Candice Veerasammy
The Carnival Queen
Candice Veerasammy, 39, was born in Trinidad and Tobago, who she later represented as the Miss Trinidad and Tobago Queen in 1998. Designing her dress for the competition gave her a certain joy that comes with personal achievement, and became one of her most memorable moments. Switching gears from design to dance, Candice performed professionally for major acts such as N’Sync, Pink, LL Cool J, and D’Angelo. “This opportunity led me to do world tours and TV appearances on Saturday Night Live and B.E.T” to name a few. In connection with the love of her culture, she created the Carnival Soul Network, “a company that is made up of artist’s and creators who deeply care about and promote the Afro-Caribbean Carnival festivals.” A product of this network is “transformational Carnival-inspired workshops in which I taught and created at New York’s Grand Concourse House after school program in the Bronx and the Black Repertory Theater Summer Camp in Providence, Rhode Island.” Candice always leads a team of beauty professionals with ‘Carnival Queen Beauty’ on the day of Carnival to perform affordable beauty services and treatments for the dancers. Candice believes her Trinbagonian heritage has influenced probably 99% of everything she has done. “My heritage is the most amazing thing. I love my country and my heritage, it is a melting pot of people with the ability to create unity out of anything. That’s how we choose to live…it’s the most amazing thing.”
