"A Woman A Day"
This bio series featured the story of a Trinbagonian woman everyday for the month of March, 2015. WOMANTRA celerates Women's History Month by honouring these unsung national heroines, who have established themselves internationally through their talent, commitment and tenacity.
This radio segment of this series will also be featured on Sweet 100.1fm from Monday to Friday at 2:50pm.
She was called the “Darling of Café Society” back in 1939 when New York City was alive with the sounds of swing. Hazel Scott captivated audiences with her renditions of classical masterpieces by Chopin, Bach and Rachmaninoff. “But where others murder the classics, Hazel Scott merely commits arson,” wrote TIME magazine...
Dr. Hodge is a retired Senior Lecturer in the University of the West Indies. To date, she has written two novels: Crick Crack, Monkey (1970) and The Life of Laetitia (1993). In 2010, she was honoured for her sterling contribution to world literature by the International Congress of Literature...
Beryl Mc Burnie was a Trinidadian dancer of international renown who noticeably drew on folk traditions in her style of dancing and music selection. She is reverentially referred to as Trinidad’s ‘First Lady of Dance.’ After receiving her initial dance training in Trinidad she went on to study dance at Columbia University...
The physical manifestation of the 1950s calypso craze, Limbo dancing was born in Trinidad and made famous by "Limbo Queen," Julia Edwards. Edwards first started dancing in 1947, when her eldest brother Irwin took her to rehearsals of the Boscoe Holder Dance Company...
Alexandra Daisy Voisin was a deeply religious and devoted person to La Divina Pastora (The Virgin Mary of Siparia). When she ended her mortal reign as Parang Queen of Trinidad and Tobago, her body was returned to the church where, eighteen years ago, she had received a message to spread parang throughout the world...
Dr. McArtha Lewis, popularly known by her sobriquet, Calypso Rose, was born on April 27, 1940 in Bethel, a small, relatively in-land village on the tiny island of Tobago. Her family was musical: her grandfather was a violinist who performed at weddings and celebrations, and her grandmother sang...
Madame Dai Ailian, born Eileen Isaac - widely regarded as the mother of Chinese ballet and dance, was born in Couva, Trinidad in 1916. “It seems that when I hear music, I have to dance. Especially when I was a child, the place I was born, they have the carnival…
Clotil Walcott was an ardent and pioneering trade unionist and women's rights activist. She was one of very few women trade unionists of her generation and she vociferously advocated for the rights of domestic and other unregulated workers...
“I am a published writer, blogger, performer in both spoken word and theatre, an emerging media artist in both photography & video and an arts educator grounded in intersectionality. For me my art, activism and pedagogy are all places where I strive to bring my complete identity…
Onika Tanya Maraj better known by her stage name Nicki Minaj is considered "the most influential female rapper of all time" according to the NY Times. Born in Saint James, Trinidad and Tobago and raised in Jamaica, Queens, New York, Minaj has three siblings....