Jasmine Dotiwala OBE

JASMINE WITH THE TEACHER-KRS 1 AT HIP HOP ON TRIAL AT THE BARBICAN. (PIC PAUL H)
Spent a few days at the Hackney academy in East London where the BBC had pit together a 3 week long residency at the Picture House where master classes were held for young East End young people to come and take advise and information from those leading in fields like fashion, music, media and more. The same weekend the beeb was putting on HACKNEY2012 where a host of superstars performed in celebration with the run up to the boroughs hosting the Olympics. Hundreds of young people attended Hackney Academy first, where they took part in master classes led by east end faces like Trevor Nelson, Labrith, Leona Lewis, Plan B and more. At the end of their time they put on a small showcase for us as a reception where they also revealed who had won the much coveted spot of performing at the upcoming festival early in the day, or having their tee shirt designs sold at the event. Such a great, inspiring event for motivating young people. Now the next step for them in their career if they want to be in media is to join the LONDON360 family- who says there are no opportunities for youth out there? Whoever does needs to go to spec savers!
Of course the hackney weekender was as massive as we had all expected with the BBC really pulling out the stops with more than 6 live feeds streaming online across the country all weekend where with a simple click of the button anyone could access these amazing live shows from a multitude of artists. It was mostly glitch free and truly impressive. I recall a time many years back when the national broadcaster didn’t really embrace urban music and culture. They’ve come a long way- a great moment in history-I salute the BBC!

Next I was invited to reggae reggae sauce business icon Levi Roots to his birthday party at a lovely venue called Veranda in Brixton.

JASMINE WITH SOUTH LONDON CHAMPION ENTREPENEUR-LEVI ROOTS!
On a rainy Saturday night a lovely mixture of his nearest and dearest was dressed up classy to wish him well. On entry were silver trays heaving with champagne as well as an open bar and scrumptious buffet. Levi surprised us with entertainment by a group of samba dancers that shook and wiggled for all they were worth getting us into the party spirit before making a speech which was extremely heartfelt. He thanked all those around him for shaping who he is and supporting him all these years. He paid ode and homage to Brixton for helping him develop and keep it real and that without his local hood areas he wouldn’t be where he is now. The DJ was playing some seriously great music and just as we were getting right into it we had to leave to show our faces at the official Roc Nation party, which Rokstone Entertainment had organized at DSTRKT CLUB.

During the week I attended a hip hop art exhibition called ‘’The 4 Pillars of Hip Hop’’, which was fun and a great turn out.

AT THE 4 PILLARS OF HIP HOP ART EXHIBITION WITH A FEW OLD SKOOL HEADS-RECOGNISE THEM?
As none of the artwork was titled I played a lil game by myself naming the various pieces things like ‘’wrapped up in music’’, deck worship’’ and ‘’hip-hop killed me’’ before I noted that most of the art was quite depressing and had negative connotations about hip-hop. I mentioned it to a young man standing next to me moaning ‘’why is all this art so negative about hip hop-its as if the artist hates the culture’’. He replied ‘’maybe he does’’. I suddenly release it was another legendary Dotiwala foot in mouth moment. Yes it was the artist. But hey I did my Kanye West shrug shoulders and went into a full on rant stating ‘’well I wish people would remember and acknowledge the great times hip-hop had given us, Hip hop empowers and liberates! Why are we so dead set on killing its reputation, its given a generation of people jobs, a living, a voice, aspirations and great times’’. We went back and forth. I agreed he was a very talented artist. He agreed I was allowed my opinion.

Finally I found myself at the Barbican for the eagerly anticipated seated amphitheater event- HIPHOP ON TRIAL-‘ where the big question being debated was ’HIP HOP DOESN’T ENHANCE SOCIETY IT DEGRADES IT’’. I haven’t been so excited about anything for a long time. Discussing the culture I live, love and breath with intelligent minds. Debate is my thing. I’m always very opinionated. Sometimes wrong. Often right. Easily corrected. Open minded. I love speech and knew this night was one not to be missed! Clearly I wasn’t alone in thinking that, as the venue was full from top tiers to bottom stalls with 1600 people in the auditorium and thousands more watching from all across the globe online via our hosts-Google +! The excited buzz in the air erupted as the panelists stepped onstage to take their seats on the panel.
As usual the powers that be had not understood that hip hop included many elements like music, djing, graffiti art and breakdancing and had confusedly meant with their statement ‘’does commercial rap music degrade society’’ in which case they may have had a better debate motion.
The set up was like court with us the audience playing the part of the jury whilst 2 main speakers defended and attacked the motion.
The Advocate for the motion proving hip hop degrades society was Eamon Courtenay – from Courtenay Coye law firm, who was a lovely West Indian man but clearly not connected enough to be knowledgeable about the music as a whole and more concerned with his 12 year old daughter going to inappropriate Ludacris concerts). He argued that ‘’hip hop fosters misplaced values and if the culture doesn’t reject them, its future has passed’’.
The Advocate against the motion who was defending hip hop was Michael Eric Dyson – Hip-hop intellectual and Professor of sociology at Georgetown University, this man was an amazing, passionate speaker who I was stunned by and wished he had taught me at Uni so sharp and powerful was he in his delivery and structure. He argued that ‘‘hip-hop teaches a rhetorical genius. If we want youth to engage in real music instruments and so on then give youth access to the money to purchase or have access to them. Blaming black men in prison on hip-hop is crazy- before rap existed black men were dominant in prison. Hip-hop is a complex culture. How are you going to let Ludacris be the only flag bearer for our music? We have Lauryn, Jay, Nas.. Hip hop is FULL of self-criticism so we can’t be attacked from the outside. We already attack each other from the inside’’.

We were joined in London by (deep breath-you’re going to need it)…our Web host Jemima Khan. (Love her but WTF was she doing as the web host on a subject she’s not a specialist on hence her mispronunciation of names later in the debate?), our debate Chair was Emily Maitlis – BBC Newsnight presenter (once again, a lovely articulate broadcaster but totally wrong here, proven when she asked THE ROOTS legend ?uestlove whether he thinks his group would have sold more music if their lyrics had been positive??? major blunder!).

In order to come to a conclusion the 2 main men called upon witnesses / speakers to give evidence for and against the motion. These speakers included
a very out of his depth, unable to articulate too well Shaun Bailey – (David Cameron’s adviser on youth and crime). Shaun Bailey tried to blame hip-hop for’’ 27 black boys dying this year to violent crime. apparently ‘’Black men are only portrayed as sexy and dangerous. Many forms of black music has protested without talking about killing like rap’’.
A brilliant Egyptian “Arab Spring” rapper called Deeb who explained that youth in Egypt used rap to make their voices heard and speak of their experiences during conflicted times. He implored ‘’ In the Middle East and countries which have a revolution hip-hop is a way of expressing our youths concerns. People want to listen to songs with meaning. Rap music is flourishing in the Middle East. “Rap is a genius poetry reflecting a bad reality”.

West London singer/rapper and Grammy winner Estelle who defended her position from L.A as she was beamed in live….’’ “I’m comfortable with parents raising their own children- did you not research Luda before you let your daughter attend his concert? Hip-hop is freedom of speech. I’m not a bitch or hoe so I’m not offended by the use of that word’’.

One of my youth idols, the incomparable writer (VIBE mag etc) Dream Hampton was with us but not as strong vocally as she is in print and wasn’t allowed enough mic time to really show her knowledge.
The legend that is Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson oozed authoritive aura but delivered nothing substantial and particularly disappointed when he wouldn’t condemn the use of the N word after his history and experiences. British journo Tony Sewell challenged Jesse Jackson of playing to the audience, which I must admit he did seem to be doing.

Jesse Jackson was introduced as the 1st hip-hop star. Ladies love JJ. He explained that the culture was born of pain. It exposes contradictions. For example that poor people steal whilst rich people embezzle. Jessie preached ‘’When LL cool hosts Grammys that’s lifting up the culture
When Jay Z is our president’s public advocate that’s lifting up our culture. When you blame hip-hop culture for violence and crime let me remind you that there’s not one black gun manufacturer or shop owner in the world. I may not embrace the language and misogyny of rap but I don’t condone the culture’’.
He ended ‘’Killing innocent people in wars and dropping bombs on lands. That’s not hip-hop. Letting African countries starve and die. That’s not hip-hop. Hip-hop took us from Alabama to the white house!’’.

The very predictable Hip-hop pioneer KRS-One didn’t really speak with the fire that we were used to him delivering knowledge with, and a couple of times played himself with wishy washy answers. Apparently all use of the N word in rap means ‘’king’’, whilst Kanye West is apparently referring to cars when he says ‘’you know how many hot bitches I own’’. Oh dear. We couldn’t even get an intellectual, truthful response from one of our so-called leaders. The audience were deflated and shocked. KRS 1 did explain ‘’If we have the power to degrade a society we have the power to lift it. If the society we are degrading is the one that is misogynistic and starts wars, and lets politicians evade millions in tax, and lets the 3rd world starve then hip hop is not a bad thing’’.

James Peterson – Director of Africana Studies and Associate Professor of English at Lehigh University reminded us that hip-hop has multiple elements. He defined the 4 corners and then added that the 5th element is knowledge. He highlighted ‘‘hip-hop empowers young people to speak and live with confidence- it liberates their mind’’. He educated by saying ‘’Rap form is poetry, you wouldn’t tell Chaucer to not use the word wench! Why don’t you put country and opera on trial? All those forms contain the same issues. The only difference is they don’t mainstream chart as well as hip-hop’’.

We were also joined by Co-founder of Grammy Award winning band The Roots ?uestlove via Google+ Hangout) live on screen who was articulate but had such short mic time that it was barely relevant.
Frontman of iconic hip-hop act A Tribe Called Quest Q-Tip was clearly not impressed by anything said and seemed bemused as he attempted to help the proceedings with ‘’we as black people in the USA are still licking our views from slavery”

Many speakers against the motion defended rap music and explained that it merely highlights parts of society we may not necessarily like all that much. A few speakers argued that society is doing a fine job of degrading itself.
Many audience members that lived and breathed this culture were frustrated at the old fashioned debate that most of us had watched on Oprah and seen British politicians debating years ago. It’s 2012 for goodness sake. Does Hip Hop need to legitimize itself even today? This question was out-dated in the extreme. There are many areas where rap music needed to be challenged but the use of the words ‘’bitch, nigga and hoe’’ weren’t really relevant to a British music audience. This seemed like a very American debate.
British rappers don’t really use that language like their American counterparts and further more there wasn’t 1 British rapper in this debate- Estelle lives in the USA. There were whispers of ‘’why didn’t they include Akala, Bashy, Lowkey?’’ and other better-suited voices on the hip hop scene here. Not 1 panellist could articulate the London rap music scene. They had Tony Sewell – CEO of the charity Generating Genius, Shaun Bailey and British-Jamaican dub poet Benjamin Zephaniah attempting to articulate the hip-hop scene here. All very respected in their own fields but way too old and unconnected to the current very thriving scene here. The debates talent booking team really need to get some help in this area. There wasn’t one British woman speaking on behalf of the industry here, which is totally different to the American one.
Tony Sewell did well by reminding people that hip-hop came from Jamaica via New York with DJ Herc toasting on the sound system mic before the New York takeover. Tony stated ‘’modern day hip hop is a return to the minstrels’’.

American TV presenter, novelist, journalist and cultural critic Toure spoke sense when he suggested that clearly all panelists against hip hop weren’t aware of the wide variety of rap acts questioning ‘’are the Roots, Outkast Nas ,etc degrading? No! its the media and our industries only that push the “bitch ho” acts’’. He added ‘’remember hip-hop has thrown multi millions of dollars around the globe and given millions jobs-we owe it thanks’’.

Part 2 of the debate had us rolling with laughter in the aisles as they questioned ‘’is rap poetry?’’. Such a redundant question when it is one of the highest most defined lyrical art form that has ever existed!.
Jason Whitlock – Columnist for Foxsports.com made me want to throttle him as he whittled on ‘’ hip-hop has been replaced by prison culture; it is the marketing of the USA’s war on drugs, the lobby of prisoners. Our black American men’s image has been destroyed by hip-hop’’. And that -members of the jury- is why he has been employed by Fox. He also mentioned ‘’Al Pacino plays a character. Rappers are playing themselves. Most conversation in rap is bullshit. Michael Jackson tried to use a Jewish slur and the Jewish community in the music industry stopped him. The Jewish people that oversee the record industry made sure that didn’t happen. Think about that. The defense of this gansterised commercialized hip-hop is wrong and out of control’’.

When the motion master against hip hop culture asked Joe Budden and his slaughterhouse group members ‘’What gives you the right to call our woman bitches?, there was a dead silence for a few seconds as Joe hilariously grappled with the idea of a debate. Joe attempted the age-old response of ‘’Women and bitches are not the same thing, also ‘bitch’ is not gender specific, everything is not for everybody, you are arguing about something you know absolutely nothing about, You’re not my m**** f***** demographic. I said bitches. That’s not women, that’s not black. That can be a white man!’’. Then he hit back at the Ludacris concern by challenging ‘’How about you just being a father and teaching your daughter right from wrong?

Tricia Rose – (Brown University Professor and author of the groundbreaking books on hip-hop: Black Noise and Hip Hop Wars), was exceptional and spoke with a calm fire that shut down anything that was said all night. She stated ‘‘hip-hop responds to a legacy of violence against black people and exuberates it. By ignoring the penetration of hip-hop you are living dangerously’’. She added correctly that ‘’If we as distinguished people can not talk seriously about what’s going wrong in hip-hop we have a problem. The most blatant form of ridiculing black women is hip-hop culture’’.

I liked P.J. O’Rourke – American political satirist and author, who explained ‘‘the language of poetry is not greeting card shit. It is ugly. What are you gonna say “u can only rap about puppies!”

John Sutherland – Emeritus Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London who looked totally out of place as a very elderly, very white, very middle to upper classed gent championed hip hop saying ‘’90 percent of science fiction is crap. Butt then in most things 90 percent is crap. I’ve taught poetry for 50 years. I predict that in 20 years Tupac will be seen as one of the great poets’’.
To end Jesse Jackson took advantage of the congregation and had everyone stand to repeatedly chant alongside him, his usual barrage of churchly positivity slogans.

The debate was long and gripping and afterwards the audience and KRS1 stayed in the venue foyer for another couple of hours debating the debate.
One guest was unhappy ‘’I thought they were going to speak about the much more under-discussed intricate idiosyncrasies of Hip Hop culture such as the glorification of white women, almost non-existent female mc’s, Hip Hop Homophobia, the way Hip hop has developed ‘urban’ industries e.g. graffiti art, streetdance etc plus the people who own & sign the toxic ignorant self hating mainstream ‘Hip Hop’ should’ve been there to justify themselves’’.
Another added ‘’ Listening to music just because it bangs is like eating McDonalds. You know it’s not good for you, but you eat it cause its accessible and shrug it off like it wont affect you in the future’’.
A hilarious summary was ‘’Things that I’ve learnt tonight; 1)So the N-word comes from “Negus” meaning king? Lol 2)B.I.T.C.H means Because I Take Charge Here. 3) Joe Budden has a short fuse. 4) Benjamin Zephaniah is a poet of the people 5)Professor Tricia Rose is someone I’ll follow on Twitter.6) Rev Jesse Jackson needs no excuse to say “I ammmmmm Somebody!”
Another fan of the culture stated point blank ‘’ hip-hop is the most brilliant art form ever created. Rapping – the most advanced form of language use breakdancing – the most advanced form of dancing. Graffiti – the most advanced form of art –the end!’’
A very valid response was ‘’ Why is there no discussion of the leaders of the industry as a whole. They are largely white males and images portrayed by commercial hip-hop which perpetuate stereotypes benefiting white males’’.
I liked the young man who shouted ‘’ If you think Hip Hop is “Bad” …you’re listening to the wrong kind. If we’re condemning hip hop for sexism, misogyny and homophobia, those three things are present in the church.’’
In conclusion this event was a great idea with a lot of engagement from a very diverse audience of people in person and online. It was watched afterwards by a few more thousand. So all in all a winning event that got people engaged in a very staple form of modern day arts. My criticisms would be that the panel was too big. It was an amazing panel that were largely ignored and left equally frustrated. There was no wireless in the auditorium or a formal twitter hashtag so a real waste of social media awareness- and it STILL trended on twitter. This debate should’ve been televised by a music or talk digital TV broadcaster. Its a shame that this panel and the structure of questions were not properly thought out… it’s a good concept but wasn’t well structured.
It oversimplified a very complex issue, and attempted once again to blame all society’s ills on hip hop rather than address the fact that the ills of which we speak had been around long before hip hop ever came on the scene.

JASMINE, JAZZWAD, ESTELLE AND BOUNTY KILLER ON LION’S CORNER. JAMAICA.
So if you recall last week I experienced Caribbean fashion week in Kingston Jamaica and whilst there was fortunate to be able to hang out with my West London girl Estelle. After Estelle performed at day 1 of the fashion event we ended up at local nightclub Fiction where I expected lots of dancehall and soca like I used to enjoy at infamous Kingston nightspot Asylum. But alas Asylum no longer exists and the night at Fiction , whilst extremely fun, played mostly European dance music and which I’d come to JA to escape!

ESTELLE AND SEAN PAUL’S MANAGER AND MAN ABOUT TOWN STEVE WILSON AT FICTION NIGHTCLUB. JAMAICA.
Lovely Steve Wilson (Sean Paul’s manager and loyal friend) looked after us whilst out and about and we all had a great night with me ordering cranberry juice and often finding it spiked with vodka. I felt obliged to down a coffee liquor shot too. It was delicious and luckily afterwards I was still standing!.

PR LADY JESSICA HUIE, JASMINE AND ESTELLE AT FICTION NIGHTCLUB. JA.
The next morning Estelle and I hung out by the pool, took silly paparazzi pics of each other on our opposite facing balconies and had a drink on her hotel suite balcony (of some lovely Ethiopian honey wine which the islands legend-lovely Moira Morgan had brought me the day before). We had a good old chinwag about fashion and music. Stell said she had been to JA twice before and that it was ‘’always a big moment. I’ve never been here and it’s not been amazing. I come to Jamaica to work, play and chill. After all anything else would be a disservice!’’
We laughed at the stereotypes that the world tends to have about Jamaica being about only Bob Marley, reggae and weed. Stell shook her head in disbelief adding ‘’in my experience, it’s a stunning island of stunning people. There’s no trouble, if you don’t start nothing there won’t be nothing. I’ve never experienced the crazy side of the hood out here. There’s no threat’’.
We both agreed that we were very impressed by our 1st Caribbean fashion week with the audience looking ultra slick and so glam it could may well have been a New York fashion week audience! We also noted that the fashion lines from JA could easily make it on an international catwalk but that they needed to brand it better by dressing local acts that were big internationally in designs and with their athletes always being front and center of many sports that there was branding potential here too. With it being Jamaica’s 50-year celebrations all across the world coming up there’s no better time!
Stell wanted to shout out Brit designer Gavin Douglas who had shown his collection the previous night ‘’I did Rip the Runway with him in New York. He makes bodices and structured clothing so well. He also made stuff for my Shine tour. I didn’t originally know he was a Brit. My stylist then-Karen Binns-brought him to my attention’’.
Being all over fashion blogs for her edgy fashionable looks I asked Stell what piece of advice she would give to designers out here trying to break the big market internationally? She stated ‘’Pay attention to what women’s bodies look like in your city. Do stuff that’s gonna make the women of your city look good and then women worldwide see that. For example emphasize the tits and ass and small waists from JA’’.
Stell’s current fashion favourites and trends include peplums which she smiles ‘’gives women waists and beautifully accentuates waists’’. However she thoroughly disapproves of leopard print pants on dudes stating band LMFAO and Lil Wayne as big culprits.
She also pondered and wondered ‘’who dresses Jessie J?. She’s an incredible singer but is she dressing for stage or comfort? She may be comfy but doesn’t often look like it. I think you have to evolve. I’ve had my own mishaps. I’m sure I’ve had stage outfits that have affected my performance. I know now that they should be comfy. Also however an artist evolves the clothes have to be you-be real!’’

ESTELLE AND JASMINE AT THE LEGENDARY MARLEY FAMILY STUDIOS- TUFF GONG!.
We then jumped into the ride to go to the legendary Tuff Gong studios where she was rehearsing and whilst there we reminisced about Estelle’s journey so far and she revealed that her 4th studio album ‘’All of me’’ reached all her expectations and that she has started recording the 5th already. ‘‘The 4th album was to get people to understand who I am but now I have to evolve and do me. My fans have expectations and some still want another 1980 or American boy but now I do what the hell I want to do. That’s why people like me. I do me for me. Not other people. Let me live! LOL’’
Then we hurried ourselves up to get out for our day of adventure as Stell ended on the fact that she wanted to make feature films next. She revealed that she’s been auditioning like crazy. ‘‘The films are always music based. They send me quite meaty stuff in scripts and there have also been a few younger sister roles. So now I have to work on my American accent’’. (She’s been hanging out with film maker Noel Clarke in L.A so who knows what could be on the cards for her next!)

JASMINE, ESTELLE, BOUNTY KILLER, JAZZWAD AND FRIENDS STRIKE A POSE.
After rehearsal we drove up the road to Lion’s Corner where we hung out with superstar Bounty Killer as Estelle’s team shot some footage for one of her forthcoming new videos (no she never stops working!). Whilst chatting with him I heard someone yell ‘’Yo Jasmine!’’ I looked around timidly to spot none other than reggae producer extraordinaire Jazzwad hanging out too. We caught up and he revealed he’s been working on a lot of new music whilst moving from London to Jamaica and we will hear some of his new stuff with Bounty Killer very soon.

PR MAVEN JESSICA HUIE, JASMINE, ESTELLE AND BEENIE MAN ON HELLSHIRE BEACH.JAMAICA.
Straight after that we jumped into the ride to head down to Hellshire Beach where we met up with the don Beenie Man who was shooting a video of his own. The beach vibe was so amazing and like nothing I’ve experienced before.

JASMINE, JESS AND ESTELLE ENJOY FRESHLY FRIED AND SEASONED PARROT FISH AND RED SNAPPER STRAIGHT FROM THE JAMAICAN OCEAN.
The sound systems and DJ’s were jamming in the daylight, fresh fish was frying straight out of the sea, local families were splashing in and out of the water.

JASMINE, ESTELLE AND JESSICA HORSE AROUND ON HELLSHIRE BEACH. JA.
On the adjacent beach there was the biggest, wildest dancehall party kicking off with girls and guys all in their beachwear daggering and wining for all they were worth! We were in heaven!
As we ended the night Estelle popped her arms across my shoulders and smiled ‘’London I love you but I’m having a ball in Jamaica!. The recent gig I played at London’s Jazz Café made me realise I’m not crazy. It restored my faith in myself. Sometimes people say stuff to make you doubt yourself so it was good to see the affirmation at home. New york. L.A. London. Jamaica. I have that same touchstone moment in all these places and I feel lucky to call many home!”

JASMINE WITH THE LEGEND THAT IS A VERY DEMURE LADY SAW AT CARIBBEAN FASHION WEEK.

It was clear even before I got off the plane from Gatwick to Jamaica that Jamaican folk have style like no other! The passengers on my BA flight were testament to the fact.
Both elderly ladies and young toddlers with short Mohican hairstyles cut into their Afro’s. Mothers with bright red and orange hairstyles. Teenagers with ripped stone washed jeans. Men with their shades at the back of their heads. Blonde asymmetrical hairstyles. Bright talon like nails. Basically, my plane looked like a flying fashion show! And true to the dynamic Jamaican demeanor, when the plane touched down in Kingston, the plane broke out into rapturous applause and cries of jubilation. Yes-I knew I was about to have a great few days.
However I was stopped in my tracks as we queued up to go through customs as I suddenly heard my name called repeatedly over the tannoy. ‘‘Can passenger Jasmine Dotiwala who recently arrived on the British Airways flight make herself known to an officer!’’. Gulp. my host Jessica Huie and I exchanged horrified glances as I blurted ‘’honestly my passports with me and I’m not smuggling in anything’’. We gingerly approached the officials who basically smiled and informed us they were here to meet and greet me and ensure swift and easy transport through customs to our driver. Phew.

THE VERY IMPRESSIVE BREAKFAST MENU AT JUICI PATTI FAST FOOD IN KINGSTON, JA.

Accompanied by head of international PR Jessica Huie, we were here for Caribbean Fashion Week, which had the city of Kingston buzzing with designers, models and the very fabulous fashion industry big wigs attending. We had a few diva demands of our own and were staying at the hotel with the best pool in town-the Pegasus- where we ordered curry goat and rice on arrival, gobbled it down poolside before rushing to our rooms to change for the opening reception the same night at the uber classy Spanish Court hotel.
The reception gave me a good inkling that this crowd was not just stylish but classy and sophisticated with very graceful, beautiful Jamaican women smiling and holding very articulate conversation everywhere you looked.
The next morning was the opening press conference for all journalists both local and international (like London’s luxury fashion consultant David Jones and Jamaican Observer writer Novia McDonald-Whyte), where the main man Kingsley Cooper (CEO Pulse who organized CFW) welcomed everyone and told us all about the few days ahead, what to expect, and that this week was not simply about showing great designs but getting them out to an international market so that the designers could make a living. He laughed ‘’ its lovely to see fashion on the catwalk but when it comes off it needs to go to the bank!’’
Also in attendance was Shurwayne Winchester (soca musician from Trinidad and Tobago, who has twice won the Road March title). He took the mic at the podium and sang his appreciation LOL.

JASMINE WITH TRINI SOCA STAR SHURWAYNE AT THE CARIBBEAN FASHION WEEK OPENING PRESS CONFERENCE.

The thing I became quickly aware of was that the old fashioned stereotypes about what Kingston Jamaica was about are truly gone and buried. The often-misrepresented international idea that this city is a corrupt, violent nightmare couldn’t be further from the truth. We could’ve been at any major fashion week in New York or London the way the organization and visuals stood so far.
If you think about it, this big Caribbean island sets trends all across the western world. In western slanguage with patois infiltrating the English language, dances like the bogle, butterfly, willi bounce, thunderclap, Nuh Linga, Tek Weh Yourself and Daggering. Music from Bounty Killer, Beenie Man and more, drinks like rum punches, dancehall fashion that mainstream designers like D&G often imitate and more. Some say that now’s the time to get on board. I say we’ve all always been aboard-we just don’t realize it.

ONE OF MY FAVE DESIGNERS FROM CFW-FEMHEKA!

As we arrived at the Jamaican Indoor Sports Arena for day 1 of the show I noted that this was people watching on a higher scale. The audience was very ‘’sho-sho’’ and had made the ultimate effort to look uber fashionable. We had long classy regal gowns, short flesh baring dresses, ruffles, frills, coloured hair fashioned into hat shapes, Chrissy Lou heels of vertiginous nature and this was the fiercest most perfectly overdressed very expensive front row I had ever seen!. This front row was just as sexy as the collections we were there to see! Men in the front row were taking pics with their I Pads too.This is a crowd with much spending power that international designers are missing out on branding to big time!
I was sat sandwiched between Rita Marley and Lady Saw and was surprised to see that the real life persona of Lady Saw is really very ladylike, elegant and demure!

THIS DRESS TOOK MY BREATH AWAY!

The nightly shows were split into 3 main sections, each section with around 6 designers, broken up with free cocktails at the bar, which made for a long but fun evening. Designers that stood out for me on the first night were Sgfh by Kazz Forbes, which included short sexy colourful beach/ resort wear- in particular a stunning turquoise electric blue floaty dress. I also loved Femheka by Raxann Chin which was my fave- here I fell in lust with her striking long floaty Grecian one shouldered pretty princess gowns. We cheered patriotically for London based House of Oshae by Jhaniel Smith who had some gorgeous Organza outfits in neutral colours. We were debating whether we loved or hated Wilmas Original (by Wilma Stomp from Surinam) collection which showcased really clashing colours, prints and styles of structured jackets with clashing tartan waistcoats with boxy shorts.
As expected there were collections for the fuller figured woman-how could there not be? Kerry Kay by Kerry Christian more than proved that bigger framed ladies could work their sexy too-and the confident, swaggering models got massive cheers as they worked that catwalk runway!.
There was also a collection of glasses and specs which was quirky and sexy and had me feening to get my sexy secretary look on.
The models weren’t just stunning as expected, but their bodies were like racehorses. Curvy and strong in all the right places and they walked with such brilliant personalities. Haughty, jovial, feisty, elegant, nonchalant, perky-it was enchanting!

THE MODELS HAD BODIES LIKE RACEHORSES!

The men were particularly mesmerized at Olympia’s Fashion, which saw numerous very sexy red and gold swimwear.
Sea, sex, sun wasn’t just in the air but also the title of a collection by David André. There was much applause as white and Turquoise linen with cute ruffles and very clean lines resembling a St Barts crowd was shown.
The nice thing about the shows was that designers from all across the Caribbean were showing their designs in a collection of unity. Shelniel by Cassandra Motley from Barbados represented her island well as the Babans in the crowd cheered for her cute swimwear with jewel coloured fringing.
Not to be outdone next out the door was Hak Gwai By Lori Antoinette Williams from Trinidad who’s citrus coloured rain macs with cut out panels had the ladies oohing and ahhing.
There’s always much eagerness to see what veteran designer Meilling from Trinidad has to show and this was no exception as she shook up the stage with a live performance from a local music artist as her clothing featuring many flounces and peplums on white resort wear went down a treat and flounced along the runway.
One common theme amongst designers is long names and Bondig by Blondi by Dionne Richards was the next collection that made us sit up and look. Wild looks with bright orange and brocade. Shorts and crop tops. I noted miserably that you’d have to have a really skinny fat free figure to drop this collection but with its very over the top giant gold, studded denim I can imagine LA fashionista’s like Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton picking this up.
Finishing the show one night were Grammy Award-nominated Jamaican recording artist, Babycham and London’s very own Estelle.

TEAMUK PRINCESS ESTELLE PERFORMS TO HER FANS!

The Jamaican crowd were ecstatic at Babycham’s one hour long set during which they screamed, danced, shouting and became quite hysterical. I’d forgotten just how many hits he had! His set was wild and infectious with the crowd unable to stop bopping in their seats. When he brought out his wife Ophelia to help him sing his hits the audience went nuts at their energy. She who had never sung before and this being her 2nd ever show smacked it!

BOB MARLEYS DAUGHTER CEDELLA SHOWED OFF HER JAMAICA 2012 OLYPICS KIT.

Before Estelle came and closed the show the much-anticipated collection from bob Marley’s daughter Cedella Marley was shown. There was a long break before her set and we heard it was as she had insisted backstage that all the models change their hair and make up. (Diva!). It was worth it though once they re-emerged, the models were all hyped up and dancing along the catwalk. Models were throwing thunderbolts and gunshots as they rocked the Jamaica 2012 Olympic kit.
The crowd loved it with them all jamming in their seats, foghorns were being let off and blaring. Cedella had been asked to make the Jamaican Olympic teams kit with sports brand Puma so we saw the national flag colours Yellow, green and black on sexy dresses and swimwear. Marijuana leaf prints on sportswear (not sure how that will go down on official Olympic wear?) but it was a big moment! Cedella’s mother the great Rita Marley was sat next with us in the front row and they greeted each other with pride as cedilla took her final walk of jubilation. This range WILL sell!!
We ended the night all standing and singing along to Estelle who brought some international flavor with the crowd singing along to all her hits! Particularly her Euro dance sounding tracks, which the Jamaican crowd is really into judging by nightclub Fiction, which we attended that night!

MORE OF CEDELLA MARLEYS JAMAICA 2012 OLYMPICS TEAM KIT COLLECTION.

The next day I was given a surprise of my own as I was approached by a lady from Prive Blend called Claudine Forrester who introduced herself and informed me that she represented nail polish company Priti NYC in Jamaica and other territories and that they had mixed a nail colour in my honour called ‘’Jasmines Juice’’ after my VOICE column which apparently is popular out there! Well you could’ve knocked me down with a feather! My colour is a gorgeous classy egg shell princess pink- suitable with anything! They’re coming to London soon so you could have your own bespoke colour and name too!

The final night of shows brought out even glitzier crowds and excitement than the previous 2 days.
Gavin Douglas from the UK really impressed with his all black, ckean cut, very European lines which looked rich and sophisticated for a business woman with attitude!

JASMINE WITH PR MAVEN JESSICA HUIE AND UK DESIGNER AND VOGUE FAVOURITE-GAVIN DOUGLAS!
The Zadd and Eastman collection by Nigel Eastman and Ozman Khan was very well received. Set to a musical soundtrack of lovely French old skool black and white film music, the clothing showed regal rich textures juxtaposed with rainbow colours and was very wearable Parisian fare.

GRAMMY WINNING SUPERSTAR BRIAN MCKNIGHT REALLY IMPRESSED WITH HIS LIVE SET!

The whole event closed with 19 times Grammy nominated R&B superstar Brain McKnight who really put in a great set where he sang whilst playing both the piano and guitar at intervals. I was more intrigued to see if he would sing the P**** song that has caused him much Internet drama in recent weeks. Or whether he would acknowledge his twitter spats with fellow music stars like Chris Brown. Alas he didn’t and was the utmost professional.
The whole arena was turned out and screamed hard as he had them eating out the palm of his hand all night. With a lot of personality he was very entertaining and funny! He sang songs by other people who had inspired him like Michael Bolton, James Ingram, Stevie wonder and Michael Jackson.
When an eager fan in the crowd shouted pout a song title that they wanted Brian to sing he quipped “Its not request hour”. He continued “that’s my biggest fault-I can hear everything. In restaurants I hear folk say ‘huh he would never be with her if he couldn’t sing’ but I want to clarify that I have NEVER sung to a lady I am dating, my Mum said never use your talent for your own needs”. So ladies dating Brian wont get you serenaded!
He did clarify that to be serenaded by him you have to be following him on twitter and to prove the point he called out a twitter follower who he brought onstage to her utter hysteria and excitement. His fan, lucky lady Karisha was impressed.
He told us he felt that Spanish men with an Antonio Banderas accent can make anything sound sexy and proceeded to impersonate a sexy Spaniard.
I was surprised at how conversational and absolutely enrapturing this mans live show skills were-truly one of the best R&B shows I have seen!.
When he finished his set with the huge classic hit “Anytime”, the JA audience sing-along had to be heard to be believed- they sounded like a choir!
Can everyone in JA sing??

Everyone agreed that Caribbean Fashion Week 2012 exceeded its own expectations, with outstanding entertainment provided by Brian McKnight, Estelle, Baby Cham and Trinidad’s Shurwayne Winchester, enhancing a year which was particularly poignant as the 12th annual CFW came as Jamaica and Trinidad both celebrate fifty years of independence. 2012 saw a record-breaking number of designers on show, whether from the diaspora, such as Gavin Douglas, Shaco, or Tiger Lilly; or from within the region, such as the superb Meiling, Mutamba, or the Mushroom. The caliber of the collections on show was exceptional with UK fashion expert David Jones, credited with having taken Karen Millen from start-up to multi-million pound brand, blown away by the potential for Caribbean fashion on an international stage.

Some of the many highlights included Cedella Marley’s Olympic range for Puma and the Mission Catwalk finalists such as Crystal Powell and Ryan Chan. Brit boy Gavin Douglas (of Jamaican heritage) did Britain proud with his outstanding collection, emanating sophistication, drawing gasps from the audience and closing the show to applause.

The energy amongst the designers and attendees was electric, partly due to the fact that the Caribbean Export Development Agency, one of Caribbean Fashion week’s key sponsors, spent the weekend deciding on which handful of designers would be chosen to fly to London this August to stage a catwalk show at the plush Grosvenor Hotel as part of the African Caribbean Business Expo which aims to capitalize on the global spotlight on the Caribbean as a result of the Olympics, and raise awareness of the Caribbean’s creative industries which are ripe for investment and export opportunities. For the successful selected designers, it is a fantastic opportunity to launch their brand in an international market with the support of the Caribbean Export Development Agency (CEDA) supporting and committed to driving regional growth.

CFW Founder Kingsley Cooper said, “ It’s been a great year and now we are intent on showing the fashion industry that we have design talent to compete in a global arena– our time is now.”

You don’t need to be the victor to be the ultimate winner. Everyone that has made it big has experienced bumps on the route to the top. Richard Branson didn’t do well in his education. Alicia keys and 50 cent were dropped numerous times by their record labels before making it. Destiny’s child lost their talent competition before hitting the big time. But the moral of the story is that those who persevere and don’t become disheartening and discouraged make it. It’s the old quote’’ slow and steady wins the race’’. The hare and the tortoise. The latest example of this is the British dance group Flawless who didn’t win Britain’s Got Talent but are now doing better than ever. This past weekend they performed alongside Kylie Minogue at Buckingham Palace for the Queens Jubilee and last weekend kicked off their UK tour with the English National Ballet at West London’s Hammersmith Apollo.
Both dance troupes brought their A GAME to the stage and performed a beautiful evening of dance, which included ballet, and street dance. The wonderful thing about this was as well as perform separate ballet and hip-hop dance sets, both groups performed together in each others skills. Also the great fact was that street dance fans that didn’t appreciate ballet were drawn in and got to engage with ballet, and ballet bods that weren’t really down with street dance were about to respect the art of street dance. It was an amazing recipe of mingling on a new level to witness.

I grew up dancing at ballet school with all my Royal Academy of Dancing ballet exams and taught ballet for a long time whilst simultaneously being involved in numerous street dance groups both on a street level where I was a break dancer (honestly-my street dancer name at the time was Minnie Minx inspired by Beano comics!). I also taught jazz at Pineapple Dance Studios as well as danced in hip-hop videos (real dance routines as opposed to sexy bikini dancing). So for me this was a dream come true type of show that I would be loved to have taken part in my self as a young dancer.
It was fascinating to see that the all male Flawless cast had trained up in balletstyles where they also actually lifted the all female English national ballet cast in pas de deux routines. It was mind blowing and looked so creative and new. The ballet ladies took on some street dance challenges too and whilst they were good-the boys most definitely piped them in the ‘’lets try each others techniques’’ battle.
Set in a school, the story focuses on dance school and a mad professor type that has a time machine. The dancers wear school uniform attire with sets that were amazingly creative with the school library, playground, dance studio and more.
The music was very diverse with classical pieces alongside modern day chart hits by Labrinth, Jay Z and Kanye, Cypress Hill, Maroon 5, Usher and more.

Post show, lead Flawless member Marlon told me that the show was put together in only 2 weeks training after a total of 6 weeksdiscussing how the show would be put together. Marlon explained that 1 person from both the (English national ballet) ENO and Flawless worked things out first. Marlon talked through the show and routines and then they nominated ‘team captains’ from both dance crews to choreograph the numbers.
Christian and Nathan were the dance captains from Flawless with Marlon as lead choreographer and Jenna Lee was the dance captain/ ENO choreographer.
Marlon also revealed that the male dancers from the ENO- came and helped on a couple of sessions on how to lift the ladies and helped with tips about where to hold them and so on. Marlon added that whilst this is an unforgettable experience for his group they did already have an appreciation and respect for ballet before this show.

The wonderful thing was that the show was great for all ages and classes. I loved the younger street dance styles, but there were also sections of old skool hip-hop dance sets too including steps and musicfrom eras of street dance.
A special shout out must go to the graphics team who really took the visuals to another level – a real arts fusion of dance, staging and visuals. Brilliantly present day and futuristic! For dates near you check out flawlessofficial.com . To see more backstage exclusive material from the show check out the flawless youtube channel flawless tube.
This was like a night at a West end musical and a full on ballet-a really worthwhile 23 hours viewing for anyone’s life! Do check out the uk tour as it sets off in the next few weeks until July 8th.

JASMINE WITH FAST GIRLS FILM PRODUCER DAMIAN JONES!
Next we hopped along to the film premiere for FAST GIRLS. The new film developed and produced by Damian Jones, featuring and written by our very own Noel Clarke.
The storyline centres on a street-smart runner who develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete. Locations in the film included Lee Valley Athletics Track, Crystal Palace, the Tate Modern and various London estates and nightclubs
Its so refreshing to see young actors in an urban London setting starring in a movie that has nothing to do with street issues or hip hop. Instead its topical in that it has an athletic theme, which is very apt now with the Olympics coming up. My mate Noel described the film as ‘’rocky but with girls in lycra!’’ Damian said that after working with Noel Clarke on Kidulthood and Adulthood, he approached Noel to write the script for the film. He added that every time he and Noel go out for dinner Noel is always on a healthy eating diet of salmon and veg (cos he’s bulking up for film parts) whilst he likes to tuck into a good ole plate of fish &chips LOL.
As Sarah cooper in Screendaily wrote ‘’It’s the first British film to have a mixed race girl as its central character, but not only that, five out of the six lead girls are black or mixed race. “Rest assured, that has never been done in this country,” says Clarke, who is becoming something of a champion for strong female characters, following his own film 4.3.2.1, and now this’’. It looks like Noel is single headedly changing the movie landscape for actors in the UK.
Damian revealed his biggest tip for getting into the film production industry is to get a driving licence as no producer will hire you without one as so many shoots are on set miles away in lonely desolate areas. He also added that working with Tupac on Gridlocked was an amazing experience for him and that Tupac was indeed a very young actor in the prime of his life.
If you have young people that need inspiring with some hot ladies in lycra in the run up to our Olympics next month then go check out FAST GIRLS this week!

TOBAGO FASHION WEEK!

DESIGNER ROMERO BRYAN WITH HIS £250,000 WHITE SWAROVSKI DRESS!
Even bullying birds, giant frogs and cayman alligators couldn’t stop me enjoying the 2nd annual Tobago fashion week!. Flown out via Monarch airline, (which I assumed, would be very Easyjet like and not fabulous at all,) I was pleasantly surprised to find it the easiest cross Atlantic Caribbean trip I’ve ever had. The premium Economy seats were more than comfy, the food was as good as Virgin Atlantics and the check in queues non-existent! A great experience!

On touch down at ANR Robinson airport in Tobago (named after Trinidad and Tobago’s 3rd president Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson) I was scooped up Tobago Tony who settled me into the extremely lush Tobago Plantation Villa’s adjacent to the new Magdalena Grand Hotel (formally The Hilton). This meant I had the best of both worlds. I was able to have my own self contained apartment with TV, air conditioning, balcony overlooking a lush manicured golf course and my own kitchen so I was able to cater for my own food needs. I was also able to amble 2 minutes next door to the Magdalena Hotel pool overlooking the ocean with its stunning pool, friendly and immediate staff (a rarity in the islands cos let’s face it-the staff out there don’t have a reputation for being feisty and stush for nothing!!) and take advantage of their restaurants for business meetings with a round of golf too!

THE LUSH TROPICAL GOLF COURSE AT TOBAGO PLANTATIONS!
Whilst the golf course was breath taking to look at and walk across it came with its own hazards. On the first day I was merrily minding my own business admiring the lush ocean and greenery whilst cutting across the course when a seagull swooped down at me screeching and squawking away hysterically. It then soared away and took a further 3 run up’s and used my head as a landing runway over and again as I freaked out arms flailing and screaming at it to shoo myself! When reiterating my experience to the other crews there from BET, VIBE magazine and local Trini press they laughed and suggested I must be mistaken. So the next day I had them walk with me (safety in numbers) and lo and behold the bully bird came and ran up upon us all causing much merriment! As if that wasn’t enough I also needed to look out for cayman alligators in the lakes on both sides of the path and giant bull frogs sitting on the narrow hump back bridge glaring at me!.(And if you’ve been reading my Juice for a while now you’ll recall that nature likes messing with me. from dolphin attacks to searing my legs underwater on rusty old anchors, I’ve had a few natural dramas LOL.

FASHION AT THE SHOW!
The Tobago Plantation location was buzzing like an annual summer fashion party as the designers, models, international press and organisers were all located on the same site so the pool on downtime was like a catwalk show in itself. I was glad that British designer Romero was out there with his mum Marcia who luckily gave me lots of good advice about how to behave in the Caribbean when talking to service staff (STUSH!) and to put absolutely everything in the fridge from sugar to sun lotion to crisps in case the sugar ants got it!-thanks Marcia!

MY TOBAGO PLANTATION VIEW FROM MY VILLA!
The fashion weekend began on the Friday night with a cocktail party at Basso’s Bar at the main Pigeon Point Heritage Park venue, where the TFW 2102 runway was officially opened on the waterfront with breath taking views of the sandy catwalk and moon dipping into the dark ocean in the background of the fashion showcase. The audience was then treated to a brief preview of a few pieces from some of the designers who participated in Fashion Week. The main catwalk shows days were Saturday and Sunday.

JASMINE ON THE NYLON POOL/ CORAL REEF TOUR!
In between the evening events we were treated to daytime boat cruises around the island, taken to Booku Reef and Coral Gardens) where we learnt a lot about the underwater fish as we watched their fascinating colours in their natural habitat. Our teachers were pair of very animated seamen called Captain Harry and his mate Michael who was on the mic. They answered all our embarrassing tourist questions. ‘‘Will they bite us’’? ‘‘What’s that fish called’’. ‘‘Are they following our boat?’’ ‘‘Will they sting us?’’ and so on. I learnt my lesson about not touching coral in the ocean years ago when Mariah and I had a swimming race where she advised me not to touch the rock that we were swimming towards. Not heading her advice I jumped up onto the ‘’rock’’ and had a lovely bright red rash all across the back of my thighs all summer long. Lesson learnt. Nothing touched. Our trip out to the nylon pool-a vast area of turquoise Blue Ocean that is so shallow that you can walk in it for miles was visually stunning. They revealed that each dip in this water took 10 years off your age. So technically I am now around 4 years old readers! Our adventure was finished with a fresh crab dumpling lunch on the shore.

Photo by Mark Gellineau for TrinidadLookbook.com.

So Show day 1 started with a bang. As we arrived they were on BMT and so final touches were still being made as they finished off building the stage. We laughed but hey as they say ‘’we’re on Caribbean time-it’s a vacation so no complication’’ (must be said in a laid back Trini accent!)
I was chuffed as I was sat in the very craved for front row seats alongside the other international press and celebs. There was a sudden flurry of excitement as the paparazzi started popping off their flashbulbs at a couple I didn’t recognize. I was informed it was American professional boxer Shane Mosley (IBF Lightweight Championship, WBC & WBA (Super) Welterweight Championships and WBC, WBA (Super) & The Ring Light Middleweight Championships). I could tell he was someone by the cut of his clothing, his manner and oh yes, the diamonds that were dripping from his very pretty lady friend who had her well endowed chest area out on a plate which had all the men mesmerised.
As usual for all events that I’ve attended in the Caribbean the night started with all asked to be upstanding for the singing of the national anthem. (Can you imagine if this were a law in the UK? -there would be riots!) . I smiled as I heard the anthems lyrics include the lines ‘”islands standing side by side in the deep blue sea”. The UK’S might say an ‘’island all alone that bullies the world with its grey, wet skies’’

My favourite collections from day 1 were by well known and respected designer Meiling whose clothing saw a great set of lovely easy long flowing summer style casual wear that would translate easily for the European clientele on a Sardinia beach.

Designer Geopal had loads of Kids strut their stuff in bright greens, lush blues, pink and purple. Once again we were impressed by the kids modeling-they can workkkkk it!

A great capsule collection made by Andrew Harris with his menswear modeled by strapping hunks (clever guy) had ladies in the crowd screaming and yelling with whoops of appreciation. There were white shirts juxtaposed with knee length schoolboy shorts and cute Stripy candy cane shorts. All which had a very European Puff daddy on the yacht feel.
Last year, many of the audience were gutted that they couldn’t immediately place orders for garments they’d seen on the catwalk so this year the event upped their game by holding daily sessions where fashionistas could place orders there and then at the fashion park! So if they saw a piece they liked on the runway they could purchase it the same evening. A show and a shop-heaven!
As well as being able to buy clothes immediately, the newer designers were also able to take advantage of major workshops, which were held during the day, by the more experienced designers like Meiling who were able to help guide and inform them a little more. New designers all agreed that the workshop with Meiling was very informative as the veteran designer explained many things about fashion and the industry that they had not known before. They added what was especially informative was information on the business aspect of fashion and getting into the export market.
TFW 2012 was organized by Designers United Stores (DUS), a non-profit group dedicated to enhancing the local fashion industry into a thriving and viable enterprise with entrepreneurial opportunities across many sectors. In its second year, (TFW 2012) continued the momentum of last year’s success by increasing the featured designers-around 24 this year. 99% of designers showing were from Trinidad and Tobago. I would suggest that in future to broaden the international appeal, at least 50% should be from foreign shores. Designers like the UK’s Romero Bryan for example who opened the show on day 2 clearly was a class above the rest in terms of couture. Mixing mainstream international designers with more local talent would help bring wider press awareness to the event.
120 young models were used to show off the clothing and these models were not only great clothes horses but unlike more western catwalk models had strong, athletic bodies that were exciting to watch in comparison to the usual skin and bone models we’re more used to on western catwalks. The models had character, personality, attitude and were so much fun to watch and admire.

JASMINE WITH 12 YEAR OLD MODEL JANELLE
I am always amazed at the number of young child models involved and how professional and composed they are. The kids designs are numerous and impressive. I caught up with 12-year-old model Janelle after the show. Janelle has been compared to a young Rihanna with her fair skin and light green eyes and is generally tipped for the top. Many may have concerns that she isn’t living her youth to its fullest but when chatting to her she seemed extremely grounded telling me she’s a tomboy at heart and not really a girly girl for the dresses she models. She eats what she wants and enjoys showing off the clothes. Originally from London her family moved to Tobago many years ago and now are thinking of moving to Paris to break Janelle into her next stage of her modelling career.

YOUNG MODELS WORKING THE CATWALK.
The final day-day 2 of the event saw the Caribbean paps get very excited by the arrival of Anya Ayoung Chee ( Miss Trinidad and Tobago Universe 2008 and also the winner of Project Runway’s ninth season in 2011. ) who hundreds of attendees gathered around for photos and autographs.

JASMINE WITH ANYA.Photo credit- Maurice Goddard…

JASMINE WITH ROMERO BRYAN
Starting off the show on the final day was the UK designer Romero Bryan. I met Romero years ago when I was an MTV NEWS presenter in 1998 when he came to the Met hotel to try and get Destiny’s Child to see his dresses. I helped get his designs to the girl band and he continued his relentless career himself showing his wares on celebs from Kelis to Samantha Mumba and more recently supermodel Alek Wek. Romero’s designs blew everyone away last year but this year he took it to another level with his chiffon flowing silks. Long knee length cocktail dresses all mono chrome. All extremely Sexy. Classy. Breathtaking. Particularly one long white gown that was covered ion Swarovski crystals that he sells at £250,000! Gulp!

ROMERO BRYAN’S £250,000 DRESS!
Of course-fashion tastes vary and whilst I like to stay open minded about all looks and styles, there was one designers’ collection -Francis Hendy -that frankly contained so many garish coloured suits and such perplexing pairing that was so mismatched that frankly it made me wanna chuckup. I did however like a lot of Christian Boucards stuff- his leopard print chiffon capsule collection reminded me very much of early Roberto Cavalli designs. I also thought Hak Gui’s collection of bright rain macs with cutout backs was very cute and edgy and would work well here in the UK.

It was refreshing to see a couple of collections included for ‘’the fuller figured woman”. After all, it’s always like the elephant in the room when clothes are shown off on stick thin models so you have no idea how things will look on real women. Many real women and men modeled and it was great to see that the audience reacted to it well. If we had more shows like this our youngsters wouldn’t grow up with unhealthy body image issues of themselves!

I WASNT MAD AT THE MALE MODELS EITHER!
The show closed with a very dramatic final theatrical performance of a clothing collection by ‘‘the cloth’’, which saw models dance trancelike down the catwalk in a contemporary dance meets African dance set. A unique and dramatic way to close the weekend.
Tobago fashion week really showed that the islands are moving fast and will soon be playing on the much wider world stage when it comes to fashion. The American press was literally falling over themselves to get shots of the Jamaican style lycra clothing that we often see in Dalston Market. There’s no doubt that these small island designers should not be overlooked when it comes to European fashion showings too. A few summery style ethnic pieces could work well alongside any new york, Milan or London fashion week moment of fabulousness!.

For my final 2 days I visited a very important Trinidadian media big wigs home aptly called Coolo Breezo up in the Tobago Hills. It was a stunning house not very unlike the home of Richard Branson in Necker Island where I stayed in the past. All open plan to the winds and classically furnished with a swimming pool and tennis courts overlooking the island it truly was paradise. Perched atop Lambeau Hill Coolo Breezo is a 3 bedroom villa offering panoramic views across Tobago and aptly named for its constant Caribbean breeze. We spent a wonderful afternoon and evening here drinking Ciroc cocktails as we flitted between swimming in the pool and relaxing in the Jacuzzi. Next time I am in Tobago this is where I want to stay! (smile)…..
One afternoon I was flicking through the guest guidance book and laughed hard as I read ‘’ we know that some visitors to the Caribbean assume that all West Indians move around in a permanent haze of marijuana smoke. Though some people do indulge this is hardly the reality. Marijuana is illegal to grow, sell or possess. Do not consider taking drugs out of the country under any circumstances. Customs officers have seen all the methods of concealment. A long stint in a T& T prison is not the joyous experience you might think it is ‘’ LOLOL!
Roll on 2013 and Tobago Fashion Week!-it will be a contender on the world stage very soon-mark my words!

MARTHA WASH, DAVID GEST, MAGICIAN DYNAMO , JASMINE and PEABO BRYSON.
David Gest’s annual birthday parties are now legendary. An American concert promoter and media personality, perhaps best known for his turbulent marriage to Liza Minnelli, his friendship with The Jackson 5 and appearance on reality television show I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!.

DAVID GEST, MAGICIAN DYNAMO, JASMINE and PEABO BRYSON.
David was nearly 60 this past month and parties and lives life as if he’s still a 20 year old! It’s fascinating to watch him as he hosts an event, totally in the thick of it with his mate and organiser Imad Handi, calm and friendly to all his guests in attendance. He really is one of the last greats alongside other showbiz legends like Benny Medina and Oprah.
This year David threw a joint birthday party alongside his friend, Eastenders actress Patsy Palmer (who turned 40), at the Grand Connaught Rooms in the West End. It was dubbed their joint ‘Music & magic’ birthday celebration to help raise thousands of pounds for ‘me&dee charity’ which included performances by 12 soul music legends and magician Dynamo.
A host of their celebrity friends attended on the night and everywhere you looked were household names.

JASMINE WITH EASTENDER’S ACTOR CHUCKY VENN.
A couple of tables at the front sat practically every Eastenders cast member I can think of. Kim Fox (Tameka Empsom) was hilarious as she ran in as late as I was just in time for dinner. Ray Dixon (chucky Venn) was there with his gorgeous lady Zoë-they were celebrating their first night out together since the birth of their new baby-congrats guys! . Ian (Adam Woodyatt ) was with his wifey and looked so happy and stress free I nearly didn’t recognise him! Denise (Diane Parish) looked very sophisticated in her frock and they were easily the most raucous, fun, sing a long tables in the house! Patsy palmer looked gorgeous and a far cry from her shabby grubby look on screen. She resembled a princess in her long fitted ball gown and hair in long flowing waves.

EASTENDER’S ACTRESS TAMEKA EMPSOM AND JASMINE.
Vanessa Feltz was there with her TV host beau Ben-they were dancing up a storm. Vanessa looked lovely in a gold fitted dress and even kicked her shoes off to get her 2-step on. Later in the eving she won the raffle too!
Magician Dynamo impressed the Eastenders cast and all the other celebs with his usual spooky magic tricks. He’d also not seen his girl friend for a few days and so both were very loved up during the evening- aw bless!
Loose women’s Carol McGiffin had the young lads with a flava for a MILF heads turning all night. I myself couldn’t stop staring at singer Candi Staton- so gorgeous and pretty at the grand old age of 72 still looked stunning-I can only imagine how amazing she looked in her youth!
The evening began with a cocktail reception (which my late ass missed). Next was a sumptuous 3 course meal which was so delicious guests at my table were sneaking in extra desserts!
Next came the celebrity auction where amongst other things that were auctioned included Lady Gaga’s hot pants, I looked around and tried to clock all the potential pop perv’s in the house lol. Next up was a signed letter and Bodyguard disc by Whitney Houston. There was a lot of excitement as Michael Jacksons contract for a live event went for a grand. A grand!? I know! Blasphemy! I wish I were loaded. I would’ve paid a lot more!
Meanwhile, my favourite performer of the night was Peabo Bryson (‘A Whole New World (Aladdin’s Theme)’ & ‘Beauty & The Beast’), peabo can really SANNNNG! His vocals were so strong! How can the elders singing strength be as strong as ever whilst current day stars all complain about weak voices etc?

JASMINE WITH THE GORGEOUS CANDI STATON.
The stunning Candi Staton sashayed as sexily as ever with her sweet outfit onstage to sing You Got The Love’ & ‘Young Hearts Run Free’.
Billy Paul sang one of my favourite classics ever- ‘Me & Mrs Jones’, and then there was much fanfare for Martha Reeves & The Vandellas (‘Dancing In The Streets’ & ‘Nowhere To Run’), which had the whole crowd sweating and jumping.
Martha Wash of the Weather Girls (‘Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)’ turned the ballroom into an Ibiza style rave as she belted out her classics with the crowds fists pumping the air.

DAVID GEST’S BEST MATE/ MAN ABOUT TOWN-IMAD HANDI
Later we were also treated to more motown legends/ Davids mates (who do this for him all cos they love and appreciate his presence in their careers and lives for free!) ….Kim Weston (‘It Takes Two’, ‘Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)’ & Helpless), The Flirtations (‘Nothing But A Heartache’), Dorothy Moore (‘Misty Blue’ & ‘I Believe You’), Brenda Holloway (‘Every Little Bit Hurts’, ‘You’ve Made Me So Very Happy’ & ‘When I’ Gone’), Eddie Holman (‘Hey There Lonely Girl’). Sheila Ferguson (‘When Will I See You Again’, ‘Year Of Decision’ & ‘Dirty Ol’ Man’) and G.C. Cameron, former lead singer of The Spinners (‘It’s A Shame’ & ‘It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday’). The musical side of the night was complete with a 14-piece band performing live with the soul legends.
According to Gest: “At this stage in life it’s not so much about celebrating a birthday as getting together with great friends and helping a good cause. Patsy and I have been friends for years and we thought if we could help put a smile on the faces of some people who are less fortunate than us that makes this whole evening worthwhile.”
And that my friends is my mantra-the more you give the more you shall receive!

JASMINE WITH ESTELLE.
There was much excitement in the air as West Londoner Estelle stopped through London on her European tour and did a couple of nights at the Jazz Café. Opening the night for her was mutual friend/songwriter/singer Roses Gabor who hit the stage with her feisty no nonsense attitude and told the audience from the start that they better get involved as she wasn’t suffering any fools. They immediately obeyed and as she sang track after track of her infectious quite grimy dub step tracks with a soulful sound and they sang alongside her, jumping and clapping-it was like a mini festival up in Camden town!.

JASMINE WITH ROSES!
Roses had the crowd sweaty and hot-(just the way Estelle likes em)-before jumping offstage to take a bevvy of photos with fans.

Next up-the main girl of the night-miss Estelle Swaray slinked down the legendary venues staircase and onstage wearing her obligatory high designer heels, a pencil skirt and low cleavage-teasing top, with her hair in an old skool jazz singer style turban, a la Nina Simone. Her fans were ridiculously excited and the whops and cheers were strong and consistent throughout her set, which contained many of her hits from ‘’no substitute love’’ and ‘’break my heart’’. Her remix version of the D’Banj hit ‘‘International’’ had a carnival spirit flowing in the venue with everyone shocking out’’.
It was ‘’thank you’’ that had the whole packed housed as silent as a church though as she sang the song with haunting passion, immense emotion and a powerful vocal strength not seen often. Her voice sounded strong. And dangerous. it made me as her mate want to cuss out the man that had brought forth such pain and heartbreak into her life. On the other hand I celebrated the fact that she made some financial gain by writing a great song that many of her fans could relate to and use to lessen their pain.
At the end she explained to the audience that for the past 4 years she had had to sing ‘’American boy’’ nearly everyday of her life. She laughed and quipped she wasn’t complaining as before that the song had been her first hit ‘’1980’’. The audience were more than happy to help her sing along to every word of the now ridiculously well known global classic.

JASMINE WITH PR GURU VANESSA AMADI, ESTELLE, EDDIE KADI AND ADIDAS HEAD HONCHO PAOLA LUCKTUNG!.
At one point in the night Stell decided to shout out a few of her friends in the audience including myself, Paola, DJ Big Ted, her mate Ahmed and best friend PR goddess Vanessa Amadi…. she said (and clearly this proves she might be able to sing but is crap at maths) ‘’ I want to shout out some of my friends that have been rolling with me for 15 years and more’’. Well how in the world is that possible when some of us aren’t even that old! I am eternally 12!
Backstage afterwards myself and Adidas head honcho Paola Lucktung went to pay our respects as did DJ Big Ted, comedian Eddie Kadi and many of her friends. I was impressed with how svelte Estelle’s waist has become- that’s that healthy eating American ish right there. I will next be seeing her in Jamaica in a few weeks where no doubt our bikinis will be in full effect so I’m off to buy lots of fresh salad ingredients now so as not to embarrass myself.

This week I also caught up with Cassius Henry –one of the current finalists in the BBC’S The voice who was being put through his paces something hard-core on the outskirts of London. I caught up with him just as he had finished dance rehearsals at the end of a crazy week rehearsing with his mentor Jessie J. He revealed that they were just finishing up rehearsing a group song together, which he was really excited about. He also said his week had been going amazingly with hard work and hard play with the whole of his group going off bowling as a way to relax and as a team bonding exercise.
Cassius excitedly told me ‘’Jessie J told me a lot about her own experiences and advised me to stop being tense and be myself and bring the real me out onstage, she keeps telling me ‘’Cassius let go’’.
But all the hard graft, constant live TV and being under the spotlight have started taking a toll on his vocals. He admitted ‘’I’ve Had problems with my voice recently with laryngitis, I was worried I was losing my vocal strength- but Jessie has encouraged me to stay mentally positive’’.
Many will know that Cassius lost his brother years ago to heart failure which threw him off his path for a while so its very admirable that he is now back on track and picking up his dream where he left off. He’s obviously had a few breaks in the past but now he’s come to close unfinished business. His brother now gives him strength, ‘‘before I hit the stage I carry around a key ring with a photo of my lil brother cos this is all in memory of him and he’ll get me through it. I have a strong team, they tell me all the time ‘you’ve got to be on your a game’.
Having hosted a live national huge show in my own past I know how terrifying live TV is. You get one shot to get it right. Under the hot lights, buzzing studio and tense production crew you either bring your A game or step aside.
Cassius agreed ‘’live before a show I can’t relax, I’m like a panther pacing around’’
Cassius praises the lord for his mentor Jessie’s guidance ‘’Jessie controls all our set and ideas and I really like her ideas a lot-her imaginations really good. She’s like an A&R person. She gets to know us as people and helps keep us real’’’.
Cassius hopes that we are all behind him as he tells me ‘’because even though I had a tiny taste at fame I’m now ready to take the baton and run with it fast’’. Alas Cassius didnt make the finals-but i have no doubt this isnt the last we’ll hear from him….after all, remember Sony once dropped both 50 Cent and Alicia Keys!

So this year my birthday party was nuts. My birthday is actually in January but I’ve never let that stop me having extra parties throughout the year. As it’s early in January and most people are away, skint, depressed or partied out, I always leave my party until a few weeks later. Hence many think my birthday is in February. This year a high profile pal of mine wanted to tour the UK with some comedy and we agreed I would delay my party to coincide with their dates. Long story short that didn’t happen but I then threw caution to the wind and settled on a May bank holiday for my party and yes it was still billed as my ‘’birthday’’. I’m like the queen darlings. I have 2 birthdays-this one was merely the public one lol.

JASMINE WITH DANIELLE BROWN AND HER RUN DMC CREW
I like to work hard and play hard and this year decided that my party theme should excite the men cos usually they hate me for strange costume demands like ‘’Motown’’ which was last years theme. So this year the men were enthusiastic and came with their best Slick Rick, Eazy E, LL Cool J and RUN DMC looks whilst the girls, who initially struggled with the costume theme, came as various versions of Lil Kim, Nicki Minaj, JLo, TLC and more.

SLICK RICK AND EAZY E CAME TOO.
Subconsciously I think I wanted to prove a point by throwing a party in Mayfair in the West End and letting all my mates turn up in tracksuits, jeans and trainers just to spite the usual doormen politics of dress sense issues. The other part of me was also concerned that if the police saw droves of people heading into town wearing tracksuits they might predict a riot and shut us down lol!.

PR DONETTE JODIE DALMEDA (SONYBMG / VIRGIN UNITE) ,JASMINE,BBC’S JAY DAVIDSON, COOKIE CREW’S COOKIE.
I had really gone to town with my look and the day before had celeb tanner to the stars James Read (based at the Sanderson) to spray paint me brown). Next I popped into celeb hair salon ThreeV in Notting Hill Gate to have celeb stylists Julien and Melissa put a ton of hair extensions in my head to emulate the wild curly haired Puerto Rican chics from back in the day. next celeb facial Nuz Shugaa gave me one of her unique facials and a mani-pedi and finally I topped it off with my make up done by make up girl in demand in London town- miss Kristina Theordoris!

ADIDAS HQ FIRST LADIES AKUA, PAOLA AND AISHA.
Finally Adidas bigwig Paola Lucktung sent me off with Adidas lady Aisha Badmus to personalise an Adidas Jeremy Scott dress with bling for me. They also suggested a 2nd outfit, which we turned into really corny yes amazing his & her’s matching white firebird tracksuits.
I had a bit of a nightmare pre-party as one of the club barmen nicked my phone-not a good look just before your party starts. Then the club decided to charge such high prices for drinks that were ludicrous. So bad that a few LONDON360 TV crew hired a tuk tuk rickshaw, had it ride them to the local Weatherspoons, downed 5 shots each-and got the tuk tuk back to the party-all at a cost less than one round at the club. Oh dear. Sorry guys!
Furthermore the club then told us at the start of the night that their credit card machine didn’t work. So not only could most of us not purchase drinks we were pretty mad. But like a trooper I grit my teeth and partied on.

JASMINE WITH MOBO CEO KANYA KING
MOBO CEO Kanya King dropped a mini black dress and silver cropped jacket. Scary Spice’s sister and actress Danielle Brown and her girls crew came as female RUN DMC’s with bright red pants and Chrissy Lou shoes-too fly- and looked like they were going to break out into a full out routine.

WARNER MUSIC’S TAPONESWA AND UK HIPHOP LEGEND RODNEY P!.
80’s female UK hip-hop groups Cookie (Cookie Crew) rocked her 20-year-old leather goose jacket with fur, former SonyBMG/ Virginunite PR guru Jodie Dalmeda, designer Wale Adeyemi and BBC marketing donette Jay Davidson all rocked matching Adidas trackies. Celeb DJ/actor DJ Jarren came as Rev Run. Rapper Rodney P rocked his old skool ‘fight the power’ leather jacket. Former Eastenders actress Preeya Kalidas came JLo-esque with her mate singer Cherry V who came in a skin-tight red cat suit and bright yellow jacket. We had 2 conscious brothers who came as Afrika Bambata and an Egyptian pharaoh. Young un’s looked at ‘Bambataa’ and screamed ‘’who’s the juju man with juju stick-I’m not going near him!’’ lol.

JASMINE WITH PRINCESS NYAH AKA LIL KIM!
Stylist to the stars Richard Shoyemi came as the ‘’American dream’’ in his stars and stripes look. Warner Music’s Taponeswa dropped a gangsta boss lady look but soon had her heels off, as the dancing got too wild.
There were a few Vanilla Ice’s and Marky Marks- sorry white dudes-you coulda come as Eminem but I guess he doesn’t really have a style of any sort. Oh well. **Shrugs shoulders**
My old music partner in rhyme SonyBMG’s Jennifer Mills wore her authentic bad boy jacket from the original bad boy days. Former head of SonyBMG international and marketing Mervyn Lyn took it all in from his observation spot and praised Richie P’s set.

THE #TEAMUK COOL KIDS
Choreographer / dancer Royston and Duane came in old b boy sweats whilst grime goddess Princess Nyah came as Lil Kim in a long blonde wig and had men drooling over her all night as usual.
Comedienne Gina Yashere was hilarious as she leapt into the front of every picture being taken. Who else could have captured the night but the UK’s best-known photographer for music- mister Paul H.
The triple threat ladies Adidas crew (Paola, Aisha and Akua) brought the room to a stand still as they entered in their white musical note trackies and then we had the room roaring again as I stepped out of my 1st look (a fierce Jeremy scott for adidas dress with diamond sleeves) into my all white 2nd trackie (beautifully embellished by the hand and lock team that Adidas use).

ME AND SOME OF MY GIRLS IN MY OUTFIT NUMBER 1-JEREMY SCOTT FOR ADIDAS BLING SLEEVE DRESS.
Even though the party wasn’t formally an Adidas event by the time all the guests arrived you could’ve shot an Adidas ad in there. Everyone had pulled out their oldest most classic 3 stripe looks and the venue looked amazing! The Adidas team even had huge tall cut out RUN DMC images for guests to stick their heads through. Like the ones on Brighton pier but more classic lol!

ME AND MY CAKE-TWITTER-COS APPARENTLY I’M ADDICTED!@
My partner had warned me that my cake would be a surprise. I assumed this meant he’s dug up some horrific old photo via my girl friends to have put on the cake but I was wrong. In his wrath at my constant addiction to twitter he put the thing that I apparently love most on my cake- the twitter logo! Surprised? I was!
DJ’s on the night were my big brother and former Rampage sound system member Richie P who flung down the best set from the 80’s and 90’s including Onyx, Lost Boyz and a crazy aerobic jungle set which had the club jumping and sweating so badly we had to have a slow session in the first 23 hours to get our breath back.

JASMINE AND FRIENDS.
Next up was DJ Kayper. Kayper is tinier than me. A pretty, slight Asian girl that can scratch, mix and drop a hot track like certain video chics drop the line ‘’I’m a model’’. She is fascinating to watch…that is if you could have seen her. The clubs DJ system isn’t really very well thought out for a hip-hop vibe so you can barely see a 6 foot man behind the decks let alone a 5 foot female so I kinda defeated the purposed there. But hey you live and you learn.

JASMINE WITH CAPITALFM’S ENTERTAINMENT HOST KEVIN HUGHES.
Immediately after Kaypers set girl group Rogue surprised me with an old skool rendition of Salt & Pepa’s Push It before launching into their own single ‘’Girls Anthem’’.
Finally the big man himself DJ Richie F- son of the legendary Mike Sweeny from RJS sound system took the decks and properly smashed it up. You have club dj’s, you have party dj’s and then you have a dj that just gets with the crowd to work them up into a frenzy the likes you’ve not seen since the Bad Boy party days. Richie. Tore. The. Spot. Down. With nuff call and response tracks like Lauryn Hill’s Lost Ones and Puffy and Mase hits, many party guests including me had lost our voices the following day. it was a night full of great vibes, non-stop dancing and outfits that had to be seen to be believed!
There goes another ode to hip-hop-the culture that nurtured and made me what I am today-! See you again same time next year!

JASMINE JOINS HOST TRISH ADUDU ON THE REAL TALK DEBATE SHOW ON OHTV WITH BOE THE COMEDIAN AND MP DAWN BUTLER.
What a week. Never let it be said that I don’t live up to my own work ethos of work hard, play hard!
This past few days have seen me attend East London’s Streetfest where Wookie, Radi Dadi, Rattus Rattus (Urban Nerds), Knicker Bocker Corey (Urban Nerds),Spectrum City, Jon Burgerman, Project G, Stylinquents and more were doing their thing.
The same night I had my annual theme party!-more on that next week!
The following day all roads led to dance and spoken word impresario Jonzi D’s annual Breakin Convention jam at Sadlers Wells Theatre, the next night was the One World Media Awards and frankly my dears I am now pooped!
I also managed to fit in a night at a screening of the new Noel Clarke film Fast Girls and another screening for the Price of Kings series which is fascinating and a must see for all you folks that want to be leaders.

JASMINE WITH JOANNA-(PRICE OF KINGS PRODUCER) AND JODIE (PR)
The ‘Price of kings: Shimon Peres’ is a fascinating documentary, which captures the human side of what it takes to be a leader.
The first film was on Yasser Arafat and the third will be CostaRicanpresident Oscar Arias. These are all intimate portraits that reveal both the political and personal sacrifices made by leaders like President Peres and the impact on them and their families. The beautiful thing is you don’t need to be a history boffin to enjoy this is series (there are 12 leaders in theprice of Kings series) as it has a range of exclusive, insightful interviews with those that were there when these historical events took place and the man himself. Its good British documentary making- informative, thought provoking, beautifully shot, and emotional. I went with my femalepower players Jay Davidson (BBC marketing), Cookie (Cookie Crew rap collective), Terri Walker (singer song writer) to go support our girl JodieDalmeda who is running the PR on the series of films.

JASMINE WITH TERRI, JAY AND COOKIE AT THE PRICE OF KINGS PREMIERE.
Later that night the cast and crew went to the Haymarket Hotel for post-premier cocktails where a fewviolet martini’s went down a treat as I congratulated film maker Joanna Natasegara,(Producer/Director) on the inspirational work from which I would be noting and remembering for life some of the aspirational quotes within the movie. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in gaining a deeper understanding of leadership. www.priceofkings.com
Next I joined a panel that included Boe the comedian and former MP Dawn Butler on the REAL TALK show (OHTV-SKY 199) hosted by the lovely Trisha Adudu. We debated the Olympics, young peoples access to negativity on the internet, whether London needs a black mayor, natural hair VS fake hair and whether we’d prefer to be beautiful and hated or ugly and loved. You know I could rant for hours about all of these subjects so it was hell for me to keep it short and sweet but we managed to get to the end without scratching each other’s eyes out. The big thing that came out of that was that both myself and Dawn Butler are considering running for mayor in the future LOL.

Finally we all got our comedy loving side together to attend a celebration acknowledging 21 years since the BBC TV show the REAL MCKOY began.
The invite promised an audience with all the shows original cast, producers and now black entertainment scene legends! it was a full nice turn out at the new BBC 8million cost building in town in their lush all bells and whistles theatre screening room.
As we entered I note it was like an old skool reunion with folks In the house who included Angie Le Mar, Kojo, Eddie Kadi, Eddie Nestor, police bigwig Leroy Logan, comedian Slim, DJ Daddy Ernie and many more. Our hosts Brenda Emmanus and Eddie Nestor had to deal with a very lively crowd who knew moreabout the legendary show than one of the BBC bigwigs who got all his facts about where and how the show started wrong-oops-fire the staffer that briefed that man! (clanger numero uno).The main man that runs BBC TV -our big man- mister Pat Younge came and did a welcome introduction where he urged the audience to e mail him TV show ideas. Straight away amongst the attendee’s was a discontented murmur as a few folks heckled ”we have, with no response”.Awkward moment number 2. And readers, to be perfectly frank from there on in whilst it was a brilliant night with great memories about the Real McCoy show with fascinating anecdotes from the cast and backstage crew , there were a lot of awkward moments one after another as cast and audience berated the BBC about not supporting black programming and not being up to date with the modern British cultural world. It was great to see the main cast including actors Felix Dexter, Meerya Syal, Judith Jacobs, Curtis Walker, Leo Chester (now Mohamed) and the producers all bantering with each other about their memories and current journeys. However, Ima keep it real. It was a BIG night and funny as hell. But the BBC bashing was dominant. The general feeling was that “Nothing in TV has really changed for black talent and black TV audiences in 20 years on the BBC”. I feel like I came to a party and we were trashing the hosts house. Someone suggested that if all the ethnic influencers and talent in this room united to form a company it could be huge. I agreed but know that only 1% of us sitting in that room would actually stick to our commitment in making it work whilst the other 99% would be all talking hecklers. I’d leave my full time paid job daily at 6pm to work on my own company for no money for months if others joined me. But who is really going to believe in themselves enough to do that? ….Luckily Angie Le Mar showed an exclusive trailer of her new TV show “The Ryan sisters” about 3 black sisters which looked brilliant!

JASMINE WITH CURTIS WALKER, JUDITH JACOBS AND BBC’S MICHELLE MATHERSON.
Part 2 of the evening showcased new faces with new heat coming like comedian/ radio host Kojo, comedian /radio host Eddie Kadi, Comedy promoting legend John Summit and comedienne/actress/writer Angie Le Mar all talking about doing it their way after being rejected by various mainstream broadcasters and establishments over the years. Kojo has made his own DVD from his sell out show at Hackney Empire. Eddie has sold out the 02!. Angie has had her work seen on stage, heard on radio and televised. All without mainstream corporate help.
I have to say from the internal staff point of view I have a lot of admiration for development and talent executive Michelle Matherson who has been at the broadcaster for years and must have seen the in’s and out’s with working with a corporation that does have to play it very safe and the internal politics must be horrible to deal with day in and day out. (I bet she couldtell some stories!). She must have to see a lot in her drive to bring in diverse talent.
In May the BBC Comedy teams/TV Collective and more are working with new comedy talent to find the stars of the future…….get in touch with the tv collective online. Like voting-if you don’t act you can’t change anything. If you’re not in the game you can’t even be a player let alone be a winner!!
See http://thetvcollective.org for more info……….if u don’t take your opportunities and responsibility for your own careers, who will?

JASMINE WITH KIRAN SHARMA!
Londoners! Its Voting day! I will be making time today to go and vote and make my voice and existence stand for something. I have relatives in countries where people die to fight for their vote and voices to be heard and spend hours queuing to make their cross on a ballot paper to bring in their leader of choice. Think I’m going to take this for granted? Hell no! Today I will vote! So many whine about their lives, the government, politicians and their community but when it comes to making a stand and being counted if you don’t vote- you have no right to complain.

After voting I’m popping down to OHTV to be a TV panel guest alongside MP Dawn Butler where the theme is…. you guessed it-voting LOL! (To be honest I’ll be glad when this London Mayoral Election is over- YOUTHVOTELONDON did sign up 600 new young voters so it’s a slower start than I’d hoped, but at least the car has pulled off the kerb. I dream that the momentum and understanding will grow until we have an Obama to call our own.

This week when I haven’t been yelling at the politicians in live TV studios, I attended a UK premiere of The Price of Kings: Film 2, Shimon Peres, and a 21 year celebration to mark the success and nostalgia of the old BBC ethnic sitcom –the Real McCoy.

I also caught up with a very understated lady who I think should be brought to your attention. Her name is Kiran Sharma and she is one of the movers and shakers that make the music industry run at a higher level.

Kiran has worked on all manners of music events and books artistes for everything from spectacular private parties to festivals and concerts, through her company, KIKIT Entertainment. She is also the manager of Prince. Yes, you read correctly. The legend that is Prince Rogers Nelson; the American singer, songwriter, musician, producer and actor.

Kiran was shaped early on by her days in her birthplace of Luton, which was “a bit rough and tough”, until she was eight. At the age of nine, due to her father’s work commitments, the family moved to Norwich which she recalls as being completely different. ‘’At that time ethnic minorities in Norwich made up a tiny percentage and there was hardly anyone to relate to. I was the only Indian kid in my school and got bullied for a couple of years.”

I imagine it’s this early need for self-defence and survival that has made Kiran into the tough cookie and astute businesswoman she is today. She could just as easily have turned into the bullied underclass, but she didn’t let it subdue her. She fought, toughened up and grew to be a bit of a tomboy.

So this early grounding shaped her character and she’s able to roll in the best of both worlds and adapt to all societies and circumstances.

Due to her traditional Indian background, Kiran’s education was more academic and less artistic. She was expected to get a corporate job, so did an engineering degree majoring in marketing “to please everyone” although she would have preferred to do art.

After graduating, Kiran worked in a very corporate environment and despite enjoying the challenge, she decided it wasn’t really for her and went through all the career stages as fast as possible. From being a marketing assistant for a small magazine to account director for an international marketing agency, Kiran ticked all the boxes for her parents and peers before casting her career net even wider.

She explored how she could merge her knowledge of business with her love of music and the arts. She knew that one day she wanted to work with established artistes, but had no expectations and just took the plunge to launch KIKIT Entertainment in 2005.

Kiran helped out a new unsigned American singer, managed a few events, put together the tours and generally worked crazy hard to build her experience and reputation. Thus came her early connections with acts like Martha High, Maceo Parker, Annie Lennox, Leon Ware, Mint Condition and Prince.

For two years she worked two jobs simultaneously, working her day job until 6pm then working on KIKIT until the early hours. She admits she had no time for relationships and family, but her time was well spent as she was so passionate and was having so much fun working on building a future, which would make it worth it. ‘’I was working with acts that had been in the industry for over 20 years and got to learn loads from them,’’ she enthuses her eyes twinkling with memories.

Of course I had to ask Kiran why she thinks Prince gravitated towards her in a business capacity in this later part of his career. “Well you would have to ask him that,” she judiciously responds.

She went on to explain that she first met him when she booked him for a London event, but that they didn’t even talk, (lesson 1, ladies — no groupie behaviour!), but eventually that all changed. “I was touring with Maceo Parker briefly and we met a few times backstage, but it was a friend who finally introduced us.”

TV companies and magazines really should be focusing more on characters like Kiran. Features about how a small town girl grows up to manage one of the biggest names in the world? The challenges of running a multi-million dollar business? How to earn the respect of male-peers? Its only logical as Kiran is one of the few higher ranked women to achieve success in the music industry.

“Everyone has this perception that successful women are hard-nosed. I realised that just being myself worked for me,” she tells me with a smile.

She knows that her ethnicity has of course aided her career and life values. ‘’My background and ethnic values mean I understand the concept of total respect for all people,” she says.

“Indian people tend to have a respect level for all other cultures and ultimately respect hard work. These things are instilled in us at kids. My granddad used to say to his four daughters, ‘I can’t give you a house or money, but I can give you an education. No one can take that away from you.’ Close family helps too. If I needed support tomorrow I know my family are there. It makes everything a little less scary.”

As with many big power players, Kiran’s attention to charity and giving back plays a dominant part in her work. Many of her music acts began performing at charity events like Save the Children and Kiran became increasingly involved in various campaigns. Today, she a trustee of Arms Around a Child, which supports kids affected by HIV and AIDS in India and Africa and builds orphanages for abandoned children.

Kiran has also been nominated for Entrepreneur of the Year in the Asian Woman of Achievement Awards 2012, which takes place on May 16 2012 at London’s Park Lane Hilton.

“Its great to be nominated alongside these women. The Asian Woman of Achievement Awards is such an important platform for British Asian women and I am hugely honoured to be shortlisted alongside such exceptional ladies. I met a few of them recently and they’re all fascinating and I felt proud to be in their company. One thing in common we all had was our similar experiences as women of Asian background. If you can come out of this industry doing something you love and can sustain your lifestyle, and you’ve managed to do it in a way that’s respectful to you, your culture and all around, then its a winning situation.”

Her entrepreneurial flair doesn’t just end with KIKIT Entertainment. Kiran is also launching KIKIT Ventures, which creates investment portfolios for artistes.

Now that’s business balls with a female chromosome!

JASMINE WITH SIOBHAN BENITA – ON MAY 3RD SHE GETS MY VOTE!
April 14th came and all roads led to the ministry of sound in Southwark for YOUTH VOTE LONDON where London’s mayoral candidates Siobhan Benita, Brian Paddock, Ken Livingstone and more came out to meet and greet and talk to the resembled young people.

JASMINE WITH ”RED-UNCONNECTED TO THE YOUTH” KEN.
The stage was hosted by spoken word artist dean Atta, mtv/choicefm’s kat and other ambassadors from the sprit of London awards, uprise and represent radio.
The red carpet was outdoors and saw a huge branding board with all the logos of all of London’s big youth organisations like Live / Livity-Somewhere To…, Catch22, lives not knives, enthuse youth, enterprise lab, press for change and more emblazoned across it where celebs were all clamouring to be snapped by the papps.

JASMINE WITH BRIAN PADDICK- A VERY NICE INFORMED MAN!
Many of these youth org’s also had stands inside where youth could get engaged and on board with the hundreds of initiatives that are on offer to London’s young people- who said there’s nothing out there for them? There was so much I couldn’t keep up! There were voting booths and ballot box’s teaching youth how to physically make a vote, there was a stage where dj’s and music acts were all interacting with the crowd and the outdoor area was awash with networkers and politicians.

JASMINE WITH EASTENDERS ‘NASTY NIC’-NOT SURE WHAT HE WAS DOING THERE? (AND I DONT THINK HE WAS EITHER LOL!)
Of course socially aware pro-social music star Sway attended as did West London act princess Nyah (who came to speak to the kids and did a freestyle too) and comedian Kevin j who spoke to the bloggers and press about why young people should use their vote to make a change for themselves.
Bizarrely ex eastenders actors nasty nick cotton and actress Tanya franks attended too. All the candidates arrived sporadically during the day so when Siobhan and Kev arrived most of the youth were on the red carpet interviewing and snapping away at them. But then they all relocated indoors to hear them speak so that by the time poor Brian Paddick arrived there were minimal red carpet press and I think he didn’t feel any love. poor guy.
Tory affiliated Shaun bailey was heckled a lot for speaking ‘’on behalf of the African Caribbean community in the uk’’.
Siobhan Benita got the most cheers and applause and talked about issues that the audience all really seemed to feel and broke out into spontaneous applause for. I wish Siobhan had started her campaign earlier as I think with the right championing on board co-signing her she could have actually made a dent. I will still be making my first vote Siobhan and my 2nd Boris. Siobhan is mostly definitely filling a gap by speaking for the under represented young of this capital city but Boris has always honoured his commitments by the policies I have felt an allegiance for and unlike Ken does care what the people say in my humble opinion.

Next an old friend, ex SonyBMG head honcho Mervyn Lynn called to see if I wanted to bring a group of friends along to the very swanky prestigious LAWRENCE OLIVER AWARDS.

JASMINE ON THE OLIVIER AWARDS RED CARPET PRE-SHOW WITH A SUPERSTAR THAT SHE’S HAD TO CROP OUT FOR SILLY REASONS.
The Olivier awards honor achievements in London plays, musicals, dance and opera. Winners in most categories are chosen by a panel of stage professionals and theatergoers.
Now whenever folks ask things like this I always look at my phone quizzically? I mean? Is the pope catholic? Is the British sky grey? is puff daddy the richest rap icon 2012? Of course I played nonchalant but was inside jumping up and down with glee. However many years I am in this industry every invite is an honour and I never take any for granted. It a blessing to work hard and play hard in this game. And Mervyn has always worked so hard-its nice to see nothing changes as he was still working lol. So I scooped up a few of my nearest and dearest (after a very OTT drama about whether one of our male friends had left his black tie outfit at his country house) and there we were walking down the longest, poshest most fabulous red carpet I’ve seen this side of the Atlantic. Make no mistake-this night at the royal opera house was about the biggest names in theatre and stage. The fact that a whole road –Drury lane- in Covent Garden was rolled over with plush red carpet was testament to the fact.
As we walked the practically 100 metre long red carpet at every turn of the head were TV crews, walls of paparazzi and household name celebs being interviewed. It was so exciting to run shoulders from the bigwigs of a parallel world! It was, as the OLIVIER AWARDS sponsors Mastercard always say ‘’priceless!’’
What I didn’t mention to anyone was that a mate and I had just jumped out of our jeans and into our posh frocks in the royal opera toilets and luckily had managed to dump all our clothes and bags in the cloakroom after sneaking past the backstage security guard, otherwise we would’ve had to have carried bags and coats down the red carpet and that my dears would have been frankly mortifying!
So we’re in! (Said like a bank robber that just snuck into the World Bank). The liveried doormen check out our tickets and directed us upstairs to the bar where we are surrounded by other fabulous folk in black tie and gowns and we sipped champagne.
Darlings I must mention that all theatre functions are a hoot to attend. When you see a ‘’black tie’’ instruction on an invite in the music world, to many it’s about flesh baring usually vulgar outfits that leave hardly anything to the imagination. Every theatre event I’ve ever attended I don’t worry about a fabulous frock. Theatre folk like quirky, eccentric outfits. They’re all uber creative people who wouldn’t be seen dead in a boring old frock from your average designer. They like to stand out and show off their uniqueness. So knowing I couldn’t compete with that I wore the most formal black floor length ball gown that I own lol.
We were soon ushered into our seats and eve though I’ve attended ballet performances many a time at this venue back when I was studying for my degree I still took a breath as I looked around at the breath-taking architecture and glitz of the auditorium and wondered at the fabulous theatre history and tradition in this quite recently regenerated building.
Before you knew the show was off to a very fitting start and from here on in 3 whole hours flew by in a magical blur. We had performances from practically every west end musical to entertain us in between the awards categories. These included performances by We Will Rock You featuring Queen guitarist Brian May, Ronan Keating and Kimberley Walsh singing No Matter What, Siobhan McCarthy and Maria Friedman coming together in tribute to Tim Rice and Elaine Paige rolling back the years to captivate the Royal Opera House with Don’t Cry For Me Argentina. It was breath taking!

Furthermore, name after name just kept popping out onto stage as the already ultra fab attendees even gasped at certain names who included Stars from the worlds of film (James McAvoy, Jonny Lee Miller), television (Zach Braff, Jack Davenport), music (Will Young, Ronan Keating) and theatre came together to see the prestigious awards handed out.
Matilda The Musical – The musical is based on Roald Dahl’s tale of an extraordinary little girl from an ordinary family.-created history, winning seven awards, more than any show has ever won before-so of course you know my next mission is to try and beg, blag or hustle tickets for this asap!
Also among the accolades the RSC production picked up were Best New Musical, Best Actor in a Musical for Bertie Carvel and Best Actress in a Musical for the quartet of young stars playing the title character.
One of my favourite highlights was a performance by The Royal Ballet from Wayne McGregor’s Limen to mark ballet goddess Dame Monica Mason’s Olivier Special Award,
In summary, we laughed, clapped, sang, jumped around in our seats with excitement all evening. Even the interval was fabulous as we were served champagne in our seats!
Oh the good life lol. Post show we were guided into the reception where an abundance of starters and small bowls of scrumptious food were served-our fave? The sausage and mash! The drinks continued flowing well into the early hours as we chatted to the big and bold of this world that were so open to strangers speaking to them. Acting celebs were happy to chat, mingle and pose for pics with all the attendees. There were no haughty, awkward folks-in fact a much nicer crowd that the music world which can be very egotistical. In fact, its refreshing to see an area that many think is inaccessible to ethnic minorities and others minority groups that is so openly embracing. I know a lot more minorities enjoy the theatre now than ever before with so much focus being put on the arts so this can only get better.
Ball gowns, champagne and theatre world luvvies…..just another day in the life of a media hustler- and the Diva Dotiwala Diaries.