made things a lot easier.”

Like a coach and a trainer, and being able to afford to pay for their travel to some trips, which is a given for most established players on tour but wasn’t a luxury for Vickery until a year ago. The old adage “you have to spend money to make money” has proven true.

“My results started to build after hiring my new coach and trainer last year,” Vickery said. “It was a huge step for me financially once I started playing in the big tournaments, which gave an opportunity to have them travel.”

Here’s how playing in those bigger tournaments makes ends meet. Just by playing a first-round match (a loss to Keys) at last month’s French Open, Vickery earned $47,049.

In advancing to the round of 32 at Indian Wells, she earned $47,170.

Grand Slam tournaments mean big checks just by making an appearance. And so do events rated just below Grand Slams, if the player is able to advance.

Vickery, ranked outside the top 100 going into Indian Wells, had to play and win qualifiers to reach the main draw and a piece of $7.9 million in prize money.

Vickery, now ranked inside the top 100, earned main draw spots at the French Open and Wimbledon (where a first-round appearance is worth $45,542).

The reason she’s on pace for a career year in earnings: Vickery is playing in the main draw of two Grand Slam events in the same year for the first time in her career.

Vickery has earned $147,172 this year. She’ll earn at least $45,000 by playing her first match this week at Wimbledon (and more if she advances), which will push her past the $166,186 she made on tour last year.

To be on solid financial ground playing tennis — after years of struggles that put a burden on her mother, who sank her earnings as a paralegal, flight attendant and bartender into her daughter’s career — has made the sacrifices Vickery has made in her young life worthwhile.

“I never went to college like my brother. I didn’t see my family a lot because I was traveling [most] of the year, and that’s a difficult dynamic when you’re younger,” Vickery said. “It forces you to grow up quickly, and to make decisions on your own, but it’s definitely rewarding when you start to approach the levels you always wanted to reach.”

And where does she want to be?

To be considered in the same conversation as Stephens (No. 4 in the world, and the 2017 US Open champion and 2018 French Open runner-up), Keys (No. 11 in the world and the 2017 US Open runner-up) and the legendary Williams sisters.

“I’m friendly with Sloane,” Vickery said. “And when I trained with Richard Williams when I was 9, I got a chance to see Venus and Serena practice. So I’ve gotten a ton of advice and encouraging words from them over the years.”

Vickery, whose biggest obstacle this year has been racist trolls on social media, understands status will come with victories. She has three ITF career titles, but none on the WTA circuit.

Beating the No. 3 player in the world earlier this year has Vickery confident she’ll soon break through.

She really wants to put in the past those stressful days of needing to win qualifier matches to earn a spot in a Grand Slam.

“The tour can be really tough. And believe me, I know, because I’ve played in a lot of lower-level tournaments,” Vickery said. “What I’ve been able to do so far this year is unbelievable. I just want to keep it going.”

Jerry Bembry is a senior writer at The Undefeated. His bucket list items include being serenaded by Lizz Wright, and watching the Knicks play an NBA game in June.

Click here to view original article at theundefeated.com

June Givanni is a pioneering international film curator who has considerable experience in film and broadcasting for over 30 years and she is regarded as a resource for African and African diaspora cinema.   She was born in Guyana and grew up in the UK .  The development of the Pan African Cinema Archive is based on her collections from years of working in the field of cinema. Her motivation for the archive is to make this valuable heritage collection as widely accessible as possible.

In the early 1980s she was involved in bringing Third Eye London’s first Festival of Third World Cinema, to London and she worked as a film programmer at the Greater London Council’s Ethnic Minorities Unit, at a key development stage for Black British Independent cinema, and Black British art and culture generally. June ran the African Caribbean Film Unit and edited the quarterly Black Film Bulletin; and the book Symbolic Narratives: Africa Cinema at the British Film Institute. She also programmed Planet Africa at The Toronto International Film Festival over 4 years.  She has worked as a film curator with festivals on 5 continents – including India – and has been involved in key moments in the development of Pan African cinema on these continents, and the development of the links between them.

June has worked closely with many of the key filmmakers, critics and theorists involved with ‘Black British Cinema’; ‘African Cinema’; ‘Third Cinema’; ‘Caribbean Cinema’; Black Cinema from Europe; and African American Independent Cinema.

On Wednesday, July 4th, 2018  June was honored by the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) University of London during the graduation ceremonies of the institution.  Other awardees include Academy Award winning artist and social activist Forest Whitaker; writer and activist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; world-renowned author Dr Jung Chang;  and prominent human rights activist Vrinda Grover.

Baroness Valerie Amos, Director of SOAS, who is also Guyanese, shared the following about the Awards. “At SOAS we are all about societal change and transformation. This year’s honorary awardees have all had a major impact in their areas of expertise and have challenged and continue to challenge conventional perspectives through film, the law and literature. They have deepened our understanding of society, politics, race and gender. They are inspiring role models and we are extremely proud to welcome them to the SOAS community.”

Last month June hosted the June Givanni Pan African Cinema Archive (JGPACA).  The event featured a kaleidoscope of short films made in the last ten years by African women filmmakers curated by June.  JGPACA was established to help bring awareness to the significant contributions to cinema by peoples of the African continent and African diaspora.

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