A woman of many talents, Natasha Azeez is adept at storytelling, henna artistry, face painting, and crafting, though she has a career as a radio broadcaster. She spoke with The Scene of moving from being poverty-stricken because of her determination for something better.
Natasha grew up in a single parent family in a village called Vriesland, on the West Bank Demerara, often referred to being “behind God’s back”. She was the oldest sibling living in the house with two younger brothers and faced the brunt of the chores. By age 10, she was taking on the heavy chores like the cooking and doing the laundry.
“Growing up I was always anti-social,” she recalled. “Couldn’t afford too much because I would get $100 and had to split it between me and my younger brother. I was in secondary school at the time, mind you. All in all, my childhood has helped me to be respectful, definitely humble. Having done many chores when I was little, I don’t like doing them anymore. I only do them because I have to, never because I want to and sometimes when mommy is over, she helps.”
In secondary school, her favourite subjects were Office Procedures, which she was really good at; Social Studies; History and Biology though she really did not do the best at that.
She fancied reading somewhat, Natasha said, but her family was too poor for her to get books and what she read were mostly schoolbooks. Sometimes she got lucky and was able to borrow her cousin’s Nancy Drew novels which exposed her to and fed her hunger for mysteries.
She attended Patentia Primary and Secondary but noted that the primary school did not open its library until she was leaving school at primary four (grade six), while the secondary school had none during her stay there.
Growing up in a village where you knew that life after school at 15 or 16 years old was settling down with a husband and having a family of your own, Natasha shared, the idea of employment never crossed her mind. She knew she wanted a house and a car but thought the man who would become her husband would take care of that. She now refers to life in Vriesland as living in a box. One was expected to follow tradition and not to lead a life contrary to this.
“… I was always the English duck in my community. I would always listen to the radio and thought that there was something unique about these people… Mrs Maggie Lawrence, Ron Robinson, and Fazil Azeez. I would listen to them and the BBC,” she recalled. “I never thought I’d get involved in media. All in all, I must say, when you’re unexposed and when you’re not given opportunities, it can kind of stifle you and make you feel your world is only the little space you’re living in. But then there’s this whole entire world left to be explored. I made the decision about 11 years ago to move out of that little village called Vriesland and that’s the best decision I made. When I left there this little bud suddenly bloomed and became a flower.”
Later, a chance meeting with Michael Khan, the famous ‘Ole Man Pappy’ helped Natasha to make the move and explore her talents. “I was 21 at a party, at my [Ghanaian] best friend’s husband’s party. Her husband is an artist and really good friends with Mr Khan. I was with Guyana Times at the time. I met Mr Khan at this party, and he said he needed someone to do some typing for him because he had recently gotten a job at UG [University of Guyana]. One thing led to another and I started working with him and that was when everything started coming out.
“… Working with him, since he’s an artist, you dabble in little things and so on. He likes to tell people that when we first met, I couldn’t hold a paintbrush. He has been a mentor and still is. Any little thing I run to him and I say… what do you think about this or what should I do? He has been my inspiration and my motivator and every time I share my story, he’s the centre of it. But he would say, ‘No this is all you’.”
Once she began dabbling in painting, Natasha branched off to body painting and henna designs. Recalling the very first piece of craft she created, a pink candle on which she put henna designs as well as rhinestones and some glitter, she said a woman purchased it as a gift for her daughter. The candle, she said, was never lit or taken out of the plastic.
She shared that the best time for her to draw from her imagination is in the wee hours of the morning when everyone else is sound asleep. She gets up and gets busy not returning to bed until she is done creating. She laughed as she shared that her house has a million things that she can use when she gets into a crafting fit. Some of these materials were sourced locally, though the majority were imported. Among the tools she uses are a button-making machine, a Cricut machine that allows her to cut shapes on any material and a card-making machine that comes with a variety of designs. Natasha is working towards her next investment, a sewing machine which she made clear is not for dressmaking but for making her sashes and stitching cards together.
Natasha also dabbles in interior and exterior decorating and has done so for several birthday parties. She hopes to branch out to decorating for weddings.
As a storyteller, Natasha, who plays ‘Janie Gyal’, started as part of a duo with Ole Man Pappy. Together they did “Brer Anansi and Friends” on Saturdays at the National Library and “Tales, Myths and Legends of Guyana” at the Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology which was in observance of Amerindian Heritage Month. “Janie Gyal started when Mr Khan did his research on Ole’ Man Pappy. Ole’ Man Pappy and Janie Gyal were good friends a really long time ago. They were Guyanese folk authors and storytellers. Upon researching, the things that we found, we decided to indulge in it,” she said. “We just started visiting schools… and most of it was funded from our own pockets.” They have since visited close to 100 schools, appeared at Carifesta in Suriname and Haiti, Guyana Folk Festival in New York, and the Inter-Guianas Cultural Festival in Guyana and Suriname.
To hone her storytelling Natasha enrolled in the National Drama School which aided her in terms of stage movement, directions, how to speak, how to throw her voice and many other things like pronunciation and enunciation. She was among the first batch to complete the Diploma, a two-year course packed into eight months. Her passion saw her giving it her all and being awarded Best Student.
As for her career in journalism, Natasha credits photographer Adrian Narine with giving her the push. She recalled meeting him at her elder brother’s wedding where they chatted and became friends. When Natasha’s daughter celebrated her first birthday, Adrian was in attendance as he was the photographer and she told him she was looking for a job. At the time, he was working at Guyana Times and he told her to apply as they were looking for staff. This was a decade ago. Later, Natasha moved on to News Watch where she met Malika Ramsey who was instrumental in helping her with television producing, how one should conduct oneself and how to present the news.
Sometime later, Natasha went to work at the National Communications Network. After she auditioned, she enthusiastically recalled, Dr Rovin Deodat walked her to the newsroom to Michael Gordon and said he had a staff for him. But she did not stay there long, going back to Guyana Times, before deciding to give broadcasting a try at 93.1 FM. This is the journalism genre in which Natasha found her niche and she has since settled at 104.1 Lite FM, where she is on air from 9 am to 12 noon; she is the host at Mega Minds at MEGA 102.1 for an hour from 3 pm to 4 pm.
Reflecting on a funny thing that occurred while she was on television, Natasha said she was just starting out. “The first time I was on television, I scratched my nose. In the rehearsals I did that and felt so comfortable, that after I didn’t realize that the red light was on. I felt as if it was another rehearsal, so I was just myself and scratched my nose. During the break I burst out into laughter and Malika came and asked what that was about. Mr Khan teases me about that every time he remembers.”
Currently a third-year communications student at UG, Natasha had pursued studies at Global Technology after secondary school and completed a diploma in digital photography and video editing at the Kuru Kuru Cooperative College.
With all that she has going on, Natasha has no social life but said that is not what is important as the time will come for that after she completes her studies. In her limited free time, she catches up with her daughter who lives abroad and on weekends, she gets to sleep in and watch cartoons.
She credits her mother, brother and several of her friends with being her amazing supporters.
“For my daughter, I would like to leave the legacy of never giving up on your education. Education is the best thing that you can give yourself. Always be thirsty for more. There’re so many careers you can choose from. Know your identity. Know who you are… and only then you can know where you are going. Know your country, know your history. For young people I would say, don’t just take anybody else’s word for it but go out there and explore. It may not always be the right thing at that time in the eyes of society but if you feel it’s right and if you want to do it, then go right ahead and do it. It’s either right or wrong, it’ll either be a yes or a no. This is something I’ve come to grasps with when I go for an interview or need to ask somebody for something, it’s either a yes or a no. Nothing to fear but fear itself.
“‘Be who you needed when you were young’. That’s a quote I live by. I’ve been saying that, and I think that will be my forever quote. I can’t recall who said it but I saw it on social media and it has resonated with me because I feel as if that’s my life story that I needed this person at this age at this time in my life but I never got it.”
Natasha wishes that there were more extra-curricular activities in school including theatre arts, agriculture and home economics, subjects she believes should be taught from a tender age. This includes more tours to historical sites. She admitted that it was not until she was 21 years old and working with Guyana Times that she first visited the National Park.
As someone intrigued with cartoons, Natasha has looked into the life of Walt Disney and has nothing but admiration for the man noting that he tried many times to make his dreams a reality. Though nobody believed in him he kept on trying despite being rejected many times. He finally made it but did not live to see Mickey Mouse and how huge Disney has become.
Gandhi’s life is also one she is intrigued by and only wishes that these men were still around, and she could meet them.
Though she no time to indulge in hobbies, Natasha likes watching movies and riding bicycles and now that skydiving is being offered in Guyana, that is something she plans to take up.
At 32 years old today, the Pisces-born artist said that though she has not found herself 100 percent, she has grown immensely and could not be happier.
She loves Chinese cuisine, chicken curry and channa cook-up. Natasha is also an actress with Merundoi
For orders, Natasha can be contacted via the Facebook pages Customized and Traditional Creations or Henna Designs.
