FROM THE TIME she was a little girl growing up in the suburbs of England, Nathalya Peters had always wanted to become a television presenter. She always dreamt of this choice of career because of the numerous opportunities it offered her to inspire, reach out to and educate people.
Today, Peters, who migrated to Barbados ten years ago, is a prominent radio announcer, administrator and programme assistant at Starcom Network. She is known for her popular Sister Sister programme, which she uses as a forum to empower women.
And according to this 36-year-old, there are not enough local documentaries being produced by the local media community. This is why she has established the One Love media services company to produce documentaries on local culture, social issues and women’s issues, among others.
During an interview with the MIDWEEK NATION, this Grazettes, St Michael resident explained what attracted her “to this powerful tool called the media” and why she believed producing more local documentaries was significant to the island.
“I grew up in England being a part of the minority. I remember I used to sit and watch television and when I saw a black face, I would get so excited. In those days people like Trevor McDonald would be the only black man you would see on TV. He was the first famous black news reader in London . . . I grew up seeing a lot of documentaries made by BBC [British Broadcasting Corporation] that were focused on black people . . . I just wanted to do it myself now. If they can tell my story, I don’t see why I can’t tell my story.”
Peters continued: “As soon as someone else tells it, it’s our story to someone else’s eye. We need to be the presenters, we need to be the producers, we need to be the videographers, we need to have the film company, we need to have the television company. . . .
“Right now in terms of media, the one thing that is international is television or film. So if you want to get your message on an international level and the product is of an international standard, there is nothing stopping you,” said Peters, who holds a degree in drama, theatre and television studies from the King Alfred’s College, Winchester.
And while this mother of two who has always been interested in the word “why” does not want to be controversial, she predicts that documentaries can be the answer to a lot of whys in Barbados.
“I would really like to start making films about social issues, about people from here. A lot of people here say that when Barbadians return to Barbados from England that they come back mad . . . I would like to know why people say that. Because if you really study it, a lot of people leave here and go to England where they meet a completely different culture and they might be living somewhere that there is no other black people.
“I came here without any family or friends and many times I used to feel like I was going to go mad because sometimes you feel like an alien . . . . If I go to the gas station and ask for petrol they look at me like I’m speaking a foreign language . . . I’m at the pump and my thing is open – what else can I want?” she queried.
This WEDNESDAY WOMAN pointed out that the documentaries she would like to produce would help to educate the “nation’s people about simple, historical stories that they have never heard about before”.
“I still want to know what this thing is with Jackie Opel,” she said. “They tell me that Jackie Opel started spouge in Barbados, then he left here and went to Jamaica and basically that beat is the beat of reggae. So why can’t I sit down and watch a documentary about Jackie Opel and his contribution to reggae music on Discovery Channel?
“I want to highlight the historical Garrison, the environment, the marine life and things that would sell to overseas television companies.
“We are in the Caribbean and there is marine life here that is nowhere else in the world. There is fauna and flora in Barbados that is nowhere else in the world,” said the radio announcer, adding “but all of these plans need funding”.
