By Lakhram Bhagirat
When we think about Soca music in Guyana, we are immediately transported to the festivities around Mashramani time with the hosting of the Soca Monarch competition and when we think about local female Soca artistes, one name immediately comes to mind. If you say Melissa Roberts, very few may recognise who we are talking about, but just whisper Vanilla and there is a frenzy.
Very few people can be immediately recognised by just one name so that in itself is an accomplishment for Vanilla. Quite often the word vanilla is associated with boring or just ordinary, but there is nothing ordinary or boring about Vanilla when she hits the stage.
The West Coast Berbice native was given the name Vanilla by her boyfriend a few years ago and like glue it stuck and followed her. It is a name she is now grateful for because it is associated with all her accomplishments as a multi-talented individual.
Being from the country, Vanilla was always active. She was not the typical girl who would be at home playing with her dolls or playing dress up, rather she would run with the boys. She would escape into the back dam and pick coconuts. You would find her swimming in the trenches until her skin colour changed, eyes became bloodshot and like every little child she had the remedy to conceal her supposed rule breaking. Sh and her friends would find the right kind of ‘bush’ to try and hide their wrongdoings. To this day, she cherishes those memories. 
If someone asks for a single word to describe Vanilla, then without a doubt ‘multi-talented’ comes to mind. Before she ventured into singing, Vanilla had and still has a deep unexplainable connection with the drums and following her love for that she became a dancer. An accomplished one to be exact. Additionally, she is a trained classical pianist.
“My musical style can be described as different. Even though I sing Soca, it’s always been unique. I’m Guyanese to the marrow and because of that, my music will always be influenced by the Guyanese flavour. Of recent I have been working on a different cultural style influenced by an arranger from Belize and my Guyanese writers which seems to create a blend that people are connecting to,” she said. 
Ever since she entered the music scene in 2005, Vanilla has been a constant in every aspect. She is quite often referred to as the Road March Queen since she has copped the title more than any other female artiste.
For Mashramani 2007, she recorded the song “Queen of the Band”, which won the Road March competition beating the reigning Soca Monarch that year and 30 others. This was a significant achievement since that was her first year in that competition. In 2009, she placed second at the annual Carib Soca Monarch competition with the song “Rude” and also regained her title as Queen of the Road.
In 2010, she once again placed second at the Soca Monarch competition and remained undefeated as the Queen of the Road, making her the only female artiste in Guyana to have won the title three times. After taking a break from the competition for a few years, she returned in 2014 and once again captured the Road March title. In 2017, her song “Mash Up De Place” ruled the road, making her queen once again.
This year, she is already burning up the local airwaves with the track “One Voice”. According to her, “One Voice” was a reaction to the racial divide that our country experiences daily.
Apart from singing and performing, Vanilla is also the Manager of the Kross Kolor Recording Studio. She is also a fitness instructor and talented film maker. Over the years, she has produced more than 25 music videos. She graduated from the University of Guyana with a certificate in Television Production in 2009. In July 2011, she had written the best screenplay and graduated at the top of her class from the University of the West Indies Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination in the field of Motion Picture Arts. Apart from directing and editing music videos, she became the second assistant director on a feature film and a sizzle reel filmed in Barbados titled “Sweet Bottom” and “Bajan Blue” respectively. In 2014, she became the production manager on the international film “A Bitter Lime” directed by Max De Bowen. (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)
