One of the lega­cies of the late Sat Ma­haraj, for­mer Sec­re­tary Gen­er­al of the Sanatan Dhar­ma Ma­ha Sab­ha (SDMS), was the re­vival of Chow­taal singing in SDMS schools as part of the Baal Vikaas com­pe­ti­tion.

So­ca fans may have been sur­prised to see US-based Tri­ni-born star Lyrikal (De­von Mar­tin) on Cam­pari bill­boards around Port-of-Spain dur­ing Car­ni­val 2025 fes­tiv­i­ties, but Cam­pari Caribbean was thrilled to an­nounce that it had signed the so­ca icon as the brand’s newest am­bas­sador. The sign­ing took place in ear­ly Feb­ru­ary at an in­ti­mate cer­e­mo­ny with mem­bers of the Cam­pari fam­i­ly present to wit­ness the mo­men­tous oc­ca­sion.

In qui­et homes and bustling com­mu­ni­ty cen­tres across T&T, the work of the Is­lam­ic Ladies So­cial and Cul­tur­al As­so­ci­a­tion (ILSCA) is felt every day. A strug­gling moth­er re­ceives fi­nan­cial as­sis­tance to keep food on the ta­ble. A stu­dent, once on the verge of drop­ping out, now has the school­books and uni­form need­ed to con­tin­ue their ed­u­ca­tion. An ad­vo­ca­cy pa­per lands on a pol­i­cy­mak­er’s desk, push­ing for change on crit­i­cal so­cial is­sues.

Sev­en days pre­ced­ing Feb­ru­ary 25, To­ba­go-based writer, Trompe L’oeil spe­cial­ist and painter, Vidya Birk­hoff, said she stood be­fore her easel, proud that she was able to cap­ture not just an­oth­er im­age, but a lega­cy—an ex­am­ple of re­silience, am­bi­tion, and the pur­suit of a dream.

In T&T, where agri­cul­ture and sus­tain­abil­i­ty in­ter­sect with cul­ture and com­mu­ni­ty, one woman is lead­ing a move­ment that re­de­fines how we view food waste.

T&T and the world cel­e­brat­ed In­ter­na­tion­al Women’s Day (IWD) 2025 yes­ter­day, March 8. Sa­ree­ta Bridge­lal’s jour­ney em­bod­ies the spir­it of IWD’s theme “Ac­cel­er­at­ing Ac­tion”. Through her ad­vo­ca­cy, re­search, and sup­port for sur­vivors of child sex­u­al abuse, she is tak­ing bold, proac­tive steps to dri­ve mean­ing­ful change.

As Car­ni­val 2025 wrapped up, fans were left won­der­ing—where was De­stra Gar­cia? The so­ca queen, the Queen of Bac­cha­nal, who usu­al­ly com­mands the stage every year, was no­tice­ably miss­ing from the cel­e­bra­tions.

A tru­ly civilised so­ci­ety is not judged by its laws or wealth but by how it treats its women. If women must beg for space, for safe­ty, for the right to live undis­turbed, then that so­ci­ety is bro­ken.

As the first black woman in Cana­da to build a haven for abused women and chil­dren, Dr Roz Roach, ex­ec­u­tive di­rec­tor of Dr Roz’s Heal­ing Place, is a pi­o­neer­ing fig­ure in the field of so­cial work and com­mu­ni­ty em­pow­er­ment.

The sec­re­tary of the San­ta Rosa First Peo­ples’ Com­mu­ni­ty Jacque­line Berna­dine Khan is ap­plaud­ing Mex­i­co on the move to de­cree 2025 as the Year of the In­dige­nous Woman.

At every ma­jor sport­ing event, mu­sic plays a cen­tral role in set­ting the mood, en­er­gis­ing ath­letes, and en­gag­ing the crowd. But for too long, the pop­u­lar Car­ni­val hits have been at the tip of every DJ’s fin­ger­tips, of­ten ob­jec­ti­fy­ing women and girls.

For In­ter­na­tion­al Women’s Day 2025, the theme “Ac­cel­er­ate Ac­tion” has struck a chord with many, re­new­ing the call to fast-track progress to­ward gen­der equal­i­ty and women’s em­pow­er­ment. But for for­mer politi­cian Hazel Man­ning, this isn’t just a slo­gan—it has al­ways been her life’s mis­sion.