Caribbean Facts & Trivia

Three-time Food Network Chopped champion — first Jamaican-born and youngest chef ever to compete in the Chopped Champions tournament (age 27, 2016); finalist in Chopped Grand Champions Season 5; culinary ambassador for the Rockhouse Foundation (builds schools in Jamaica); personal chef to Bruce Springsteen; featured in New York Times, Bon Appétit, Food & Wine; published My Jamaican Table (Artisan Books, 2026); graduate of HEART Trust Academy (Kingston) and Culinary Institute of America; born in Kingston, Jamaica

Journalist and democracy activist; Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought 2010; survived lengthy hunger strikes

Tony Award winner, Best Choreography, Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations (2019) — first Hispanic/Latino in Broadway history to win the Tony Award for Best Choreography; Olivier Award winner, Best Theatre Choreographer, Memphis (2015, London); Tony Award nominee for On Your Feet! (2016, Gloria and Emilio Estefan musical); in 2011 became one of a handful of choreographers to have four shows running simultaneously on Broadway (Jersey Boys, Memphis, The Addams Family, Next to Normal); Jersey Boys continues to run globally across Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Americas; first choreographer invited to serve as a voting member of the American Theatre Wing's advisory committee for the Tony Awards; named one of the Top 100 Colombians in the world by President Juan Manuel Santos; born in Cali, Colombia; raised in Toronto, Canada

World weightlifting champion (1997); Colombia national team captain; Pan American Games gold medalist

Shuri in Marvel's Black Panther (2018) — the highest-grossing superhero film by a Black director at the time ($1.35B global); reprised role in Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) as lead; 2019 BAFTA Rising Star Award; Emmy-nominated for Black Mirror episode 'Black Museum' (2017); SAG Award as part of Black Panther ensemble; starred in Steve McQueen's Small Axe anthology (2020); honorary doctorate from University of Guyana (2022); born in Georgetown, Guyana; moved to London at age 7

Coined the phrase 'Black Power' (1966) — term that launched a global political movement; Chairman of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee); prime minister of the Black Panther Party; first political figure to publicly link U.S. civil rights to African liberation; born in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad

Co-founder and CEO of Jet.com — sold to Walmart for $3.3B in 2016, the largest US e-commerce acquisition at that time; previously sold Diapers.com to Amazon for $545M (2011); two $500M+ exits in five years — the only entrepreneur to achieve that in e-commerce; father from Trinidad and Tobago

U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Florida (1997); Chief Judge 2009–2016 of one of the busiest federal courts in the U.S.; born in Barranquilla, Colombia — one of the highest-ranking Colombian-born jurists in US federal history

WBC super lightweight boxing world champion 2009; first Costa Rican woman boxing world champion

Miss Universe 2002; born in Panama City; first Panamanian to win Miss Universe