Theme: Changing Conversations

“First the thought then the action.”
It’s a cliché, but it describes the order of life. Everything happens on the level of thought before it manifests in actual form. If we are to change Trinidad and Tobago, the change must begin at the level of our thinking. One powerful influencer in changing out thinking is to change the conversation.
The more the conversation changes, the more likely we will see a change of action.

Little Carib Theatre
Woodbrook Port of Spain
Port of Spain
Trinidad and Tobago

Gregory Sloane-Seale

Gregory Sloane-Seale is the National Coordinator of the Citizen Security Programme within the Ministry of National Security in Trinidad & Tobago, which is funded through a loan facility with the Inter-American Development Bank. He has facilitated workshops for UNICEF within the Caribbean region on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and the XCHANGE Project, which focused on youth violence reduction and prevention. Gregory currently resides in Trinidad.

Mark Raymond

Mark Raymond studied at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London and since returning to Trinidad in 1993 has been responsible for a wide range of architectural, urban design and planning projects throughout the Caribbean. Mark has lectured on his work at the Caribbean School of Architecture in Kingston, Jamaica, UNPHU in Santo Domingo, London Metropolitan University and more recently at Yale University. He is interested in the capacity of innovative architectural, urban and landscape design to ensure a sustainable future

Kiran Shiva Akal

Kiran Shiva Akal is the founder and president of Infinite Worlds Inc. and has operated in creative entertainment projects from a design and consulting perspective since 1989. He read medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin Ireland, and was going on to pursue a second professional degree in architecture when he entered a creative competition held by UNESCO to celebrate the “Decade of Culture” and won. He has held a creative directors position for the Bastille Day celebrations in France. The project set the tone for his work which invariably involves architectural, performance and technology, integrated in highly innovative ways and led to his ongoing affiliations with some of the most respected intellectual sources in areas of material science, computer technology, structural engineering and animation. These people now form an ongoing part of his resources for project development and execution. Kiran is currently heading up the Atma project. The multi-million dollar enterprise will unveil a theatrical facility unlike any other in the World and house a spectacular that will be the Flagship resident show. The project is a closely guarded secret and promises to revolutionise the art of live- entertainment, as we know it.

Dr. Prakash Persad

Prakash Persad is Professor of Mechatronics and Associate Provost, and has successfully supervised forty (40) Master’s and Ph.D. students and is presently supervising a further ten M. Phil. / Ph.D. students. Recipient of a number of awards, he won first place (2004) for innovation and design of the Prime Minister’s award and was also awarded the prestigious Bharat Samman Pravasi Award in 2006, given to Indians residing overseas or persons of Indian origin who have make significant contributions to culture and country. This was presented to him on January 10th 2006 in New Delhi India by the NRI Institute. Professor Persad is the founding President of Swaha Inc. and also served as Chairman of the Theological Board for five years. He is a practicing pandit and Spiritual Leader of the Divya Ashram located in Preysal, Couva.

Wendell Roger Manwarren

Wendell Roger Manwarren: Singer, writer, producer, teacher, sound designer & director. Having been involved in the theatre & the performing arts for the past 20 years now, Mr. Manwarren has had the opportunity to work with & learn from the very best Trinidad & Tobago & the Caribbean has had to offer. Having cut his teeth so to speak as a member of the now defunct Trinidad Tent Theatre under the direction of Helen Camps, Mr. Manwarren has since gone on to work closely with such luminaries as Peter Minshall and the Callaloo Company, Derek Walcott & the Trinidad Theatre Workshop & Noble Douglas & the Lilliput Theatre to name a few. As a founding member performer & producer with the cutting edge Rapso crew 3canal, Mr. Manwarren continues to challenge his growth and development as a contemporary artist in the world today.

Georgia Popplewell

Georgia Popplewell is a media producer, journalist, editor and blogger from Trinidad and Tobago. She has worked in independent television in the Caribbean since 1989 and has written extensively on culture, music, film and sport. In 2005, she started Caribbean Free Radio, the Caribbean's first podcast. Popplewell is Managing Director of Global Voices, a Netherlands-based international citizen media project founded at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

Stefan Grosberg

After graduating from Bath University in 2008 with a BEng in Chemical Engineering, Stefan returned home and took a keen interest in the mechanics of Slow Food. In September 2009 he took a plane to Europe to experience everything he could about food from the ground up. He started with a one-month stint at a farm in Ireland before heading to rural Italy. His involvement with Slow Food and T&T continued as a personal journey trying to find local artisans and connecting with the local organic farmers. Having toyed with making Pesto as a hobby even before his big trip, he decided he was going to put all his efforts into making his kitchen garden truly spectacular and self-sufficient by the time 2010 came around. It is now home to all manner of herbs and his love of food and his search for ways of celebrating Caribbean Flavours continues.

Geoffrey Frankson

Dr. Geoffrey Frankson is a Belize National Scholar and a graduate of the University of the West Indies in medicine, with honours and a gold medal in Obstetrics. He studied Human Sciences at Oxford University on a Rhodes scholarship. Dr. Frankson is the founder and C.E.O. of Better Health Ltd. introducing the first Wellness Centre to Trinidad and Tobago. He has been a regular columnist in the press, a radio host, a part-time lecturer at the University of the West Indies and the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, as well as a consultant on a Caricom project on poverty and health in the Caribbean. His awards include: The Prime Minister’s Award for Innovation and Invention in 2004 and The Regional Award for Excellence In Medicine and Health in 2006. In 2007, Geoffrey was voted a Caribbean Luminary by the American Foundation for The University of the West Indies.

Ria Ramkissoon

From an early age, Ria Ramkissoon had been immersed in her family garment business based in El Dorado, Trinidad where she gained the understanding and the schematics of garment construction, design and production. Ramkissoon attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City to further develop her skills in both Accessory Design and Manufacturing Management. Armed with her clothing manufacturing background Ria found her way into the New York fashion industry by landing her first job at the prestigious fashion house of Halston. Influenced by her love of metal and colour, Ria’s entrepreneurial spirit emerged, leading her to design RIA handbags. Ramkissoon’s inspiration came from the cultures of industrial and lush Trinidad & Tobago and the ever evolving concrete jungle of New York City. Exotic skins, leather, suede, and canvas coupled with industrial inspired stainless steel mesh and other metals comprised of the RIA handbag collection. RIA has been carried at over 150 boutiques world wide including Harrods London, Barneys NY and Seibu in Japan. RIA is coveted by A-list celebrities, socialites and Fashion editors along with being featured in Womens Wear Daily, Lucky, Glamour, Teen Vogue, Essence, Wall Street Journal in addition to many others. She is currently working on her eponymous Handbag Collection as well as an exclusive Ready to Wear collection to be produced and launched in Trinidad &Tobago. She is also a founding partner at a Special event catering firm in Manhattan (which happens to be her second passion in life).