SAN­DRA L BLOOD

Moth­er-and-daugh­ter duo Lau­ra Pol­lon­ais-Kissoon and Jolan­ta Kissoon Young have made it their mis­sion to show the world what uni­ty and cul­tur­al love are all about.

“No mat­ter where you are, your iden­ti­ty can stay alive,” they say.

The Tri­ni-Amer­i­cans, who lost their hus­band and fa­ther—for­mer lo­cal tele­vi­sion cam­era­man James “Jim­my” Kissoon—many years ago, found so­lace in each oth­er. Though Jolan­ta was very young at the time, their shared re­silience car­ried them through grief and in­spired the cre­ation of Mum & Me Pro­duc­tion (MMP) in 2024. Since then, the brand has been cap­ti­vat­ing au­di­ences with vivid show­cas­es of Trinidad and To­ba­go’s rich cul­ture.

Kissoon Young ex­plained that MMP goes be­yond fash­ion:

“It’s an im­mer­sive Caribbean cul­tur­al ex­pe­ri­ence where fash­ion meets her­itage and sto­ries are told in colour, rhythm, and soul. Our sig­na­ture event, Pan and Car­ni­val on D Run­way, merges high-fash­ion de­sign with the spir­it­ed tra­di­tions of T&T.

“Through the in­fec­tious rhythm of the steel­pan and the mag­ic of Car­ni­val, we cre­ate a space where de­sign­ers, per­form­ers, and en­thu­si­asts con­nect, cel­e­brate, and up­lift her­itage.”

Jolan­ta, who serves as co-di­rec­tor, holds a de­gree in Mass Me­dia Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Stud­ies from Met­ro­pol­i­tan State Uni­ver­si­ty. She be­gan her ca­reer in fash­ion pho­tog­ra­phy, cap­tur­ing mo­ments for cel­e­brat­ed de­sign­ers and brands. Her work, known for weav­ing el­e­gance and emo­tion in­to every frame, has been show­cased at ex­clu­sive events.

For the fam­i­ly, cul­tur­al iden­ti­ty is deeply per­son­al. Their sto­ry is root­ed in the pa­n­yard of the orig­i­nal Pan­de­mo­ni­um Steel Or­ches­tra, once based on Jern­ing­ham Av­enue, Bel­mont. There, Lau­ra’s fa­ther, Lloyd Pol­lon­ais—a Car­ni­val pi­o­neer and col­lab­o­ra­tor of leg­endary band­leader Ken Mor­ris—guid­ed his chil­dren, in­clud­ing Lau­ra and her broth­er Lance Pol­lon­ais, in play­ing pan.

That lega­cy of artistry and com­mu­ni­ty now fu­els MMP’s mis­sion: to ed­u­cate, en­ter­tain, and in­spire pride in Caribbean her­itage while em­pow­er­ing artists and en­tre­pre­neurs with men­tor­ship, re­sources, and a glob­al plat­form.

“T&T is our heart­beat,” Jolan­ta said. “Through col­lab­o­ra­tions, we car­ry its rhythm in­to the world.”

Their next ma­jor stage will be New York Fash­ion Week, where on Sep­tem­ber 12 at 8 pm, MMP will present Min­neso­ta 10,000 Lakes Meets Trinidad Car­ni­val – A Cel­e­bra­tion of Cul­ture, Fash­ion, and Art at the West­in New York at Times Square.

The high-en­er­gy run­way show will fuse the nat­ur­al beau­ty of Min­neso­ta’s lakes with the vi­brant spir­it of T&T’s Car­ni­val, blend­ing Mid­west­ern charm with Caribbean flair. It will fea­ture de­signs from @O_37, @Piece­sofKan­dakes, @Ndaras­jew­els, and @mu­mand­me­pro­duc­tion.

MMP has ded­i­cat­ed it­self to pre­serv­ing the rich cul­tur­al her­itage of Trinidad and To­ba­go, with a spe­cial em­pha­sis on the steel­pan and Car­ni­val’s un­matched vi­bran­cy. Their run­way shows turn de­signs in­to sto­ries, sto­ries in­to col­lec­tions, and col­lec­tions in­to cul­tur­al cel­e­bra­tions.

The team ex­tends con­grat­u­la­tions to T&T in cel­e­bra­tion of Steel­pan Month, promis­ing an un­for­get­table evening of mu­sic, fash­ion, and fun—with a twist of cul­ture and par­ty on the run­way.

Event De­tails:

Date/Time: Fri­day, Sep­tem­ber 13, 2025, at 8 p.m.

Venue: The West­in New York at Times Square, 270 West 43rd Street, NYC

Con­tact: in­fo@mu­mand­me­pro­duc­tion.com

Web­site: www.mu­mand­me­pro­duc­tion.com