If you haven’t heard of Caribbean media-mogul in the making, Sharlisa Di Peterson, don’t worry; you will.
Born on the island of St Marteen, 26-year-old Starlisa, as she is professionally known, got her feet wet in media at the age of 15 when she started guest-hosting a show on Laser 101 FM.
From there she migrated to Jamaica, Queens, in New York where she began attending college. She then started interning at the TEMPO offices in New Jersey. While there she travelled three hours every day to her internship and worked long hours between TEMPO and her job as a bartender at a local bar.
Her hard work paid off and Starlisa has since written for several Caribbean publications in the US, acted as co-editor in chief of Caribbean Entertainment Magazine and host/producer of the Cross Caribbean Countdown in New York. Now she’s decided to give back.
Inspired by her own struggles as an intern, Starlisa started the CAB initiative.
“During the week, I was living off two hours of sleep. After about eight months, I said I can’t keep doing this. That’s when I decided to start the CAB initiative.”
CAB — Caribbean American Buzz — is a work-study opportunity for media students that focuses on Caribbean life in the US.
“The cab in New York is one of our main forms of transportation, and also an acronym for Caribbean American Buzz. So our hashtag was, jump in the cab,” Starlisa explained in an interview with Caribbean Posh magazine.
The CAB features various Caribbean restaurants, entertainers and hotspots in New York. While the vision started small, Starlisa said it grew by leaps and bounds.
“I actually had a vision of just keeping it Caribbean restaurants, businesses or politics (but) I ended up even more inside the entertainment,” she said.
“We got invited to this big show with people like I-Octane and Gyptian and then the managers of these stars would recommend me, and word really got around.”
While Starlisa remains the host of the show, she said the other aspects of the production are handed by the students she takes on board.
“This is something I love to do because I really believe in people. I believe in people who are willing to work hard. Sometimes you have the will, but then you have people who don’t know how to make a way for themselves. I’m one of the people who knows how to make a way. I know how to make a way, I’m not going to mind doing it for others.”