POTENT Issue #2 - The Women's Issue

KAMLA
PERSAD -
BISSESAR
First Female Prime Minister of
Trinidad and Tobago
The honorable Kamla Persad-Bissesar has
ushered in a progressive era for Trinidad &
Tobago as the first woman appointed prime
minister. Persad-Bissessar was officially
sworn in May 2010, and four years later her
passion for gender equality and education is
evidenced by her initiatives. She has provided
free laptops for school children, developed the
Helping Hand Fund, which provides disaster relief
throughout the Caribbean and has inserted more
women into cabinet-level positions.
With the urging of her parents, Persad-Bissessar went
against the norm and pursued a college degree in the U.K.
She returned to her homeland with a degree and desire to teach,
which she fulfilled on college campuses in Jamaica and Trinidad.
Racial discrimination and gender inequality led Persad-Bissessar
to pursue a law degree. Soon after becoming a full-time attorney,
she went into public service, becoming the first woman Attorney
General of Trinidad and Tobago and first woman of a political
party—The United National Congress.
CHIRLANE
Mccray
First Lady of New York
Other than being New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s wife
and right hand woman, Chirlane McCray has carved out
her own power position. McCray, of Bajan and St. Lucian
descent, is an activist, poet and writer (her work appeared
in ESSENCE magazine and in 1983 poetry collection,
”Homegirls: A Black Feminist Anthology”). She utilized
those writing skills during her husband’s 2013 election;
she edited his speeches. It’s a role she’s familiar with,
having been a speechwriter for mayor David Dinkins in
the early ‘90s. In her role as First Lady of New York, she
manages the Mayor’s Fund, which pools private money
and directs it towards the mayor’s agenda. Recently, the
mother of two, has focused on mental health initiatives, in
light of her daughter revealing her bout with depression,
that catapulted a $130 million plan to regulate those with
mental illnesses without the use of law enforcement.
POTENT Magazine | TWELVE