Carry On Friends: The Caribbean American Experience

Oct 27, 2026 · 43m

Send us Fan MailContent note: This episode includes a personal account of infant loss, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and grief.What happens when the funeral is over and everyone returns to their lives, but your grief remains?In this episode, Kerry-Ann speaks with Guyanese-born, Brooklyn-raised community builder Shiyonne Chester about pregnancy and infant loss, grief in Caribbean families, and the importance of creating spaces where people feel understood and supported.Shiyonne shares the story of her son Dallas Lamar, who died from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in 2011 at just three months and three days old. She reflects on the years that followed, the challenges of finding culturally relevant mental health support, and how those experiences eventually led her to establish the Dallas Lamar Project.Together, Kerry-Ann and Shiyonne explore the Caribbean emphasis on strength and resilience, the silence surrounding grief, and why vulnerability, compassion, and community are essential parts of supporting families through loss.In this episodeLife after loss: Why grief doesn't end when the funeral is over, and what happens when the initial support begins to fade.Grief and Caribbean cultural expectations: How traditions, faith, resilience, and the pressure to remain strong can influence the way families experience and discuss loss.Finding culturally responsive care: Shiyonne's experience searching for therapy and support groups where she felt seen, understood, and comfortable.Building the Dallas Lamar Project: How her experience inspired a community-centered nonprofit supporting families navigating pregnancy and infant loss.Giving grace and remembering loved ones: Why acknowledging grief, speaking children's names, and allowing space for changing emotions matter.About Shiyonne ChesterShiyonne Chester is a Guyanese-born, Brooklyn-raised community builder and founder of the Dallas Lamar Project, a nonprofit established in memory of her son, Dallas. Drawing on her personal experience and professional background in healthcare, she is working to expand culturally responsive grief support and community resources for families affected by pregnancy and infant loss.Connect with Shiyonne and the Dallas Lamar ProjectWebsite: https://dallaslamarproject.orgInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dallaslamarprojectinc/Peer Grief Support Circle: https://dallaslamarproject.org/Our-ProgramsOctober is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, and October 15 is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day.If this conversation resonates with you, share it with someone who may benefit from hearing it. And if you're navigating grief yourself, know that you deserve support that acknowledges your experience.Subscribe to Carry On Friends for more conversations exploring Caribbean culture, identity, and the experiences shaping our communities across the diaspora.Subscribe to the NewsletterSupport How to Support Carry On FriendsDonate: If you believe in our mission and want to help amplify Caribbean voices, consider making a donation. Get Merch: Support Carry On Friends by purchasing merchandise from our store. Connect with @carryonfriends - Instagram | Facebook | YouTube A Breadfruit Media Production

Oct 13, 2026 · 35m

Send us Fan MailA body disappears, a country grieves, and decades later the question still won’t rest: where is Maurice Bishop? Martine Powers, a Washington Post audio journalist and senior host of Post Reports, talk about her seven-part investigative series The Empty Grave of Comrade Bishop and the reporting journey that brought her deep into Grenada’s most painful modern chapter. Martine shares how her Caribbean American upbringing, with a Trinidadian mother and years of travel back “home,” turned into a deeper connection when her parents retired to Grenada. That proximity sparked conversations with people who lived the revolution, survived October 1983, and still carry the trauma of the coup and the US invasion of Grenada. We explore why Bishop remains both beloved and controversial, and how the mystery of the unrecovered bodies fuels suspicion, grief, and calls for accountability. We also go behind the scenes of audio journalism: the years of research, the pitch battles, COVID delays, and the practical hustle of finding reluctant sources and last-minute witnesses. Along the way, we talk about the challenge of telling Caribbean history to Americans who only know the “vacation” version of the region, and why the Cold War Caribbean was anything but small or simple. Martine closes with what could come next, from declassified US State Department documents to the wider need for more Caribbean-led storytelling on Jamaica, Haiti, and beyond. Subscribe to the NewsletterSupport How to Support Carry On FriendsDonate: If you believe in our mission and want to help amplify Caribbean voices, consider making a donation. Get Merch: Support Carry On Friends by purchasing merchandise from our store. Connect with @carryonfriends - Instagram | Facebook | YouTube A Breadfruit Media Production

Sep 29, 2026 · 35m

Send us Fan MailA coworking space can be a desk, or it can be a lifeline. We’re talking with Johanne Brierre, a Haitian American community builder who helped scale Brooklyn Commons and then took a bold leap during COVID to launch NY Beauty Suite, a private beauty suite model built for stylists, nail techs, aestheticians, massage therapists, and other wellness entrepreneurs who couldn’t get a fair shot at traditional leases.We get into the real story behind the sharing economy in Brooklyn, from noticing early demand for smaller, more flexible meeting spaces to building a community-first coworking culture in Flatbush and beyond. Joanne breaks down what makes community workspace powerful: proximity, trust, referrals, and the simple fact that you’re no longer building alone. If you’ve ever felt like your neighbourhood has resources you hear about too late, this conversation speaks directly to that gap.Then we go deep on the NY Beauty Suite concept: suite sizes, 24-hour access, turnkey amenities, and why post-pandemic clients want privacy and a more personal experience. We also talk mindset and business infrastructure, including programming, office hours with experts, getting your LLC and paperwork right for grants and loans, and using content tools like a podcast studio and photography space to grow your brand.NY Beauty Suites - Instagram | NYbeautysuites.com | hi@nybeautysuites.comSubscribe to the NewsletterSupport How to Support Carry On FriendsDonate: If you believe in our mission and want to help amplify Caribbean voices, consider making a donation. Get Merch: Support Carry On Friends by purchasing merchandise from our store. Connect with @carryonfriends - Instagram | Facebook | YouTube A Breadfruit Media Production

Sep 15, 2026 · 52m

Send us Fan MailThe pandemic didn’t just change schedules, it changed family roles, nervous systems, and the way kids act when they feel trapped, scared, or out of control. We sit down with Dr. Anne-Louise Lockhart, a pediatric psychologist, author, and parent coach originally from St Croix in the US Virgin Islands, to talk about what parenting during a pandemic really looks like for Caribbean and West Indian families, especially when you’re working from home, managing remote school, and trying to keep everyone steady.We get into why so many children are pushing boundaries right now, and why that push-pull is often a signal, not a character flaw. Dr. Lockhart breaks down how to look behind behaviour, stop turning every moment into discipline, and use more grace when families have less support than usual. We also tackle screen time limits with a realistic lens: why too much tech can dysregulate kids (sleep, mood, tantrums), and how routines, breaks, and non-screen play help restore balance.One of the biggest takeaways is a better script for hard moments. Dr. Lockhart explains why asking kids “Why did you do that?” backfires, and offers an emotion coaching approach you can use immediately: listen, reflect, empathise, validate, then collaborate on solutions. We also talk child-centred, uninterrupted play as a powerful tool for connection, emotional regulation, and reducing resistance, plus how to unlearn parts of old-school parenting without losing respect in the home.If you’re a single parent, a new caregiver, or simply exhausted, this conversation delivers practical parenting strategies grounded in child psychology and cultural reality. Subscribe, share this with a parent who needs it, and leave a review with the one idea you’re trying this week.Subscribe to the NewsletterSupport How to Support Carry On FriendsDonate: If you believe in our mission and want to help amplify Caribbean voices, consider making a donation. Get Merch: Support Carry On Friends by purchasing merchandise from our store. Connect with @carryonfriends - Instagram | Facebook | YouTube A Breadfruit Media Production

Sep 1, 2026 · 36m

Send us Fan MailAfrofuturism gets treated like a buzzword, but Vianca helps us see it as something much more grounded: a creative practice that lets Caribbean people and the wider African diaspora imagine a future without external control. From her work at the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI) in East Harlem, she shows how arts and culture can move racial and social justice forward, not just talk about it. We get specific about cultural equity, what it actually means, and why it matters. Vianca breaks down how culture is restricted through stigma, policy, and uneven funding for cultural institutions, and why that puts Caribbean cultural preservation at risk. We also connect the dots between reclamation of African retentions and the ability to envision a liberated future, from Haitian Independence to today’s cultural movements. We also talk about the “post-technology” question: where do folkloric dance and music fit in a TikTok world? Bianca argues tech can be a bridge, while intentional choices by adults ensure kids inherit more than trends, they inherit lineage. If you care about Caribbean American identity, decolonization, Afrofuturism, and the future of Afro-Caribbean traditions, press play. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.Reference: Puerto Rico's Bomba: A Musical Revolution (Strictly Facts Podcast)Connect with Viannca Velez - Instagram | Website | Cultura LoversSubscribe to the NewsletterSupport How to Support Carry On FriendsDonate: If you believe in our mission and want to help amplify Caribbean voices, consider making a donation. Get Merch: Support Carry On Friends by purchasing merchandise from our store. Connect with @carryonfriends - Instagram | Facebook | YouTube A Breadfruit Media Production

Aug 18, 2026 · 44m

Send us Fan Mailn 1982, at just 19 years old, Dr. Donna Barrett left Jamaica in search of greater opportunities. What followed was not an overnight success story, but decades of perseverance, faith, education, entrepreneurship, and an unwavering belief that a better future was possible.In this episode Dr. Donna shares her remarkable journey from rural Jamaica to becoming a real estate entrepreneur, author, nonprofit founder, and educator. Along the way, she reflects on navigating immigration, overcoming personal loss, building generational wealth through homeownership, balancing entrepreneurship with family life, and the mindset that carried her through life's toughest seasons.This conversation isn't simply about achieving success. It's about what happens in the years between the dream and the destination, and the resilience required to keep moving forward when life doesn't unfold as planned.Connect with Dr. Donna - https://drdonnambarrett.com/Subscribe to the NewsletterSupport How to Support Carry On FriendsDonate: If you believe in our mission and want to help amplify Caribbean voices, consider making a donation. Get Merch: Support Carry On Friends by purchasing merchandise from our store. Connect with @carryonfriends - Instagram | Facebook | YouTube A Breadfruit Media Production

Aug 4, 2026 · 58m

Send us Fan MailJamaicans will slow wine to Michael Bolton, scream the words to Celine Dion, and two-step to old country ballads like it’s the most natural thing in the world. That “soulz” section in a dance is more than a playlist, it’s a cultural habit with rules, memories, and a sound that a lot of people outside the Caribbean still don’t understand.We sit down with Jess, a Jamaican TV producer based in New York, to talk about her new film project, Roots Rock Reggae and Soulz. She shares the moment she realised the rest of the world doesn’t treat these songs the way we do, and why a Sunday-night party in Kingston made the idea feel urgent. From the way Jamaicans “pick their own singles” to the strange magic of hearing soft rock and R&B ballads played all night, we unpack what makes this tradition feel so specific to Jamaican life and diaspora parties.We also get practical about filmmaking and cultural preservation: what pre-production really looks like, why Kickstarter crowdfunding matters when the industry is slow, and how a short campaign video can unlock a huge wave of community support. Along the way we talk Jamaican radio culture, Sunday programming, reggae covers, and the country-western outlaw thread that quietly connects to dancehall storytelling.If you’ve ever had a favorite “soulz tune” that only Caribbean people seem to rate properly, you’ll feel seen here. Subscribe for more conversations like this, share the episode with a friend who loves a good slow jam set, and leave us a review with the one song Jamaica claimed as its own.Links:Kickstarter CampaignRoots Rock Reggae Souls InstagramBiggie: I Got A Story To TellSubscribe to the NewsletterSupport How to Support Carry On FriendsDonate: If you believe in our mission and want to help amplify Caribbean voices, consider making a donation. Get Merch: Support Carry On Friends by purchasing merchandise from our store. Connect with @carryonfriends - Instagram | Facebook | YouTube A Breadfruit Media Production

Jul 21, 2026 · 49m

Send us Fan MailSubscribe to the NewsletterSupport How to Support Carry On FriendsDonate: If you believe in our mission and want to help amplify Caribbean voices, consider making a donation. Get Merch: Support Carry On Friends by purchasing merchandise from our store. Connect with @carryonfriends - Instagram | Facebook | YouTube A Breadfruit Media Production

Jul 7, 2026 · 1h 2m

Send us Fan MailReels & Riddims is another Breadfruit Media production, where we talk about what's onscreen through a Caribbean Lens. Experience this episode of Reels & Riddims where we discuss 'Queenie' the novel by Candice Carty-Williams and the miniseries adaptation, which is available on Hulu and Disney+.  We get into the big questions people argue about: what the series gets right, what the book does better, and why some viewers tap out early. From Queenie’s breakup fallout to her messy choices, we talk self-worth, self-sabotage, and the relentless pressure to perform “strength” while you’re unraveling. We also name the uncomfortable parts head-on, including sexual fetishization of Black women, consent, and the way bodies are policed and consumed in dating, friendships, and public spaces. Just as important, we zoom out to the systems around her: workplace bias, the politics of whose ideas get valued, and the coldness you can meet inside medical care when you most need compassion. We talk family dynamics, generational trauma, therapy, and the small tender moments that feel deeply Jamaican and deeply immigrant at the same time. Check out Reels & Riddims on Apple Podcast | YouTube.Subscribe to the NewsletterSupport How to Support Carry On FriendsDonate: If you believe in our mission and want to help amplify Caribbean voices, consider making a donation. Get Merch: Support Carry On Friends by purchasing merchandise from our store. Connect with @carryonfriends - Instagram | Facebook | YouTube A Breadfruit Media Production