PHILIPSBURG/WASHINGTON, DC--As part of Caribbean American Heritage Month, the Institute of Caribbean Studies (ICS) held a series of events that culminated in celebrating the achievements of emerging Caribbean leaders and changemakers on June 22. St. Maarten-born writer and comedienne Onicia Muller was named among the thirty changemakers for her cultural leadership.
Muller started her writing career in 2011 and currently authors a weekly humour column in The Daily Herald’s WeekEnder supplement.
This year, Women in Comedy listed her as “an awesome Chicago female comic to follow.” Her writing has been published online in Hello Giggles (TIME Inc.), HuffPost, Rebellious Magazine, Distinguished Diva, and Midnight and Indigo.
The annual IGNITE Caribbean 30 Under 30 award is given to young persons exhibiting leadership in academia, volunteerism, and entrepreneurship in the Caribbean American community. Now in its third year, the 2018 class included 30 Caribbean nationals from Anguilla, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Croix, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The project was funded this year by the ICS in conjunction with Tower Isles Foods and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Executive Director for the Caribbean on the IDB Board of Directors Jerry Butler hosted the award ceremony which was held in the IDB’s Executive Dining Room.
Following breakfast, seven of the awardees gave short presentations about their work. As a reward for her dynamic presentation, honouree Samantha Sheoprashad of Guyana received Success Strategies of Caribbean American Leaders in the United States by Dr. Shelly Cameron, a US $500 grant from ICS to further her work, and a $1,000 cash prize co-sponsored by Davis Wolf (Core &Main), Sonja Sulcer (Ideascale) and Butler.
Sheoprashad is the founder of Trifinity Solutions and Enterprise Youth Development Group (EYDG).
