Queen Majeeda

Queen Majeeda was born in St. Andrew, Jamaica. She started writing songs at the age of 15 and has since written poems, short stories and plays. Her work covers global political issues. The name Majeeda is West African and means "noble" or "glorious." She attended Merl Grove High School and the University of the West Indies where she pursued courses in Small Business Management, Article Writing and Creative Writing.

Queen Majeeda released her first CD Conscious through the Massachusetts based company Heartbeat Records. She has performed her poetry in Jamaica and the United States of America, and was a nominee for the Jamaica Music Industry (JAMI) Award. Performing events include Reggae Sunsplash, Jamaica; Jamaica Council for Human Rights Concert, Jamaica; SOBs, New York; Nuyorican Poet's Café, New York; Lotus Music Festival, Bloomington, IN; Indiana University, IN, and Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago, IL. Her poems are included in the anthologies Utterances and Incantations: Women, Poetry and Dub (Sister Vision Press), and Voices, a poetry and fiction volume published by York College's Literary Forum.

Majeeda holds a Master of Arts degree in International Relations (2008) from City College of the City University of New York (CUNY). Her thesis is titled The Caribbean Court of Justice: How Important Is It to the Success of the CARICOM Single Market Economy? She also earned a Bachelor of Arts in English with an emphasis in Journalism, and minors in French and Spanish (2004) from York College of the City University of New York (CUNY).

She entered and won second place in the York College Foreign Language Poetry Contest in 2003 when she performed French poet and singer, Boris Vian's Le DĂ©serteur (The Deserter), an anti-war and anti-militarist song.

Majeeda also worked as a Journalist for the Queens Tribune in New York where she wrote mainly for the African-American newspaper, Southeast Queens Press. She also served as News Editor and Reporter for Pandora's Box, the newspaper of York College. She received the Distinguished Achievement in Journalism Award from York College and shared the New York Press Association Award for News Reporting with her colleagues at the Queens Tribune.

Queen Majeeda is listed in Who's Who in Jamaican Arts and Entertainment.