Reaching The Caribbean Media Has Never Been Easier

Hard Beat Communications, a New York-based company headed by veteran Caribbean-born journalist and media entrepreneur Felicia Persaud, has launched CaribPR.com, a press release newswire service exclusively targeting the Caribbean market in the U.S. and the region.

According to Persaud, the service is the first one stop-entity that allows individuals, corporations and organizations to target this economically-viable market at an affordable price.

"CaribPR.com serves the same function as the PR Newswire and other services serving the African-American and Hispanic markets. Except it is exclusively for the Caribbean and by Caribbeans,' said Persaud, who also heads Hardbeatnews.com, the only daily Caribbean-American news service in the U.S.

"Persons can simply enter their press releases and photographs, pay a small fee of $100, and have their information disseminated to more than 300 media houses here in the U.S. and the Caribbean,' she said.

Persaud says Hard Beat's aim is to encourage executives –especially those in corporate America – to stretch their diversity dollars further by reaching this dynamic and distinct marketplace, which boasts higher median incomes, higher education levels, higher homeownership levels, and higher employment rates than the African-American community.

Organizations, entertainers and politicians are also encouraged to use the service to reach their respective audiences.

"Too often nationals here in the U.S. are completely unaware of local political leaders or organizations they can turn to for help or information,' said Persaud. "This is mainly because these entities fail to recognize the power of the media and the reason behind disseminating information on their projects or organization.'

She added, "As a Caribbean national, I have a personal understanding of the community that most top non-Caribbean marketing and public relations entities lack. It is why CaribPR.com is your best bet to reach this dynamic marketplace.'

So far, CaribPr has attracted clients such as GTECH Corporation, Ruder Finn PR, the Jamaica Tourist Board and VP Records among other local non-profits and individual organizations.

CaribPR.com joins other Hard Beat services – ImmigrationKorner.com, a weekly column providing answers to readers' immigration questions from qualified attorneys and adovocates.

In the past, Persaud has served as managing editor and assistant editor at several local ethnic publications throughout the city including, The New York Trend, The Caribbean American, The Queens Chronicle, The New York Voice and The Caribbean Times.

Her column, Immigration Korner, which appears in several papers locally and in the region, has been especially well received as has her weekly commentary in the West Indian titled simply, ‘Dis & Dat,' in which she comments on issues making the news.

Persaud is also responsible for editing and gathering the stories that appear in the New York Daily News' ‘Caribbeat In Focus' page.

Her writings also appear constantly in the Haitian Times, the Caribbean Voice, the Caribbean-American Business Journal and the West Indian.

Persaud has appeared as a guest commentator on several national radio shows, including frequently on WLIB's ‘Caribbean at Five,' WBAI's ‘Wake Up Call,' WWRL Radio and on the international show, the BBC Caribbean Report and the ‘Caribbean Swizzle.' She has also been on local cable television shows such as ‘Carinet TV,' and ‘The Caribbean Classroom.'

In the past, Persaud's work has also been carried in the Caribbean Life, Kip Business Report, Black Elegance magazine, InnerCityNews, The Jamaica Gleaner, The African Sun Times, Cricket International, Sky Writings and NOU magazine in the Caribbean region. She has also co-hosted and presented the news on several local radio programs on WRTN and WWRL as well as on the television show, ‘Caribbean Billboard.'

Persaud has also dabbled in politics, serving as PR for the campaign of Bangladeshi-immigrant, Morshed Alam.

She is the winner of a New York Association of Black Journalists Award and two Independent Press Association Award for excellence in writing.

And she served as a ghost-writer for a profile piece that appeared in ‘Souls of My Brother' while her commentary on the Caribbean Single Market Economy is set to be published in the Heinemann Educational textbook, ‘Practice Exercises For CXC.'

In her native Guyana, Persaud was the parliamentary assistant to the one of the country's leading voice in the opposition, Dr. Rupert Roopnarine, and also worked as an assistant radio producer/presenter on the national radio station, GBC; as a reporter for the Guyana Guardian and an account executive for Prime Time Advertising.

Persaud is a graduate of the University of Guyana with a BSC in Social Science and an alumnus of the country's top high school, Queens College. She lives in Queens, NY.