Catalyst Campus: Jamaica’s Premier Hub for Coworking & Innovation

In today’s rapidly evolving global economy, innovation and entrepreneurship are the engines driving growth, job creation and competitiveness. Recognizing this, the Novamed Consulting Group has added Catalyst Campus to their dynamic portfolio. Catalyst Campus is Kingston‘s premier coworking space and innovation hub. I had the pleasure of attending their soft launch last month, so read on to learn everything about this new innovative arena.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle14 Comments

Highlights of Jamaica’s Inaugural Dragon Boat Festival

From May 31 to June 1, 2025, the Grand Excelsior Port Royal Hotel (formerly Morgan’s Harbour) played host to an exhilarating and historic event: Jamaica’s inaugural Dragon Boat Festival. Under a sky veiled by Saharan dust with heat shimmering off the Kingston Harbour, the world’s seventh largest natural harbour, locals and foreigners alike gathered in Port Royal to witness and celebrate the country’s entry into a centuries-old global tradition. It’s always exciting when new events are added to Jamaica’s cultural calendar, so I made the trip to Port Royal to catch a few hours on day 2 of the festival. Here are the history and highlights of this inaugural staging.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle10 Comments

Bob Marley: One Love Movie Premiere (No Spoilers!)

Bob Marley is one of the most famous Jamaicans of all time and his legacy lives on through his family and timeless music. Hailed as the King of Reggae, the Bob Marley: One Love movie celebrates his brief life from the humblest of beginnings in rural Jamaica and his eventual rise to superstardom. The movie was made in partnership with Hollywood producers and his family, and was shot in Jamaica and the UK. I was fortunate to win a fan ticket to this movie premiere via the Jamaica Observer, so here’s a review of the movie launch and why I believe this film is a must-see when it launches on February 14, 2024 in theatres worldwide. No spoilers, I promise!

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle36 Comments

Reggae Month in Jamaica

Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you?

February around the world is a special time for people of African descent, such as myself. We celebrate the achievements of our race and our rich heritage, while pausing to reflect on the atrocities of chattel slavery which our ancestors endured and which interrupted our history for three centuries. However, in Jamaica, February has much more special meaning.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle38 Comments

‘Cyaa Stall’: A Jamaican Dancehall Art Exhibit

Kingston is the capital city of Jamaica, located on the island’s south-eastern coast on one of the world’s largest natural harbours. This vibrant city is home to the most recording studios per capita in the world, and gave rise to six distinct musical genres– namely ska, mento, rocksteady, dub, reggae and dancehall. For this reason, Kingston was awarded UNESCO Creative City status in 2015. Kingston has famous museums which immortalize the origins of our musical genres but our music does not stop there. The Rastafari religion, reggae music and its raunchier cousin dancehall are intimately tied to the fabric of the Jamaican culture and its people. Named for the lyric in artiste Vybz Kartel’s song Dancehall (2015), Cyah Stall is an exhibit which narrates Jamaican dancehall as a musical genre, aesthetic, language and resistance. Here’s why you should catch it if you can.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle19 Comments

Jamaica Rum Festival 2020: Recap & Highlights

Time sure flies when you’re having rum, I mean, fun. 2019 was the inaugural staging of the Jamaica Rum Festival and social media would not let me live it down that I missed it! The pictures looked epic and even my friends and colleagues were speaking about it for days. Thus, I eagerly anticipated the second staging, knowing that the event would be here to stay given all the success it had in its first showcasing and I was not left disappointed. The Caribbean produces some of the world’s best rums and our history is intricately intertwined with the spirit. Rum production dates back from the 17th century on plantations where my enslaved African ancestors toiled to produce this lovely liquor from sugarcane and its by-product molasses, and rum became the region’s chief export product after muscovado sugar.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle30 Comments

The Art Exhibit in Kingston You Need to See: ‘Jamaica, Jamaica’

‘Jamaica, Jamaica!: How Jamaican Music Conquered the World‘ is the latest art exhibit being shown at the National Gallery of Jamaica. It opened on February 2 and closes on June 28, 2020. It’s one of the most exciting exhibits ever launched by this gallery and was aptly opened in February, locally observed as Reggae Month. This exhibit was previously shown at Philharmonie de Paris in 2017 and titled “The General” after the 1985 hit song by artiste Brigadier. Renamed Jamaica, Jamaica! after gracing local shores, this exhibit documents how the tiny Caribbean island of Jamaica was able to become a global musical force to be reckoned with. The capital city of Kingston and venue of the exhibition is recognized as the birthplace of six distinct musical genres which led to Kingston being designated official UNESCO creative city status in 2015.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle15 Comments

Long Walk to Freedom Highlights

Born in the year of ‘Til Shiloh, Buju Banton’s first album released after his conversion to the Rastafari faith, Buju is the reggae legend whose success story my generation has had the honour of witnessing. Us younger folks didn’t grow up under the likes of Bob Marley and Dennis Brown. We grew up instead knowing that life’s Not an Easy Road and learning how to walk like a Champion. Another ghetto youth who showed us that hard work and dedication to one’s craft can elevate one from poverty, Jamaicans everywhere felt disappointed when we heard the news of Buju’s USA DEA charges for conspiracy to distribute and possess cocaine in 2009, especially given that we crooned the lyrics to Driver three years prior.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle19 Comments

Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival, Saint Andrew

Jamaica’s Tourism Linkages Network through the Ministry of Tourism is on to something big with this one. The inaugural Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival is a three-day weekend affair with the main event taking place on Saturday March 24 at the cool historic military training centre of Newcastle in the Blue & John Crow Mountains National Park (BJCMNP).

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle10 Comments

Liguanea Art Festival, Saint Andrew

Aptly called the artbeat of Jamaica, the annual Liguanea Art Festival (LAF) is the Caribbean’s largest. This festival showcases upcoming talent alongside local veterans in photography, painting, ceramics, jewellery and sculpture since its 2005 inception. Hosted by June and Tony Wong, a Jamaican couple which shares a passion for the arts, LAF has evolved into a household name with 2017 being its biggest yet. This year featured more than 110 artists, some of whom are widely celebrated and have traversed the Jamaican and international art landscape.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle4 Comments