Fayola K J Fraser
Growing up in Arima, Maria Bhola Paul’s world was always alive with creativity and expression. She attended Carapo RC Primary School, where teachers quickly noticed her knack for performance.
By the time she moved on to Northeastern College, Bhola Paul was already immersed in singing calypso, spoken word, and monologues–early experiences that shaped her love for the stage. Later, at university, she formally pursued Theatre Arts and Communications, grounding her talent in academic study while keeping her artistic passions alive.
Music was Bhola Paul’s first stage. As a child, she entered the National Junior Calypso Monarch competition and grew into the senior realm, eventually becoming one of the country’s most respected female voices in calypso. She won the National Calypso Queen crown in 2007, and in the years to follow, she appeared in the National Calypso Monarch finals three times, placing as high as fourth.
In 2017, she won the title of reigning Political Calypso Monarch and remains the reigning champion, as it was the last time the competition was staged. But Bhola Paul is more than a performer: she is also a composer, penning hits for fellow calypsonians, including Terri Lyons’ winning piece Meghan My Dear in 2020.
When the pandemic hit in 2020 and lockdown caused stages to go dark through 2021, Bhola Paul redirected her energy. Always drawn to fashion and adorning outfits with beautiful statement jewellery, she invested $250 in an online jewellery-making course with Synergy Training Institute, which remains one of her best investments to date. It sparked a whole new chapter.
On the day of her graduation, she got a call from the owner of Prindela Fashions to paint designs on earrings. The owner did not know Bhola Paul was engaged in the course, so the turn of events was serendipitous. “She told me to just do whatever I wanted,” Bhola Paul recalls, smiling. “When she saw the results, instead of selling them, she kept every single pair.” From there, YouTube tutorials became her classroom, and what began as an experiment quickly grew into a small business.
Bhola Paul’s jewellery line started humbly, with free pieces she shared to test the market and advertise her work. The reaction was resplendent. Friends and clients posted photos, creating buzz around her designs. A breakthrough came when Terri Lyons wore a custom necklace for her birthday shoot, and the images caught the attention of The Lost Tribe Carnival band, leading to a collaboration that allowed her to design and provide Monday wear for the band.
For her, it was a dream come true: “I always had this quiet desire to make costumes for Carnival, and suddenly my work was part of that world. I didn’t know my necklace would strike such a chord with them.”
In May 2025, Bhola Paul took another creative leap and expanded into handbags, launching the “Bhol Bag” collection after months of planning, design, and preparation. The first shipment sold out almost instantly. Soon after, Carifesta presented an opportunity to showcase her brand internationally.
Describing it as “a mindblowing experience”, on the opening day, she sold 75 per cent of her stock and was overwhelmed by people’s reactions to her designs. Although overjoyed, Bhola Paul had to scramble for reinforcements and got friends who were coming into Barbados that week to bring her more stock.
By the penultimate day of the festival, she was completely sold out, a proud accomplishment that proved her designs resonated beyond her familiar circles. “When total strangers light up at your work, it gives you courage,” she reflects.
Although her risks have paid off tenfold, Bhola Paul is candid about the challenges entrepreneurs face. Accessing funding, she explains, is often blocked by “so much red tape”. Grateful for her husband, she describes having a partner who has been her safety net while pushing her to take her business further. “He holds things down when I want to experiment,” she says. “Now we’re reaping the rewards of those experiments.”
She also resists being distracted by competition. “The market is big enough for everyone. My eyes aren’t just on Trinidad and Tobago. Carifesta reminded me that it’s a big world out there, and if your dream doesn’t scare you, it’s not big enough.”
Her designs have already crossed oceans. A collaboration with designer Stacey Weekes-Benjamin under the Diane Carlton fashion house pushed Bhola Paul’s creativity to new heights. A highlight came when Weekes-Benjamin styled the South African singer of the hit “Jerusalema” and paired her outfit with Bhola-Paul’s earrings during a Trinidad visit. Today, her pieces are worn and shared in places as far as Dubai, Sweden, Iran, the UK, and the Maldives. “Seeing my work out there in the world brings a big smile to my face,” she says.
Through it all, Bhola Paul balances bold ambition with grounded advice. She urges dreamers to take calculated risks: “You don’t have to quit your job right away. Start small, as a hobby, and build. With prayer, you’ll know when to leap.” Her own leap took her from selling pieces in an ad hoc manner to now operating a shopfront at Trincity Mall. Multiple streams of income, she insists, are essential in today’s climate.
Now, Bhola Paul is gearing up for her next frontier: clothes design. On September 24, Republic Day, she will present her first clothing line at San Fernando Fashion Week. “I’m nervous and excited,” she admits, but her journey has taught her that growth always comes from stepping into the unknown.
From calypso stages to jewellery showcases, from handbags to fashion runways, Maria Bhola Paul has built a career that is as versatile as it is inspiring, rooted in passion, risk, and the courage to keep dreaming.
