44 Percent: Miami Gardens business owner, Best of the Best, Third Horizon Film Festival
The pandemic ushered in a lot of sorrow: Some of us saw loved ones die, others saw the loss of jobs, and some (I’d venture many of us) are still recovering from the aftermath of it. But some, like Syerra Donaldson, were able to reinvent themselves during lockdown. She managed to turn her growing cooking hobby into a thriving catering business.
Donaldson’s graciousness and humility are evident as she tells the story of her path to business owner and Food Network star to Miami Herald reporter Michael Butler. But what impressed me most was the beautiful community that surrounded and uplifted her on her journey. It’s what we all need when it comes to forging our own paths, and I’m hoping as the summer comes we continue to see more of that love spread around.
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INSIDE THE 305:
How a Miami Gardens therapist turned her pandemic hobby into a catering business
During the pandemic, some people parlayed their hobbies into a full-fledged business. Syerra Donaldson was no exception. The Miami Gardens therapist is the proud owner of catering company, EasyCookinWithSy, and has seen significant success with a win on the Food Network’s “Supermarket Stakeout” and placing third in the quarter finals of celebrity chef Carla Hall’s Favorite Chef contest, Minority Business reporter Michael Butler reported. “The competition was just there to teach me personal development,” Donaldson said. “In the beginning I wasn’t scared, but I was timid. Now my confidence is higher.”
Take a look at the scene at Best of the Best, Miami’s celebration of Jamaican music
Following a two-year hiatus, Caribbean music festival Best of the Best returned to Miami’s Bayfront Park, featuring acts such as Buju Banton, Marcia Griffiths and Beres Hammond, Wayne Wonder and Skinny Fabulous. Miami Herald Haiti correspondent Jacqueline Charles and photographer Sam Navarro shared the sights and songs of the festival, now in its 19th year.
OUTSIDE THE 305:
After last year’s devastating hurricane season, Caribbean nations brace themselves
Last year Hurricane Beryl slammed into the Lesser Antilles and Jamaica during another deadly hurricane season. This year Caribbean nations are preparing for what should be another active hurricane season.
As Charles reported: Between 17 and 19 named storms are being predicted for the 2025 Atlantic Hurricane season, according to the Colorado State University early forecast delivered in April and the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology. The latter is forecasting that nine of 19 named storms are anticipated to become hurricanes, four of them major, once the season starts on June 1.
“Though these forecasts come with some uncertainty, the region must remain vigilant and prepared, as it only takes one storm to cause a significant impact. The likelihood of storms making landfall along the U.S. coastline and within the Caribbean remains high, so we must take every necessary step to ensure the safety of our communities,” said Elizabeth Riley, the executive director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, CDEMA.
Judge delays Miami trial of five men accused of plotting assassination of Haiti’s president
The trial of five men accused of plotting the assassination of Haiti’s president Jovenel Moïse has been pushed back to March 2026. Moïse was killed at his home outside Port-au-Prince in July 2021.
As Charles and fellow reporter Jay Weaver wrote: U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Becerra said at a recent hearing that she was not happy about delaying the federal trial, which was originally set for March and then postponed until September of this year. Becerra said she had no choice but to push it back again because of the massive volume of evidence, including more than 2.5 million text messages, emails and other records, that federal prosecutors are still turning over to the defense lawyers — a basic discovery issue that has turned into a sore point for the judge.
Harvard agrees to relinquish early photos of enslaved people, ending a legal battle
Photographs of enslaved people will be given to the International African American Museum in South Carolina, following a lengthy legal battle. The photos, which are more than 175 years old, had been housed at Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, and are returning to the state where the photographs were taken.
Per the Associated Press: The photos of the subjects identified by Tamara Lanier as her great-great-great-grandfather Renty, whom she calls “Papa Renty,” and his daughter Delia will be transferred from the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology to the International African American Museum in South Carolina, the state where they were enslaved in 1850 when the photos were taken, a lawyer for Lanier said Wednesday.
The settlement ends a 15-year battle between Lanier and the university to release the 19th-century daguerreotypes, a precursor to modern-day photographs. Lanier’s attorney Joshua Koskoff told The Associated Press that the resolution is an “unprecedented” victory for descendants of those enslaved in the U.S. and praised his client’s yearslong determination in pursuing justice for the people she had identified as her ancestors.
HIGH CULTURE:
Third Horizon Film Festival returns
Now in its eighth year, the Third Horizon Film Festival returns to Miami highlighting filmmaking from the Caribbean diaspora. Festivities kick off tonight at the PAMM with “Koutkekout (At All Kosts)“ a documentary set in Haiti that centers on artists holding their own festival as the country faces continued turmoil. An opening reception will follow the screening. Tickets for tonight range from free for children to $18 for adults, tickets for screenings at the Koubek Center Price range from $8 to $15, and festival passes range from $60 to $500.
