Dear World,

You know me as The Suburban Girl JA®, but I sometimes double as an everyday person – sometimes. In other worlds, I’m known as a writer and journalist – an award-winning climate journalist at that. They’re not attributes I reference a lot on this platform, but today’s writing prompt has forced my hand 🤭.

*waits for anticipated shocked or piqued interest response*

I know, right!? Yes, it’s true!

When I spotted the daily writing prompt, I said to myself, “pssshhhh, this is easy”. However, instead of following the instructions given, I’ll give you highlights of a few of my favourite published works.

So, I suppose today’s entry is a humble brag. Come pop my collar!

The Time I Interviewed a US Open Theme Artist

I recently interviewed Melissa Koby – the theme artist for the 2025 US Open. There were some technical difficulties on my part, but we powered through, and I produced an amazing (saying this totally biased because it’s me 🤭) write-up with its home on the Global Voices platform. Melissa shared her experience as an artiste, what it means to be the theme artist for the 2025 US Open under the theme of “75 Years of Breaking Barriers” with Althea Gibson as the focal point. Here’s a pull quote from the piece:

Admitting that she didn’t “fully understand” who Gibson was until she became involved in the theme art project, Koby said, “I knew of Venus and Serena, Sloane Stephens, even Billie Jean King, but learning that Althea was the foremother of their journeys? That’s major. I get to be a pinpoint in her story, and that feels like the real honour.”
Koby, who operates like a storyteller first, centres her subjects before anything else: “I try not to indulge in pride. This honour was bestowed on me. After Althea gets [to] shine and after the US Open is done, then I’ll sit and say, ‘Yes, I did that.’”

Candice Stewart, Global Voices, August 20, 2025
Melissa Koby becomes first Black US Open theme artist, and honours Althea Gibson by channelling her own Jamaican grandmother

The Time I Interviewed Women Impacted by Climate-Induced Period Poverty – The Article Won an Award!

Back in 2023, I was selected for a cohort of the Climate Tracker Caribbean Climate Justice Journalism Fellowship. There, I wrote a series of pieces but found passion at the intersection of climate change and period poverty. With that, I wrote two articles on the topic with the second more focused on the lived experiences in Jamaica and the twin-island republic of Trinidad & Tobago. I interviewed three ladies and summarised our conversations with applied context from the first article where I interviewed and referenced other stakeholders who are directly and indirectly part of the discussion.

A few months after publication, I submitted the article to the inaugural Caribbean Climate Journalism Awards in the Best Story category. I was one of two winners!

Here’s one of my favourite parts:

Fraser explained that households with girls and women “have to do what we have to do” to practice menstrual hygiene management amidst little to no potable water. This is compounded by the fact that many people within the community do not have a steady income, and they are reticent to take the risk to fetch the water themselves given the crime situation in certain neighbouring communities. She continued, “At times, it’s hard to the point where some people have to use half a bucket of water, or way less than they normally would, to clean up. As Jamaicans say, ‘We clean up the possibles.’”

Candice Stewart, Climate Tracker, August 2025
A look at period poverty experiences in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago

The Time I Did a Quick Survey about Water Scarcity and its Impact on Menstruators

A few months ago, I drafted a small-scale survey asking Caribbean women about their experiences with water scarcity and its impact on their periods. The reason I did this was to meet some requirements for a short-term storytelling program I applied to and was selected for. So, though I technically didn’t interview anyone for this piece, the survey captured participants’ voices, and I was able to make my article more wholesome by doing this.

I must admit that writing this piece triggered a desire to go much deeper into the world of climate change and periods. I’m even considering an academic deep dive. Fun fact: I’ve been talking and writing about periods on the blog for a hot minute! I got even more serious about it when a cruel human told me that period stories don’t matter. He lied. They do.

Here’s one of my favourite parts of this write-up was a bit difficult, but here it is:

with a total of 16 respondents, 11 of them or 68.8 per cent said that not enough dialogue and action takes place on the matter of menstrual hygiene as it intersects climate events like droughts and storms. While describing how they feel, all participants indicated some level of discomfort during periods of water scarcity while menstruating. They used words like, “nasty”, “embarrassed”, and “self conscious”. 
Their stories echo what the data shows: that water scarcity forces difficult choices, that dignity is rationed, and that menstruation becomes a monthly crisis shaped by silence and shame. 

Candice Stewart, 350 Caribbean Climate Network, August 4, 2025
Blood and Water: Menstrual Hygiene and Climate Conversations

The Times I’ve Interviewed Women to Feature on the Blog

I’d rather not flood you with any more of my works, but I’ve interviewed many folks – even some for ‘Features’ section of this blog where I mostly feature women entrepreneurs, their work, and the lessons they’ve learned along their journeys. These include:

Lisa-Gaye Shakespeare’s Travel Lessons in which she’s quoted as saying:

“Understanding the power of community is something I learned mostly through travelling… when you’re able to build community with people, it enriches the overall experience for everybody.”

Jamaican Roots, Global Routes: Lisa-Gaye Shakespeare’s Travel Lessons

Racquel Vernon’s Path to Educational Success in which she references her grandmother:

“If my grandmother had her way, I would have completed my degree a long time ago, before I turned 30,” Racquel reminisced. “She was an educator herself and always guided me towards getting an education. When I decided to go into teaching, she mapped out my entire academic journey—bachelor’s, master’s, and then the doctorate.”

Guided by Legacy: Racquel Vernon’s Path to Educational Excellence

In a nutshell full of links and multiple stories about people and things, that’s my response to the prompt today. Thanks to the big and little helpers behind our many WordPress blogs who think of these solutions to writer’s block. This one was fun!

I’m not sure what to expect in terms of feedback, but if you’re led to leave a comment, I can’t wait to read and engage with you!

Signed with love,

The Suburban Girl JA®