Women do not fail be­cause they are lazy. They strug­gle be­cause they com­mit to rou­tines that were nev­er sus­tain­able with­in the de­mands of their re­al lives.

“As I con­tin­ue to re­new and re­vi­talise my spir­it, I be­lieve that women can rise above chal­lenges they face by wel­com­ing guid­ance that em­pow­ers and trans­forms their lives, build­ing a strong and pos­i­tive mind­set, and em­brac­ing in­de­pen­dence.” These are the sen­ti­ments of ad­vo­cate and be­liev­er of lo­cal and the go-green phi­los­o­phy, Hea­matie Bho­la-Gopaul.

For decades, many women of African de­scent have, for var­i­ous rea­sons, tried to “tame” their nat­ur­al hair with the use of chem­i­cal treat­ments. In re­cent times, though, there has been a shift to more women wear­ing their hair in its nat­ur­al state, with some hav­ing a lit­tle more dif­fi­cul­ty man­ag­ing it than oth­ers.

Twen­ty-two, bub­bly, bright, and fran­ti­cal­ly fash­ion­able. Je­nesse Montablo is the wit and dri­ve be­hind Vi­va La Di­va pop-up, the hottest trend­ing thrift event in the coun­try, one that she has been co­or­di­nat­ing for the last year and a half. Un­der her care­ful eye, Vi­va La Di­va has pushed thrift­ing in Trinidad to­wards be­com­ing an en­tire ex­pe­ri­ence, mov­ing away from its less glam­orous ori­gins as a poor man’s means of shop­ping.

A per­son’s home is their sanc­tu­ary – a con­cept that re­al es­tate agent and man­ag­ing di­rec­tor of XIP­PI Prop­er­ties Ltd, Marisa Davis, un­der­stands all too well. In ad­di­tion to try­ing her best to find the right fit for her clients, Davis is part-own­er of a home for se­nior cit­i­zens, en­sur­ing that they, too, have a place where they fit in.

Is­hana Edgar, an 18-year-old sec­ond-year Busi­ness Man­age­ment stu­dent at the Uni­ver­si­ty of the South­ern Caribbean, walked away with the pres­ti­gious ti­tle of Miss Cen­tral Trinidad when the Cou­va Car­ni­val Com­mit­tee (CCC) staged its mar­quee event at the Cou­va Car­ni­val Cen­tre on Sat­ur­day.

In the qui­et neigh­bour­hood of Fed­er­a­tion Park, the pul­sat­ing heart of Car­ni­val now beats from with­in the walls of the Art So­ci­ety of Trinidad and To­ba­go head­quar­ters. Cur­rent­ly on dis­play is Din­go­lay, an ex­hi­bi­tion that trans­forms the gallery space in­to a vi­brant trib­ute to the colour, ca­dence and cul­tur­al pow­er of Trin­ba­go Car­ni­val.

For years, Rox­anne Oma­lo was best known for her com­mand­ing pres­ence on the Car­ni­val stage—a four-time Car­ni­val Queen (2018, 2020, 2024, 2025) whose poise, con­fi­dence, and sto­ry­telling cap­tured au­di­ences and cel­e­brat­ed cul­ture.

For years, ex­er­cise has been close­ly tied to ap­pear­ance. Many women be­gin a fit­ness rou­tine hop­ing to lose weight, shrink their waist­line or fit more com­fort­ably in­to their clothes. While these goals are valid, fo­cus­ing on­ly on how the body looks can cause you to over­look one of ex­er­cise’s great­est ben­e­fits: pro­tect­ing your heart.

I watched your fu­ner­al on Zoom. Heard voic­es. Echoes of you. Dull pewter light. The cam­era was fixed high and slight­ly to one side. The priest moved in and out of range. The cof­fin crossed the screen once, a head shift­ing. I was in my kitchen in the Caribbean, the lap­top open, the light too bright around me.

It’s show­time! That time when women par­tic­i­pat­ing in the Car­ni­val fes­tiv­i­ties get set to put their best faces for­ward for the glitz and glam of the Great­est Show on Earth. Over the years, make­up for the Pa­rade of the Bands has be­come part and par­cel of the cos­tumes them­selves, at a sep­a­rate cost, of course.