Written by: Priya Balakumar
Meet our latest Brown Girl Boss—Juanita Dudhanth.
Juanita was born in Guyana and raised in New Jersey. She is a wealth manager and social impact entrepreneur who strives for representation of Indo-Caribbean women in all industries. As a wealth manager, Juanita’s goal is to educate women on financial literacy and wealth building. As a writer and editor she strives to share content that will impact the life of someone by giving useful tips and tools.
"Being a female social impact entrepreneur means building businesses and brands that serve to better women. My calling in life is to be a champion for women and I hope to pave the way for young girls and women to excel in achieving their goals."
In 2016 she started her own makeup company (@glamorousbyjuanita) and is also a travel blogger (@the_beautiful_wanderluster). Juanita is a woman of many talents and wants to help women of all backgrounds to embrace their identity and build confidence by encouraging them to take risks and try new things!
At 17, Juanita entered the modelling industry, where she was one of very few Indo-Caribbean women. Her goal to break down barriers and underrepresentation has led her to many successes such as walking for international designers in NYFW. Juanita’s passion for empowering women and embracing her identity has truly helped her to shatter the glass ceiling. She is a strong role model for young women in the Indo-Caribbean community and hopes to keep inspiring others.
"Many women in communities of colour have grown up with unhealthy beauty standards, the direct result of colonization. Brown-skinned girls, dark-skinned girls, big girls, black girls, all girls period, need to see positive representation to reinforce a confident and healthy self-image."
Growing up, she felt that the most frustrating thing about Guyanese culture is the bluntness of the culture. She would often see women being judged/gossiped about by aunties, shamed if they dated outside their race at times, and even fat-shamed to their faces. Through her work, Juanita aims to spread awareness of self love, confidence and women power.
"There needs to be major changes made in our culture of womxn. However, some of the negative aspects of our mothers and grandmothers’ generations still exist within our community. We really need to have more conversations with our parents."
In 2018 Juanita was featured in Brown Girl Magazine as a model and entrepreneur. She went on to become a writer for the Indo-Caribbean team at BG Magazine and has produced multiple articles highlighting our community and celebrating women. With mentorship and the drive to fulfill a need for representation of her culture, she went on to found Caribbean Collective Magazine.
Caribbean Collective Magazine is the first digital magazine to represent West Indian women with a hyphenated identity (Canada, US, and UK). With West Indian women not being represented accurately or at all in the m
ainstream media with a few exceptions (celebrities), Juanita uses her magazine as a platform to empower and support the women in her community. There is no magazine that represents our culture specifically and Caribbean Collective is the first to represent all West Indian women in their entirety. Juanita has created a platform for Caribbean women to express themselves and be heard while celebrating who they are and their melting pot of cultures. Her goal is to create a legacy of benefit that women can look to as inspirational and representative.
"Many Indo-Caribbean women love our Desi roots and culture, but Caribbean culture is different than Desi culture. We need a platform specific to our unique identities as Afro-Caribbean, Indo-Caribbean, Asian-Caribbean women etc."
Juanita truly embraces what it means to be a modern Indo-Caribbean woman. For one we represent an intersection between South Asian/Desi influenced culture and Afro-Caribbean culture. It's a great and unique space to be in. We come from a long line of culture and heritage that is to be documented and celebrated.
Juanita has been a role model, a friend and an overall rockstar in the Indo-Caribbean community. With beauty and brains she truly has done her part to help change the negative stereotypes that are sometimes attached to the Indo-Caribbean women community.
A little piece of advice from Juanita to all the young girls struggling to find their identity and their place in this world:
“I want all the women reading this to know…you really can have it all. It takes the right determination, the right faith, timing, and following the rights steps. It’s great to be innovative, but you don’t always have to reinvent the wheel. Also surround yourself with the right people; this includes who you choose to date. If you’re dating, remember, that a good partner will always push you to be better and bring out the best traits in you.”
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