Ingrid Riley
Founder of Rebel Grrl Media
Ingrid Riley / Photography by Craig Harley
Ingrid Riley’s second burnout was the turning point. Having spent 15 years growing her Caribbean tech blog into SiliconCaribe, a media and events brand that kickstarted the tech start-up scene in Jamaica, the entrepreneur dubbed the “Caribbean Tech Queen” needed a break.
“I’d been treating a marathon like a sprint,” she says. “I had to stop, assess and get myself back.” She decided to take a year’s sabbatical and quickly realised what she wanted to do on the other side. Her vision was for a new media platform that, like SiliconCaribe, would connect people around content and events, but this time with an even bigger mission.
Launched last year, Rebel Grrl Media aims to reflect and amplify what Ingrid describes as the new Caribbean. ”The Caribbean has been changing a lot over the last 15 years,” she says. “It’s becoming digital, more inclusive, embracing its edges like cannabis and falling in love with itself again.”
But the region is rarely portrayed in global media as more than a holiday destination, the home of swaying palm trees, ganja-smoking Rastas, and pristine beaches. “These old narratives are too narrow and no longer serve us,” says Ingrid. “We’ve got to create our own content that shows who we are and how we think, because there are certain nuances that are beautiful and need to be explored.”
“Not all Jamaicans run fast, smoke weed or hang out on the beach all the time. I want to reflect back to ourselves and to the rest of the world a full-bodied and multi-dimensional Caribbean image.”
She’s not the only person thinking this way, as a broader movement looking to challenge stereotypes about the Caribbean is gaining momentum. “I’m seeing a trend where each Caribbean nation is fully understanding what they do best and what they want to do best,” says Ingrid.
“While the shift is partly being driven by government initiatives like the Development Bank of Jamaica’s Mentors for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Programme (MIEP), it is mostly coming from the ground up and the SiliconCaribe community over the last 10 years made me see that clearly.”
Now an increasing number of entrepreneurs across the region are innovating and starting businesses leveraging technology. In 2018, for example, seven Caribbean countries submitted more than 100 ideas for natural disaster relief software, as part of the Global Call for Code challenge. Covid-19 has only intensified the trend, illustrated by the MIEP’s recently launched first cohort of start-ups, which span markets from virtual reality to healthcare.
As young people in the Caribbean in particular have been using the internet and travelling around the world, Ingrid believes they have realised the impact of American and British influence on the region. “Internet and travel have demystified power and the standards that people want to hold us to, as if being American or British is better than being Jamaican,” she says. “In fact we are very proud to be Jamaican, Trinidadian and Bajan. Now we’re putting that first, and everybody else second and third.”
Whether it’s through a website, podcast or event, Ingrid hopes that Rebel Grrl Media will help people in the Caribbean feel seen, protected and embraced. “I want to change the game in the Caribbean media, so that it has a positive impact on people’s lives,” she says. “I want to show where we are going and that is beyond the beach.”
Interview by Kate Hollowood
