Shanie Persaud, Executive Director of GABPC

Queens is widely known has the most diverse county in the world. With so many different groups, it can be a challenge to provide for all of them. Shanie Persaud, the executive director and one of the founders of the Guyanese and American Business and Professional Council, is dedicated to bringing the Guyanese and American communities together.

The Guyanese and American Business and Professional Council is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to develop stronger ties between Guyana and the United States and forge closer relations between the professional groups of both nations.

“A group of us, both Guyanese and Americans, put it together,” Persaud said. “It formed primarily for that and to give more prominence to the Guyanese community over here and to allow Americans to market themselves for this community.”

Persaud put her media experience in both Guyana and Queens to good use, using her ability to make contacts as a way to drive together the Guyanese community with organizations, such as the Queens Chamber of Commerce, the Queens Economic Development Corporation and the Greater Jamaica Corporation.

“More and more, I try to partner with other organizations within the community to bring services to our members and the business community at large,” she said.

The South Ozone Park non-profit provides business and career services as well.

GABPC also works with charities, doing activities like raffles to assist the American Cancer Society and others.

For the future, Persaud said she hopes that GABPC’s membership will continue to grow and that the organization will be able to do even more to help members of the Queens Guyanese community.

“My heart and soul has always been Guyana and always will be,” she said.

- Joe Marvilli

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