User:Feliciap/Sandbox

FELICIA PERSAUD

Felicia Persaud is a Guyanese-born journalist and entrepreneur, who though migrating to New York City only nine years ago, has not only made name for herself in Caribbean American and black media circles, but has taken the entrepreneurial path to establishing the first daily news service for Caribbean Americans and the only press release news wire of the Caribbean.

She established Hard Beat Communications in 2000, as a news and editing service, serving the needs of several local and regional media houses, including the Cayman Net and the Caribbean Net News, along with the PR needs of companies such as Health First.

In 2004, she joined with partners Rolston Osborne, Irwine Clare and Jared McCallister, to make her dream of the first daily Caribbean American news service, Hardbeatnews.com and CaribWorldnews.com, and the PR wire of the Caribbean - CaribPR.com, a reality. The services are growing by leaps and pounds.

The daily news service serve more than 3,000 subscribers on any given day, and attracts a lot more attention from partnering sites, such as Google news. And the PR wire has attracted clients such as GTECH Corporation, Ruder Finn PR, the Jamaica Tourist Board and VP Records among other local non-profits and individual organizations.

In April 2005, the Hard Beat team launched the Caribbean World News Network.

In the past, Persaud has served as managing editor and assistant editor at several local ethnic publications throughout the city including the New York Trend, The Caribbean American, The Queens Chronicle, The New York Voice and The Caribbean Times.

Her column, Immigration Korner, which appears in several papers locally and in the region, including The Amsterdam News, The Haitian Times and her weekly commentary in the West Indian titled simply, ‘Dis & Dat,’ in which she comments on issues making the news, is well received.

Persaud is also responsible for editing and gathering the stories that appear in the New York Daily News’ ‘Caribbeat In Focus’ page.

Persaud appears as a guest commentator frequently on several national radio shows, including WLIB’s ‘Caribbean at Five,’ WBAI’s ‘Wake Up Call,’ WWRL Radio, the American Urban Radio Networks and on the international shows, the BBC Caribbean Report, St. Lucia’s Hot FM and the ‘Caribbean Swizzle.’ She has also been on many local cable television shows such as ‘Carinet TV,’ and ‘The Caribbean Classroom.’

In the past, Persaud’s work has also been carried in the Caribbean Life, Kip Business Report, Black Elegance magazine, InnerCityNews, The Jamaica Gleaner, The African Sun Times, Cricket International, Sky Writings and NOU magazine in the Caribbean region. She has also co-hosted and presented the news on several local radio programs on WRTN and WWRL as well as on the television show, ‘Caribbean Billboard.’

Persaud has also dabbled in politics, serving as PR for the campaign of Bangladeshi-immigrant, Morshed Alam.

She is the winner of a New York Association of Black Journalists Award and two Independent Press Association Award for excellence in writing.She also has received several community awards including a commendation from the City Comptroller of New York.

And she served as a ghost-writer for a profile piece that appeared in ‘Souls of My Brother’ while her commentary on the Caribbean Single Market Economy is set to be soon published in the Heinemann Educational textbook, ‘Practice Exercises For CXC.’

In her native Guyana, Persaud was the parliamentary assistant to the one of the country’s leading voice in the opposition, Dr. Rupert Roopnarine, and also worked as an assistant radio producer/presenter on the national radio station, GBC; as a reporter for the Guyana Guardian and an account executive for Prime Time Advertising.

Persaud is a graduate of the University of Guyana with a BSC in Social Science and an alumnus of the country’s top high school, Queens College.