Corie Sheppard Podcast

Episode 252 | Shira Mohammed

• Corie Sheppard

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From Milan to Arena, from Synergy Soca Star to the founding of Trinidad & Tobago Restaurant Week — Shira Mohammed’s story is one of grit, creativity, and culture. In this episode, we trace her unlikely journey from a love child in Italy to becoming the driving force behind one of the country’s biggest culinary festivals. Shira opens up about the hustle behind Restaurant Week, the parallels with Carnival, the challenges of sponsorship, and her vision to brand Trinidad & Tobago as the culinary capital of the Caribbean. Along the way, we also revisit Synergy Soca Star, Fireball’s breakthrough, the rise of influencers in food culture, and her deep personal journey balancing heritage, culture shock, and passion

0:00 Intro & Restaurant Week origins

7:40 Dates & growth over 13 years

13:40 Why September: slow season strategy

20:00 Branding T&T as culinary capital

26:00 Street food, COVID pivot & takeaway model

33:00 Influencers, bloggers & restaurant marketing

39:30 Growing up in Italy & moving to Trinidad

51:00 Arena village culture shock

1:01:00 Lakshmi Girls & finding identity

1:11:00 Early jobs & discovering marketing

1:18:00 Synergy Soca Star & Fireball breakthrough

1:28:00 Corporate events → Restaurant Week vision

1:39:00 The future of Restaurant Week

Corie:

Conversation start. Conversation start. That means start the conversation or these instructions. Hi, which camera looking on? Hi, my name is Corey. And today I'm here with Rest Tr Trinidad. Let me get this right. Drinking wine, right? Trinidad and Tobago restaurant week founder, Shaira Mohammed.

David:

That's right.

Corie:

How we do we get everything right?

Shira:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's good. That's good. That's good.

Corie:

Not bad at all. How are you going, Shaira? You're right. Very good. Thank you. You're good. You're having a good day.

Shira:

A fantastic day.

Corie:

Yeah, we intend to keep. Yeah, oh, yeah, look at it. That's what that's all it takes.

Shira:

That's all it takes, boy. One little cup.

Corie:

So this time we're running into restaurant week is one of those times. I have to tell you before we start, right? That when I'm around culinary people like yourself and David Wares and these things, I'm in I'm in deep waters. Food for me is sustenance. I eat whatever is close by, wherever is available. And I also do this thing where no matter what restaurants I go to, the first thing I ordered when I went there is what I will order for the rest of my life. I'm not changing anything.

Shira:

You're not adventurous.

Corie:

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. And I also do this thing where if four of us go to dinner, I'll order last.

Shira:

Right.

Corie:

So I could pick one of all you think. Whatever tree all you order, I'll just pick one of these three.

Shira:

David, we need to spice up his life. Listen, listen, other people need to start ordering for you.

Corie:

This one is bad. If you order for me, there are a few things that I don't eat. So wherever people order, I'll just eat that.

David:

Wow.

Corie:

Yeah. So imagine my quandary when I go to a restaurant during restaurant week where I will just order omelets every single time. And then I see all the menu. I was like, oh, this is going number one, two, or three.

Shira:

But listen, that is why we have restaurant week. So that you can get you can get your menus beforehand. Right. And you could sit down at home at nighttime before you go to sleep, just browsing in menu and see if anything tickles your fancy, you know. Got it. Like if you want eggs, fine, but you have like a hundred ways of having eggs.

Corie:

Yeah, go and get there.

Shira:

You know, go check out which one you want to try.

Corie:

Understand. This is what my wife's probably doing again. Set up on the time I'd be inclined for.

Shira:

Yeah. This and this and that.

Corie:

So how's he planning? How's he planning leading up to it this year?

Shira:

Boys, rough.

Corie:

Yeah.

Shira:

Yeah. Every year is rough. All right. Because it's a very small team that we work with.

Corie:

Right.

Shira:

Yeah. So it's, you know, a lot of times people don't know the size of our engine room. And they think that behind closed doors there's a whole company.

Corie:

You would think so. But it's not.

Shira:

It's like about four of us.

Corie:

Really? But you'll get another thing of this magnitude. Like I hear you refer to this as a culinary festival. It is. Yeah.

Shira:

Yeah. Because, okay, Carnival. This is the food of Carnival. Right? So it's a festival. And it is a festival because people, trainees like their belly. Yeah, that's true. So when they go out and they eat a happy and merry.

unknown:

Yeah.

Shira:

That's the equivalent of jumping up in a party or jumping up on the road. You just are so satiated, so satisfied. But it's fantastic meal that you just had. Gotcha. You know, that you feel that same euphoria you would feel on you know during carnival.

Corie:

Yeah, like on the road. Yeah. Yeah. So that part is the part where restaurant we give sketch me every year, right? Because uh yeah, the excitement. The food is secondary to me almost. It's like, but I do like the feeling of when I travel. We my wife and I we in Miami often, and when you go to a restaurant on a Friday night, it's about energy.

David:

Yes.

Corie:

And I find that sometimes here you don't get that same outside of the avenue and a few places, you don't get that same feel. But I would say that during restaurant week you find that it's full, it's buzzing, everybody has energy.

Shira:

Because people come out with the energy. Yes, you know, so there are many things that put together uh you know that contribute towards an experience at a restaurant, and which is why it's called restaurant week, right? So it's not about dining outside of a restaurant, it's about dining in the restaurant, yeah. And you have ambience, you know, from the moment you reach the venue where you're parking. You know, so from that point, it's an entire experience. So you park, you get an easy park. You feel like uh you walk inside, you see a little mirror, you fix yourself.

Corie:

Some gender, some gender.

Shira:

Then you know, you then you are seated. So all of a sudden you're being treated fancy. Right. You know, so you're seated, you get to choose what table you want, you know, table outside, table inside, air conditioned, water condition, whatever the case may be. You're seated, you sit down, sometimes they even pull the chair for you, put a napkin on your lap. I mean, you you're literally spoiled. And then you're presented with the menu. And I mean, I I don't know if it's the same for you, but for me, at that point, I am like, I just literally zone into the menu. Anything could be happening around me, forks could be flying, and I'm just like menu. Yeah, because I am now reading through this menu because I want to make sure and choose the right thing. Quite often, if I frequent a place over and over, I would kind of have already gone through the menu and I know exactly what I want. But if I'm trying something new, which is what happens during restaurant week, yeah, I really sit down and break it apart. And I try to figure out what ingredients they would have used and how it's prepared and how it's going to be presented. And then, I mean, so choosing my meal is a job by itself. So I need to be focused.

Corie:

Yeah. And asking if our friend, right? But do you do this thing where you order something and then your husband orders something else, but you really want to know your husband orders? So when it reaches your eaters' thing?

Shira:

Of course.

Corie:

Okay, all right. Let's check it. Let's check it with me alone.

Shira:

That's why, you know, I would order my food and your food and everybody's food. Yeah, because just imagine the quandary, right? Right. I'm presented on the menu, but I want three of the appetizers.

David:

Yeah.

Shira:

How are you gonna do that? Are you gonna look greedy if I order three appetizers? So you lobby not the table? You should have the other. You should definitely have the other appetizer. Yeah, you know, and when it lands, you know, I'll say, Would you like to try some of mine?

Corie:

Right.

Shira:

And then I will say mine if I have some of yours.

Corie:

This is this is no bueno, no bueno. That's not good at all. But yeah, I understand what you mean with the experience. Uh, I have the opposite uh experience with the menu. As soon as the menu reaches get confused. Like I said, reading or something it just looks like a lot happening at the time. So I was just listening for what other people. Well, on the next table, I listening to what I'm order, watch what somebody else gets and take it like that.

Shira:

You know, what I like to do as well is I like to ask the waiters for recommendations. Can you, you know, can you explain what this is? Um, because sometimes, of course, they have really fancy words. You know, we are not all born with information in our heads, you know, about the menus, you know, we do or it's something that you learn.

David:

Right.

Shira:

So I ask a lot of questions. Sometimes I even ask for the chef and say, Well, can you say, can you tell me exactly what this is? Because you know, I'm wondering if blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. How is it prepared? You know? So I ask a lot of questions. And they probably think that I'm a little bit miserable, but I do it, I mean, I do do it with curiosity. You know, I'm I'm like I'm really interested in knowing how it's prepped and what's and the ingredients and whatever. And then I make my choice. But you see, all of that, all of that interaction with these servers, all of that is part of your experience. Um, so which adds to the whole festival and the festivity of restaurant week. Because not only people go in excited, but the the staff is also very excited. Sometimes the poor souls are also overworked. Of course. Right. But they go in because it's, you know, it's very jam in, they jam in, they jam in, they jam in.

Corie:

Yeah. I enjoy the comparison to Carnival for that reason. Now that you say it, it does feel more like a festival than just uh a discount on a menu. Yeah. So what are the dates for 2025?

Shira:

Uh so this year we try to, every year we have restaurant week in September.

Corie:

Right.

Shira:

And we try to incorporate the last weekend. So after PD. I see. Right. So this year we have 26th of September for 10 days. So that takes you to the 5th of October.

Corie:

Gotcha.

Shira:

So two weekends and the weekend in the middle.

Corie:

Yeah, like I like the way you set up the dates, you know, because you give us one weekend while them children are still home. And then next weekend with them in school or something, we can go and do, we can do something. They push it back. Yes. Oh, that's why this man was home this morning. I understand. I don't pay attention. So, how long have you been doing it? I see in 13 years.

Shira:

This is your well, actual event time is 13 years, but I've been I was planning it for two years and not before that.

Corie:

Really?

Shira:

Yeah. So I was I'm working on Restaurant Week for 15 years now.

Corie:

So two years to plan it out.

Shira:

Two years. Yeah, it was it was a little rough. Yeah. And I was doing this really on my own, you know. So I needed to consult at restaurants, I needed to consult with potential sponsors.

David:

Right.

Shira:

I needed to speak to people to see what they want. Because back then, 15 years ago, trainees were not too much. I mean, trainees love their belly and they love food. Right. But they were more home cook style. Uh gotcha. Right. 15 years ago, where you're getting a good meal, home by mommy. You know, you're going home for your Sunday meal.

Corie:

Yeah. Seeing that change or it's changing now. Right.

Shira:

So I had to really pick, you know, pick people's brains and try and figure out exactly how this thing is gonna work. Because it happens in Jamaica, and of course, we kind of modeled ours against this, right? But really and truly not so because it was just a concept, you know. So I wrote only concept and then started breaking it apart. How is that gonna work and try and that?

David:

Yeah.

Shira:

And um, so yeah, so for two years I dined out in Jamaica.

Corie:

So you went and Jamaica and local markets. It needs to be located. Yeah, yeah.

Shira:

So I dined out, I met with chefs, um, I spoke to people, I spoke to potential sponsors, and I kind of had to develop a blueprint that would work for everyone.

David:

Right.

Shira:

Which is why Restaurant Week, you know, fast forward 13 years after my first one, um, now it's like so popular because it really hits home. You know, it's good for it's good for the diners. People love it, it's a fantastic event. It really works for them. Okay, it works for the restaurants because you know, I charge them way too little.

Corie:

Yeah. Okay, gotcha.

Shira:

So yeah, so restaurants do pay a participation fee, but it's really literally a contribution.

Corie:

Understood.

Shira:

It covers nowhere near my costs per restaurant, right? But so they contribute, but that gives them a a lot more elbow room to be able to put together a menu that's affordable for everyone. And that needed to happen.

Corie:

So to get people to come out, I suppose.

Shira:

I mean, I could be greedy and say, Well, you pay me more money, and then you know, forget them, just you know, sure, just give them whatever. But then it wouldn't work.

Corie:

Of course.

Shira:

You know, because people wouldn't come out.

Corie:

Yeah, my reference point is that same Jamaica.

Shira:

Yes.

Corie:

I lived in Jamaica for a couple of years. Oh, you did? Yeah, and um restaurant week hits home for me. You talk more hits home because I remember them talking about restaurant. I have no idea what the concept is. Again, keep in mind, my food is simplicity, right? Whoever is closest by, they will get my money. And then this restaurant thing, it was a huge buzz around restaurant week and stuff. And I had a friend at the time, she's like, let's go to this restaurant, let's go. And me and study no reservation, and I believe there was a place called Max Chop House, if I remember right. And I was like, Well, let's just go. It is impossible. Restaurant week to walk into the best restaurants there, you need the reservations, so they start taking reservations before the week runs, of course. Just to be able to accommodate everybody. So, and then the traffic around Kingston, the buzz around it and so on. So, when I saw Restaurant Week here, I was like, hey, this is gonna be all I don't understand what this is. This is the greatest thing ever. But I remember in the initial years, at least from my memory, it wasn't that widespread participation. How much restaurants do you have on board now?

Shira:

Uh last year we had a hundred.

Corie:

A hundred?

Shira:

Yes, across Trinidad and Tobago.

Corie:

Right. And you started off with how many when you first say how much you get?

Shira:

18. 15, yes. Yeah, restaurants were looking at me like that, mad. She's serious. She what she feels she's gonna do, you know, how she feels she can make us money in September. Yeah. The slowest month of the year.

Corie:

Well, you see September would typically be slow for restaurants.

Shira:

So that is why we chose September. Understand. Right? So in my conversations at restaurants, I kept asking the question over and over when do you think it should be, you know, at what time of year?

David:

Right.

Shira:

And quite a few people said, well, you know, the busiest time of year is such and such, you know, it will work for sure if you do it then. And then a lot of restaurants said, Well, if you're crazy enough to do something like this, put it at a time of year where restaurants are typically slow. And when you do that, what happens is for us, it will make sense if it does work. So there were a lot, a lot of ifs, right? So times of year where restaurants are typically slow, believe it or not, summer.

Corie:

Summer.

Shira:

Yeah.

Corie:

Because people travel and zero. Oh god it.

Shira:

And then, of course, um, well, September. September was the slowest month of the year.

Corie:

Yeah, back to school money done spend all entire schools.

Shira:

Nobody's lining out in September.

Corie:

Okay.

Shira:

You know, everyone has just finished spending all their money for summer. Parents are focused on back to school.

David:

Yeah.

Shira:

Everybody back to the grind, traffic start back. You ain't wanna go nowhere. You want to be off the streets. Got it. And um, so so yes, and then of course, that that's a prelude to Christmas. So that's a little lull, right? So September, October is a little.

Corie:

So your first two years, you're convincing restaurants of mutual benefit. You're trying to get them, get their buy-in.

Shira:

Yes. So I had to choose a time of year that was typically slow. I had a lot of faith in the event and the program, um, because I know how much work I put into it, and I know I took a lot of different factors into consideration. So I was certain it was gonna do well, right? And I was just asking restaurants, please give me a chance, let us do it, and let us prove a point. Let's see if it works. You know, if it doesn't work after you're too fine, you know, but prove me wrong.

Corie:

And um like when you talk about that, I'm thinking song impossible to me. So you literally have your team, you're going, I will assume it's you and you you and you begin it was just me. I'm sure. And you go in knocking on doors trying to convince them about the concept.

Shira:

Yeah, so I'll go and dine at a restaurant, but of course, I it it helped that I have a chef in my family.

Corie:

I see.

Shira:

Um, so Khaled Mohammed is my cousin. Oh, I should have figured this out.

Corie:

I should have put two and two together. Yeah, this is like poor Khaled.

Shira:

I was constantly, Khaled, do you think this will work? And how do you think this is gonna work? And and oh my god, and you know, he doesn't mean swits, right? So he's like, nah, that shit. You know, not I shit.

David:

He later before.

Shira:

Now you can't do that. So um, so he actually he was very instrumental in giving me very cut answers. But you know, he pointed me in the right direction. And then, you know, I would speak to other chef friends of mine because of course I love food, right? So I know chefs.

David:

Makes sense.

Shira:

So I would speak to them and and they kind of helped me develop something that was worthwhile for restaurants. So the whole choosing time of year was very, very much taking restaurants into consideration. It was a big gamble for me because I'm like, all right, this is low. I'm going in with a brand new event in Trinidad where people are not too sure about dining out yet. You know, they would rather spend money to go clubbing or go to the bar after work line. You know, they're not really spending money to go and dine out and enjoy someone's company. That's part of my culture coming from Italy, but it's not part of the Trini culture. When we're home eating, we seldom eat round the table and have conversations. Everybody grab a plate of food, sit on a couch and watch TV.

Corie:

Or the phone.

Shira:

Or the phone, you understand? So it was a real gutsy kind of move.

Corie:

Yeah, then you're going in at the slowest time of year, too, even more. But I understand how it could be beneficial to the restaurant because if you could if you create some traffic for me in my slowest time, so I understand the payoff. So, how are you making money? Is a money-making venture? Is an NGO? How you approach it?

Shira:

Sometimes I feel I should just apply for NGO status. Yes, this is the everybody else is making money except me. Yeah, I know the model is really good, blueprint is really good. Restaurants, chiching, ch-ching, ching, ching, ching.

Corie:

So again, feedback that the restaurants making the money. Oh, yes.

Shira:

So I actually did a survey. Um, oh, I've been doing surveys after restaurant week. And I do a survey for diners and I do a survey for restaurants. And the feedback from restaurants is okay, so the smallest percentage increase in sales during restaurant week 10 10 days is 20%, which is a huge deal in the restaurant industry. The largest, believe it or not, is 65%.

Corie:

Discount?

Shira:

No. No increase in increase in sales. Seriously. That's huge, yeah. Because remember, during restaurant week, people flood restaurants. Um restaurants add additional seating and then they turn over seating. So if you have a restaurant with 100 seats, you're not getting 100 people a day. Yeah, you're getting 300 people a day because you've seated somebody at 100 first part of a day for dinner, you're seating 100, then then they go home. And then another 100 comes.

Corie:

Yeah, and I remember one we went to in Shugonas. I can't remember which one it was. It was new at the time and Price Plus, and they were participating. Right. And they tell us outright, yeah, about one and a half. Wow. They say because we're so oversubscribed at the time, it's like you gotta eat and go. Yeah. So I guess you could even, there's multiples of that. Yes. So how are you making money? I don't understand. What was this gonna be?

Shira:

Well, the thing is that because sponsorship is very difficult to get, right? And the event bare bones, um, to make it happen, which is what we've I've been doing, a bare bones event. Like I have so many concepts and plans and lovely dreams about how I would love to see restaurant week, you know, if somebody was to just give me $1.5 million.

Corie:

That's what you need.

Shira:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. $1.5 million, and let me just do what we need to do. Um so up to now I haven't found that little fairy godmother yet, right? So hopefully she comes. Okay. But um, so we've been running restaurant week really at a bare minimum, but yet, even with the bare minimum, because the blueprint of the event is so solid and it makes sense, it makes money for everyone else. And I am just focus on building a brand.

David:

Okay.

Shira:

So what I get out of it is owning a brand that's synonymous with you know happy thoughts, you know, laughter, enjoy a meal, enjoy flavors, come try out this new meal. So when people, when I say, you know, what time of year in Trinidad and Tobago do you think you can get the best food? Trinidad and Tobago restaurant week. It comes up, yes. So there's a so I'm building the brand, and that that's really my investment in the whole thing. I don't really, I rarely pay myself a salary for it. Um, I just if the event profits on the rare occasion that I do have enough sponsorship and any contribution from restaurants adds up, and I am able to actually pay all the bills and make a profit, then I take that profit and I'm reinvest it into the event. So it's been 13 years of me just reinvesting, reinvesting, reinvesting, reinvesting, pay some bills, reinvesting, pay insurance, pay, uh pay car loan, right? Reinvest reinvest insurance.

Corie:

Come back around, right? You know, it's funny because I just finished a course on social entrepreneurship. Right. And the whole purpose of the course really is um you used to do entrepreneurship and new venture creation as courses. So entrepreneurship teaching is just some of the things you're talking about. New ventures a little earlier where you have an idea. Right. And you're trying to get like seed money and invest in it and get off the ground, right? But these the school introduced a course called social entrepreneurship now, and it sounds so much like what you're describing because the the tenets of the course is that you have a greater purpose that is societal.

David:

Right.

Corie:

And you start with the societal issue first, and you build a business that's sustainable around that. Right. And just as you said, most of the profits in a social enterprise go back into building the enterprise. So it's something I want to commend you on because one of the things I always observe is the um I have an internal metric of the mood of the country that is measured all the time, right? Maybe it's going to, right? But I always get a sense that the places be a little lighter. We have a we're living in a country where the places be heavy a lot of times. The news and but restaurants, we have a buzz, you know? And I've seen it build from year to year to year. And I as a supporter of it was like because I was so in Jamaica, it's like this thing needs to be bigger and bigger and bigger. So I'm sure you have you, as you said, you have bigger views for what what it would be.

Shira:

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like uh, my okay, so I have uh be in my bonnet.

Corie:

Right.

Shira:

Uh a few years ago.

Corie:

BS for BMW.

Shira:

Just checking out Ben's.

Corie:

Yeah.

Shira:

But go ahead. I'm a truck kind of girl. Thank you very much. All right, sorry. Yeah, yeah. A little off-road truck and I. Who knew? Who knew? Um, no, the be in my bonnet is that I heard uh Caribbean country coin themselves as the culinary capital of the Caribbean. I see. And I don't think that that island deserves it. Um so Barbados thinks that they are the culinary capital.

David:

Okay, okay.

Shira:

Um but they're not. And it's not I'm not getting competitive here, but it really is not. Think about when you go, I I've gone to Barbados quite a few times, and I can't say that it has left um an impression on me from a food point of view. Italy has. Right? Uh uh Portugal has. You know, I could think of a couple countries where I would where I could still taste the food and smell the aromas. Right. But Barbados was not like that.

Corie:

You know, taste the chafes and smell the chaffettes, you know.

Shira:

So, as I will say, I do, however, remember fry fish and hoysen.

Corie:

Right, yeah, got it, got it, got it.

Shira:

Right? So I think that was that was uh uh but that was a one experience, you know. So I don't think there was there was really no grand you know vibe on food when I was there. I can say that they probably have the nicest beaches.

David:

Right.

Shira:

Yeah, but food is in the Caribbean islands that I've visited. I haven't visited all, but in the islands that I have visited, I think Barbados is one of the most beautiful places because you're almost guaranteed to get sun. And the beaches are fancy. And then you want to catch a little waves, you go on the other side. Go to Bashba and yeah, yeah, something. But if you want to just relax and just there is lots of that. So, but no, don't come and tell me you're the Caribbean culinary capital of the Caribbean man.

Corie:

But we I think Trinidad could stake that claim because that's a branding thing. Anybody could call themselves anything in Brandon, you know?

Shira:

Yes, I know. So if you'll miss any opportunity to do that here, so I think I think all we need is the branding because we do have the substantial evidence that it is.

David:

Yeah.

Shira:

The variety of cuisine in Trinidad and Tobago. Um, and it's not just cuisine from all over the world, it's also fusion cuisine, right? Uh, Trinidadians like to throw in their little trini sweet hand. You know, how to make something Italian taste more trinity. Something Guinness and call it a you know, of course, an Irish soup. So yes, I think I definitely think that Trinidad and Tobago uh we have the variety here is it's endless. Like I can't even I was trying, just to give you an example, I was trying to on my website classify or or list all the different cuisines that we have. Because ideally, I would have liked to say this menu represents Italian food, this menu represents Chinese food. This I can't, I mean the list goes on and on and on, and for about a year now, I am still there fiddling with this list because there is I think Trinadians need a a list of their own. Yeah, and we just have it's it's simply impossible to classify our food. And that is what makes us so much different than Barbados or any other Caribbean island, I think. The variety of cuisines in Trinidad, the fact that it's infused with our very own shadow Benny. Big difference and party time and whatever, right? So I think and the flavors, the flavors are literally on point. Our chefs from the youngest chef that you could find to the most seasoned senior chef, they all experiment, and they experiment with local and infuse it into all these cuisines. So it's I mean, the kind of creations that they come up with, you will never find that anywhere in the real. Not even in a Michelin style.

Corie:

How would you? How would you? I'll I'll I'll add to that, right? I do a good bit of traveling on the Caribbean and I like Caribbean food generally. But one of the things that I find here to support what you're saying is that what you're describing in terms of variety happens at all levels. Right. Whether it's a high-end restaurant or street food, you find more variety of things all over. And that's one of the things that I saw in restaurants week in Jamaica.

David:

Yeah.

Corie:

That are dying to see here. Because what every pan chicken man in Kingston has a restaurant week sign next to him. Me no, they're not the skunk, I don't always happen different because you come out of the club two in the morning, and but they have a special. And I wonder how much buy-in you got over the years from the the street food side, or is there something you approach it?

Shira:

So um the problem with me including street food into trying to go restaurant week is that restaurant week is really that blueprint that I spoke about, is really developed on a restaurant model. During COVID, um of course, COVID came wrong and nobody could go out and eat, right? And I'm like, oh my god, what are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? And then I thought to myself, you know what? The country needs a restaurant week. We need like I'm so depressed at home. Actually, I wasn't so depressed, I actually quite like being at home, locked in the house and you know, with my dogs, and I was very happy for that. You know, I'm sorry, I can't come out. Eating, playing with my dogs. I'm sorry I can't come out. I was plant a little garden. COVID for me was fantastic. But anyway, there was a you know, the whole world was like of course, of course, it was heavy. Um, so I I decided at that point in time to still run restaurant week, and I had to, of course, almost change my blueprint to a red print. It was so different. And um, I created a model where we did because at that point in time we were allowed to order out. So you can order and pass and collect your food. So we developed a restaurant week that was allowing just takeaways. And um, and then I put myself in a position of the average person, I have a trend guardian how can we take advantage of this? And I thought to myself, you know, I would love to have dinner with my parents. Um I would love to have dinner with my friends, but I can't because I can't see them. So, you know what? I am going to call this restaurant, place an order for food, have it delivered to their house, and have it delivered to my house. And then I am going to call them. I'm gonna call them online and we're gonna do a little video call and we're going to have a meal together. Um for people who live together. I was suggesting, you know, take your wife out on a date, you know, order some food, go outside in the backyard, throw a blanket on the ground, and have some food, you know, take her out of the kitchen, yeah, lift the spirits, you know, and and do things like that because we were allowed to eat dine outdoors in your property on your compound. So I did a series of how to enjoy restaurant week remotely, and we still had restaurant week and it was fantastic.

Corie:

You got the support, people bought in.

Shira:

Yeah, yeah, it was really good. And the the few places that were open for prepping food and so on, a lot of kitchens were closed because they could not facilitate, they couldn't run a whole big kitchen just to for takeaway orders, right? So you'd find a lot of kitchens were closed, but the ones who were open joined.

Corie:

And they must be glad for it too, because business would be slow. I mean, if it's over September slow COVID, that'd be real slow.

Shira:

It wouldn't have been bad.

Corie:

Yeah, yeah, I would imagine it was bad. Who survived good on them? It was a difficult time.

Shira:

And we also saw a lot of um, a lot of uh not chefs, well, chefs as well, but caterers, you know, at that point in time started catering. Yeah, so some of the things. You know, just now we have a lot more restaurants open than we had pre-COVID. And that is why, because during COVID, those people would have had the opportunity to try to hand, you know, sample a little food, to start selling food, people your neighbor buying and whoever buying, you know, you delivering or they come in to collect. Of course, and that is how you know all these additional little cafes and and a little bit popped up. But during restaurant week, so so during COVID, the whole model had changed. Um, pre-COVID, I would never have allowed a restaurant to do takeaway for restaurant week because it's all about the experience and dining. I see, but um then I realized during COVID that people were very open, and post COVID now um people asked, can we still take away? And if it's one thing that we do, um I don't know, I'm I might Be a crazy lazy for doing this, right? But I read all the comments on our social media page.

Corie:

Good on you.

Shira:

And sometimes I jump in and I respond. Um, so I'm very plugged into what people like and don't like. And I realized that majority of Triana Tobago wanted the option to takeaway for whatever reason. You know, you you don't feel like dressing up and whatever, you just want to pick up some good food, but you want to take part of restaurant week. So now what we have is we have opened up restaurant post-COVID um to dine-in or takeaway options. Gotcha. But of course, that still excludes the street food because street food does not have a dine-in option. And I'm I I would make exceptions for um like a food truck who has a tent outside and can prepare little seating areas so that they could fit into the model of restaurant week dining and takeaway. Yeah, but I cannot open it up to just an apparisari remote.

Corie:

Yeah, doubles wrong. I got you. Well, one of the things I saw, and I again it's foggy for me if they really had this console. Like at one point, I used to wonder these street food people, are they really participating or is it a marketing tactic? Because the thing is, if you if you put the restaurant week sign by every Louise Doubles as an example, then you get real coverage. And people people know about it a lot. Because one of the things I do see in your comments a lot is people say, We didn't know it was restaurant week, you know. So, with how do people find out about it?

Shira:

So, restaurant week is really um again, lack of sponsorship re uh limits the amount of advertising we can do in traditional medium. So um I do radio, I do TV, I do press, but very limited because those things cuts cost big bucks. Of course. And if I told a restaurant, give me a thousand dollars more because I want to advertise on the city. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You want to do what? Forget it. Forget it, you know. So we've been going, um we've just been going on with a modern social media, and that is how we've survived and grown over the years. Now, I mean it's it's it's spreading far and wide. Uh last year we topped, we peaked at uh 7.2 million views during restaurant week. Um and that was, I mean, and we have 1. what four million people in Trent Tobago?

David:

Yeah.

Shira:

So, you know, that's that's a lot of local as well as international people looking into Lady Eyeballs now. So the word spreads, and the bigger the more the years pass, I've noticed it's been spreading more and more and more and more. So the persons who are not aware that it's restaurant week are probably not foodies. Yeah, no, like me, that's why it's or probably do not know someone who is a foodie. Because if you are a foodie or know someone who's a foodie, you get in that call. Where are we going for a restaurant?

Corie:

Yeah, it's plugged in. What about the food bloggers and think they're involved? Like you they they're usually allies in in Restaurant Week.

Shira:

So um, we have a lot of bloggers, like David. Yes, David has been involved since inception. David is is one of the people I will call or whatever always. What do you think of this? How do you think we could do this?

Corie:

But that's where he gets a habit from, is you he's gonna have it from. All right, I was starting to see the picture.

Shira:

So um, so food bloggers. We have a I'm using that term very loosely. Sure. I'm not too sure how many food bloggers we actually have in Trinidad and Tobago. We have influencers and we have people who like to go out and dine, like myself, and feature food that they're eating. So um over the years, we've seen a number of influencers increase tremendously. Back in the beginning, it was probably just a handful, and what we did is we had to negotiate hard with restaurants because we we need we had to convince the restaurants that you need to have these guys come to your restaurant, but you need to feed them, you can't charge them for their food.

Corie:

Oh, that took convincing at one point.

Shira:

No, it's still taking convincing now in fact.

Corie:

Seriously, people don't see any value of it.

Shira:

No, and yeah, so you know, so they wanted a let you know the secret. Sometimes this is even up to now, I ask influencers to go and visit certain restaurants and then I pay for their meals.

David:

Really?

Shira:

Yeah, because I think a restaurant might need it, but your restaurant doesn't see the value in it. But because I think the restaurant needs it, and I want them to have a very positive experience for restaurant week. If I see that their marketing requires an influencer and they are not gonna pay for it, I am paying for it for them because I want them to be successful.

Corie:

Oh, yeah, their success is yours. Right.

Shira:

So, um, so yeah, so influencers have increased over the years. It had reached a point where we literally had to um accredit the influencers that we wanted to work with because we found that a lot of people would just show up at restaurants and say, Hey, I'm here to re- I'm a I'm a blogger, I'm a food blogger, and I'm here to review the restaurant week menu. And restaurants started complaining that they were inundated with people who they don't even know, people who don't have really a strong social media presence, and they were wondering what is in it.

Corie:

Well, that's a good idea. You could just go and say, I could try that and get free food.

Shira:

So one year we had little badges. I see.

Corie:

So you're official partners.

Shira:

Right. So what we've been doing is we've been um meeting with influencers and food bloggers in advance and asking them if they want to be part of Restaurant Week. And then um we curate a list of just about 10 people. We select about 10. And then once a restaurant signs up for restaurant week, we say, hey guys, these are the bloggers who have been approved by Restaurant Week. Um feel free to reach out. Yeah, feel free to reach out to them, blah, blah, blah.

Corie:

It's funny because the only restaurant we had here so far was Adam Abud. And he said pointedly the impact of influencers in his restaurant. He said, You can't not do it. Yes. And I hate to keep going back academic, right? A class I had the other day was um called Digital Analytics. The whole point of it was okay, so you have your social media presence and your web presence and all those things, and you're doing it now, like for instance, looking at the comments is the engagement, the this, the that, and all of us who run businesses trying to try to convert, right? Yes. So there was one guy who was in my class, uh, fellow named Jesse. I want to say just Jesse, right? So you're drinking, right? Before I call you a wrong last name. But he runs Wing It on the Avenue.

Shira:

Oh, right, yes.

Corie:

And he was in the class.

Shira:

Right.

Corie:

And he said that he used the influencer in the restaurant one time to come and try something. So I said, all right, good, but I said, yeah, how was it? I said, you're cool, pulling up your analytics. He's like, yeah, and he shared it with everybody and he showed us two things what last month looked like compared to this month after using the influencer. Oh, and then what it looked like year on year, right? Last July to this July is exponential. I teach any course, I couldn't believe how big a difference it is. And of course, I'll ask him, I say, so just you'd convert to sales here. Sales. He's like hard sales. I say, well, what kind of percentage is like dozens?

David:

Yes.

Corie:

And it was tied so closely together that he was able to say the products that she came there and spoke about or featured.

David:

Right.

Corie:

They ran out of. He said, and he, you know, he was talking about it from that standpoint. So I'm a little surprised to hear that restaurant still questioning the impact of. I guess you have to know which ones you use and who fits your brand and where's aligned.

Shira:

It is very important to align yourself with the right influencer. Um, because if you have a high-end type of establishment, there are certain influencers you are not going to invite. Unless, of course, you want to reach a different target market. Of course, you have a different target market.

Corie:

Yeah.

Shira:

So it all depends on your target market.

Corie:

Yeah, I think they're important.

Shira:

So like we have a restaurant, um, I don't know if you know Trader Jacks. Yes. Right.

Corie:

Best Dung in movies on movie down. Right.

Shira:

So they uh well, Trader Jacks has been there forever.

Corie:

Yeah, they changed completely the other day.

Shira:

They yeah, they repositioned themselves. And um, and you know, and that transition is a real ballsy kind of move, right? But that transition has now put Trader Jack on the radar for a different clientele entirely. Um it maintained its older clientele, but now it's also expanded its clientele to you know people who want to a little bit above the average type of meal as opposed to you know a very quick, fast food type of um food. And um so somebody like them, for instance, years ago they would have had a specific type of influenza, but now the influencer change makes sense, makes sense. And all it requires is one or two visits from an influencer that speaks to that target market for that target market to start saying, hmm, you know, it's now on their radar. You know, where are we going to eat a steak tonight? You know what? Let's just go there.

Corie:

Yeah, it's funny that that's your example because you know I had bongs up there after my son does SCA. We were just looking for somewhere to go and eat. And when I pass, I know where Trader Jacks was all the time. So when I pass and I'm looking at, yeah, nice. Yeah, like Trader Jacks move. So we went in, yeah, and we had and it was really, really good. Same thing, yeah. Every time I go, I just order a wagon burger or nothing different. Well, that's a good choice, though. Yeah, it is really good, it's really, really good. And the service is good, and the environment is nice, it's less busy than it was before and all that.

Shira:

So and his service is fantastic, I think. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I found his service was really good.

Corie:

It was really good. It is because I usually go back there once I get a chance. So before I get into all the restaurants and things on the list, right? We go and do a top 100, right? But you don't get to come here and say, like, yeah, when I was born in Italy, I was like, What the son, what's happening here? Because I have you done as a Trinidad, you know, what what what how would this Italian connection come in? Is it mob ties or yeah, like we need a long story now? We have time, David. We have time, we have time, we have time, long story. What is the Italian thing?

Shira:

So I was born in Italy.

Corie:

Born in Italy.

Shira:

My dad is Trinidadian, and my mom is Italian, and my dad at 17 years old picked up himself and went to London. Which is not something that people back in those days would do, right? My dad, if he was alive, he would be 84 this year. I see. Um, so yeah, so you're talking about when he was 17. So you're looking at look at how many years ago, right? So he went to London and there he started working and doing different things and whatever, whatever. And then my boy, hippie, you know, hippie era hit. And um, my boy decided he was trying to travel around Europe and he frequented Milan downtown. Uh so he would hop across and you know, go and line in the square where all the other hippies were you know, um, and then my mom, who grew up in Milan, spotted him.

Corie:

Can't take care of a Trini man. Well, I shouldn't say that. Pause. You you can't take care of it.

Shira:

So, you know, at that point in time he had nice long hair and he's like um Indian Portuguese mix. Right. So you can't really place him, but he looks um my mom used to say he looked like Sandokana. So Sandokana is um is like um European Tarzan.

Corie:

Right. Made famous in the Caribbean by Supercat, but go ahead.

Shira:

So, yes, so uh she thought that he was this who is this person, you know, and then so of course they got together, and you know, it was all Daisy's and love power and whatever, whatever, and we're moving in together, and we let's have a love child. Yeah, of course, of course, love child. No, let's have a child. Why not? Go get that. We love, we need to have a love child. So, anyway. So I was born a couple years, a few years later, they decided to get married.

Corie:

And I think So they stayed in Milan and you were born there.

Shira:

Yes, I was born there. So then they got married, and I think that had to do, of course, I was never told this, but I think that may have had to do with dad's um papers. He probably needed to leave Italy or something, and they probably said, uh, let's get married.

Corie:

Of course, why not? That's important.

Shira:

So um, oh gosh, my daddy. Uh so so yeah, so they got married. Um, I attended a wedding.

Corie:

Like my son.

Shira:

So, but you know, it's good that it happened that way. And um then fast forward, uh, I was about nine years old, and my dad got a call from his dad or a telegram. So um saying, Come home. I'm not well, whatever the case may be. I needed to come and take over the business. So my dad jumped at the opportunity and he left us in Italy and came back to Trinidad. So my dad comes very briefly. My dad comes from a very um staunch Muslim family. And in it is their tradition that the eldest son takes over the business of the family from the father. So, so much so that my dad and my grandfather have the same name. I got it. So my dad is just junior.

Corie:

Yeah, business continuity.

Shira:

So my dad came and started working alongside my grandfather. Um, they owned a lot of properties and such and such. So it's real estate and tenants and land business. Of course. And um things were taking a while, you know, and there were a lot of legal issues that they were trying to sort out before the grand granddad passed. And that was just taking forever. So my mom was like, nah, my man, not gonna be in threaded out and I all the way here in Italy.

Corie:

She damn right.

Shira:

I do not know what is happening, I don't know what happened down here in that island. So she says to me, honey, I'm going to meet your dad. I'm like, okay. Now, because I was a love child and I grew up in an environment with lots of love in the house, I spent a lot of time growing up with my grandmother. Um, my grandparents. Um, so from Friday to Monday morning, I would be with granny. And um, and then on weekends and sorry, on like long weekends and holidays and stuff. So I grew up with my granny just as much as I grew up with my parents. So when mom decided to come join dad, it was no problem. You know, we could just stay with my granny. We sold our apartment in downtown Milan, which is now the fashion district.

Corie:

And I'm like, uh Yeah, you gotta hold on to that, right?

Shira:

Anyway, so we sold the apartment and I moved in with my granny, and my parents came to Trinidad. After a while of them still being here, they're like, you know, this is really taking long. And um, and then I started having a lot of abandonment issues, even though I was very happy with my granny and very happy with it. I just felt abandoned, and I can only realize that now. Back then I did not know what I was feeling. All I know, all of a sudden, I have mommy issues. I want mommy, I want mommy, you know, and when when she would call, because back in those days we would schedule a call once once a month.

Corie:

There's no FaceTime, no WhatsApp calling and all that.

Shira:

And they used to have to go and borrow somebody's phone or go to in Independence Square, there was the textile building, was it?

Corie:

Textile, yes.

Shira:

Right, and in the textile building, they had little phone bank, yeah. And they would go there and make the call. So, you know, we look forward to the once-a-month call. Um, and then it got to the point where my grandmother said, now this the child is suffering way too much. Let her at least come down for summer holidays. And I came for summer holidays and never left.

Corie:

What age was this?

Shira:

I was nine.

Corie:

Oh, so what wait, before we get to when you reach here, what is life like growing up in in Milan? Because when you hear Italian grandparents, there's always a story.

Shira:

Oh no, it was beautiful. So I grew up in Milan, I was born and grew up in Milan, but my entire family is from a region called Passano del Grappa, which is in Iveneto region of Italy that's north east. And um, that's where Prosecco is from. I see from good stuff. Very good wine.

Corie:

And it adds out from my wife. I gotta hear about it. She would be like, take us. No.

Shira:

So yeah, so my entire Italian family is from that region, but my grandmother moved to Milan to work and stuff. Um and that's where my mom was born, that's where I was born. So we, my granny, my mom, and I, we all lived in Milan, but the rest of my family is from this region, which is quaint little towns, cobblestone streets, you know, cows, lots of cows and sheep, you know. We take our animals to pasture during the summer months and then bring them back home in the town uh for the winter months. You know, we cut grass to make hay to feed the animals during the winter months and then let them graze the rolling hills and mountains, you know, at the foothill of the Alps. I mean, it's beautiful.

David:

Yeah.

Shira:

So growing up in Italy for me was fantastic because I got to go to school in Milan. Yeah, I grew up in a very cosmopolitan city.

Corie:

Yeah, Milan is city city.

Shira:

Yes, Milan is city is like downtown New York, except it has a lot more culture, um, a lot more history. I don't know if I should be saying that.

Corie:

He did, you already said it. Like um, when Trinidad qualified for Germany, we went to that. Yeah, I went to the first the Sweden game, but we went to Milan.

David:

Oh, we did.

Corie:

Yeah, we spent uh we did a day trip to Milan. So downtown Milan is by that time is fashion district because I remember the um what stood out a lot to me was beside the pigeons. Oh, yes, was the um the price of things in those stores because they would boast of having things for the new season stuff come out, and there's the only Louis Vuitton store you can. I don't want to stop new season when I go in these stores. You know they want to put me out as soon as you say, How much for this? How much for that? How much for this the girls write out?

Shira:

Yeah, a hundred euro for a kitchen. Yeah, it's crazy.

Corie:

It is crazy, it's something else.

Shira:

I'm just like no, it's a kitchen, yeah.

Corie:

And then um, I remember what's the name of the church? Is it Duomo?

Shira:

Duomo.

Corie:

Yes, a huge. I mean, that is yes, that cathedral. That culture shock for Trinidadian going there, it's it's amazing to see. And of course, we go on and we realize stuff is going on, and we just say, Oh, look at that. We just they had to put me out again. They put me out of every everything we try to do in there.

Shira:

Have you seen the size of the doors and the duomo?

Corie:

Yes, the size of everything. It is it is shocking. It's like what they make. The first my first thought was how how this type of structures that they have would look like a hundred feet off the ground.

Shira:

Yes, how they raise that.

Corie:

I remember leaving the city with an impression. Something I'll never forget because it's such a big shift from what I know as a trainee who just stayed in Trinidad all my life. So I can imagine for you coming from there, you talking Italian a lot of time, you know, talking English on Ting.

Shira:

No, no English, boy.

Corie:

So it's a big shift for you having to come to a so my parents did try to get me to speak English while I was in Italy.

Shira:

So I went to um English school uh English lessons, um, where I would learn like Tom and Dora, Dick and Dora, play with the ball, um, you know, things like that. That's helpful. And then they sent me to a pool to do swimming lessons because you know we turned out as an island, and Italy is not really an island, and the nearest beach to Milan was quite far, so we didn't see water.

Corie:

You're gonna swim.

Shira:

Up but up to that point, I may have seen the sea, not even the ocean, but the sea, I may have seen it twice in my life, right? So I had to learn to swim, I had to learn to speak English. Came to Trinidad um as you know to for holidays, and then refused to go back home because of course I I want to stay with mommy and daddy. And but I couldn't speak. So I could speak English, and I could only speak Italian. It was a huge culture shock because not only did I did I leave Italy speaking Italian and really and truly Dickandora or whatever their names are didn't help me at all because I land here and I'm hearing Wamboy. Yeah, we see nothing strops thing.

Corie:

You learn the strips at 10. Life is good.

Shira:

I didn't know what I was what was happening, but of course I was very excited at the beginning, right? I was very excited. Um, so I kind of took everything in stride, but I also moved into um my grandfather because we lived with my grandfather who lived in an estate house in the middle of Arena village.

Corie:

Well, you moved from Milan to Arena, you incoming tongue self, you're gone.

Shira:

So we moved to Arena. We moved to a very Muslim home. Muslim as a Muslim Muslim.

Corie:

So your upbringing in Milan was religious at all?

Shira:

Well, once you're born in Italy, you're a Roman Catholic. I would have been. I didn't even know that they were different religions up to that point. I see. I was I I just the whole world was Catholic, as far as I know, you know. Um but so I moved here to a Muslim home, a very Muslim home. So, you know, the culture was very different. I could no longer eat prosciutto and salami and stuff like that.

Corie:

You could get salami, you could get errand for no, I couldn't eat, I was in a Muslim home.

Shira:

All right, it's true. Different rules.

unknown:

I see.

Shira:

I had to wear clothes. I mean, I wore clothes in Italy too. Not that we walk around naked. But, you know, in Italy, if it's hot, you wear little clothes.

Corie:

Yeah, I saw a man, right? Random story, but I saw a guy in Milan. There's a little well, a huge park. You have a whole bunch of pictures from it. And he was in a suit, suit and say, of course it's summer, right? Right. So he walks through the park, and I look at the guy, he stops, takes off all his clothes down to underwear, lie down in the sun for about 20 minutes, then put back on his suits and just keep walking. So I guess this is just norm for you to.

Shira:

It's normal. It's normal, and it's also normal to go to beaches bare back.

Corie:

You know, so how's woman?

Shira:

Woman, man.

Corie:

I mean, you can no difference.

Shira:

You turn in, you want to tan, take off everything. You don't want to turn lines.

Corie:

Right, right. Yeah, you can't do that down in arena. There's no one.

Shira:

So I went to arena and I'm like, ah, woke up morning after. It's hot. I'm like, yes, I'm in the tropics. I'm in the tropics, Caribbean island, fret out here. I come, I put on my little short pants, run outside. And my grandfather's like, get that child back inside. Put on some clothes on the child.

Corie:

Oh my god.

Shira:

So there I went into clothes, like proper clothes. Yeah, clothes, clothes, no. Yes. I was allowed, I didn't have to wear long sleeves. Okay, thankfully. But I did have to wear like proper short sleeves, and my short pants couldn't be very short. They had to be a little longer. Now, mind you, I'm still a child, right? But still, I had to. Um, and then of course, because because of the environment where we lived, meaning we lived in an estate house and my grandfather was the landlord of the area, um, I was kind of prohibited from mixing and mingling. So I could not have friends from the area. Um, and of course, all of this is very culture shock to me because in Italy everybody is everybody. You know, you you make friends, I would make friends with the homeless man, and it's fine. You you you literally just it's fine to speak to everybody and we all equal. You know, but coming here, I was told you are the grandchild of, you are not too. You can't, you're not allowed to outside of our private road. You are to stay in our, you know, our yard. Mind you, the yard was huge because it's an entire orchard estate, right? It's an estate, right? So it's an orchard estate. Um, so I was basically confined to that area. So then I started having to find ways to entertain myself. So I literally grew up on a plum tree with a little walkman um counting ants, observing ants. You know, I would find animals all over the place that I would just study. I always had a fascination for animals. Um, so I'm always inquisitive and knowing, wanting to know how does this work and how that an you know, so ants nests, all kinds of things. I would, you know, just literally go hours, days, I'd be just looking at it and trying to figure out. So that's how I really grew up. So I went from a very social cosmopolitan lifestyle to an isolated um environment, albeit very natural and beautiful, but it was kind of forced. So you know, it it was a huge, huge culture shock.

Corie:

Yeah, I would imagine.

Shira:

And then the English. Um, my grandfather felt uncomfortable with us speaking Italian in the house because you know, I just find that so silly. But yes, that's exactly what he said. Yeah, you know, he we can't speak Italian in front of him, so I was also kind of like I can't speak.

Corie:

Oh, yeah, that's a big at that age, especially.

Shira:

So I stayed home and I looked at Sesame Street, tried to get my English up and running, and then went into standard five.

Corie:

Um so you went into school and you reached at standard five.

Shira:

Yeah, but I stayed on for like about six months to learn, try and get to learn English, like Trini English. Yeah, Trini English is right. Oh, English.

David:

Uh-huh.

Shira:

Um, and then I went to school. But when I went to school, it was still very the English that I was learning was on Sesame Street, and from listening to my dad speak to my grandfather, because my mom didn't speak English either. So we were both trying to learn English from just staying home with limited access to the world.

Corie:

So then we have common entrance English.

Shira:

It was me and the aunts, and you know, so no, I didn't know. So yeah, common entrance roll around two years later. I came first in the island in sciences. Like I scored, I'm assuming 100%. I can't even remember. But I got an award from the National Women's Association of Transobago.

David:

Oh, beautiful.

Shira:

Um, big presentation thing, but yet like 10% or 7% in my English score.

Corie:

Yeah, no bad. I mean, given the circumstances.

Shira:

So, yeah, so it was a little challenging. So I did not pass for the school of choice.

Corie:

But what school, what primary school do you went to?

Shira:

I went to Brazil RC. I see. Yes.

Corie:

But at least I get back at a Roman Catholic school and you make sure the connection. Yeah. Got it, got it. And where you pass for eventually?

Shira:

So eventually, second time around, I passed for Lakshmi Girls into college.

Corie:

Well, second time around, they would be in good company again. It's nice to be around people who take two shots of common entrance on these things, you know. I mean, stick a couple seconds by two.

Shira:

I was going into secondary school with like 7% in English.

Corie:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Shira:

Oh, you had to do it over.

Corie:

So you get better the next time.

Shira:

Oh, yes. But then a year later, I kind of mastered the working English that I needed to pass the exam.

Corie:

I suppose, and you now navigating between Trinidad English and the English that you need for the exam and all that. Two different things.

Shira:

It was it was very challenging. Um, I was known as Whitey Cockroach in school. And um, people referred to me as the white girl, and I didn't see myself different to them. Um, mind you, I grew I went to school in Brazil Arcee, which is um again a village school, right? So um it was a little challenging, but you know what? I made a lot of friends, and um and they kind of even though they call me whitey cockroach, I still felt I f I still felt their love and their support, and you know, they would make fun of me because of how I spoke. And at that age, you're very sensitive, right? So it was it was really, really rough. That that side of things was very rough. Um, so much so up to now I have PTSD. There are certain words that I it's they're difficult for me to pronounce, and every time I have to say the word, I literally get like a hot flash.

David:

Yeah, and and it's just PTSD.

Shira:

So I worked very hard to try and learn trinidadian as opposed to proper English.

Corie:

It worked out good because now we nobody wouldn't be able to tell.

Shira:

No, so my mom still has a very strong Italian accent, but I have ma I managed um to learn English to sound like a trini because I tried so hard to fit in to school. And then moving to secondary school was the same story, right? So I really needed to fit in. Yeah, I don't want to stand out as the girl who couldn't speak English.

Corie:

So, what secondary school do you went to?

Shira:

I went to Lakshmi Girls Hindu College.

Corie:

Lakshmi Girls Hindu College.

Shira:

You have a full experience in this world. Oh, yeah, yeah. I learned everything about all religions.

Corie:

There's a history of St. James people, you know, is every religion it's ever had, you know. So yeah, so Lakshmi Girls are next.

Shira:

So grateful for having gone to that school. You have no idea. It exposed me to yoga at a very young age. Um, so we started practicing yoga every Saturday at the Data Treya Yoga Center in Karapichaima. Um, I learned to pray in Hindu, I learned about Hinduism, um, which was a whole different world because, of course, I grew up in a Roman Catholic home, even though my parents were very religious. But you know, I grew up in a Roman Catholic environment. So Hinduism is like, what? You know, is It's like and then I learned that people pray to God, but in all different channels, you know, my grandfather would pray to Allah, and and Hindus would pray to you know different manifestations of God because He's just so omnipotent, so so grand that you there's no one thing, and then we pray to Jesus, you know, to get us to God. So um it was quite enlightening, and I thoroughly enjoyed my stay at Lakshmi Girls Hindu school, Hindu college. Uh, I think also the size of the school was perfect for that period in my life where I was transitioning, of course, going through hormonal changes as I'm becoming an adult or a teenager rather, and you know, from child to teenage, when things go crazy, um, I'm away from my family in Italy, I'm away from everybody that I know. I have no friends in Trinidad. So, you know, Lachmy Girls was like my second family, and the teachers they were lovely, they got really involved in all your business. So it was like having a set of mummies and daddies again. Yeah, they looked after everyone. The school at that point in time, I think we had about 300 students, if so much. Uh, so it was a very small school.

Corie:

Everyone felt accepted. They were more than primary.

Shira:

Yes. They I started to feel more accepted. And they also gave because it was such a small school, they didn't have a lot of variety as other secondary schools with regards to the subject um options and so on, or the sporting options. It was a very academic school, but they were very open to suggestions. So, I mean, by form three, I started uh arts club, a music club. Yeah. Uh, we started playing badminton, we had um a TASA group, we had, I mean, we started doing dancing, we started doing everything because it all it took is really for me to go and say to a teacher, I really want to do this. And they'll be like, Okay, well, you think you could start a club?

David:

Yeah, true.

Shira:

And then we did it. You know, so and we started swimming and we started competing in different, you know, different things. So it really was beautiful because the school allowed me to grow and develop, yeah, you know, and and take leadership more than anything else, because all of those things may not have happened if I didn't push for it to happen. Um but it gave me the opportunity to convince a teacher that we need to learn to draw. Yeah, we really need to learn to paint. You know, it's absolutely necessary. And miss, all schools have a cricket club, uh a cricket.

David:

You need one.

Shira:

We and I was told we are girls' school. I said, so what? So girls can come back? I said, let me show you how I can play cricket. I don't know how to play cricket. So but I have to learn, you know, and then because I've always been very, very active, you know, sporting. I'm a very sporty person. So I so yes, to be good.

Corie:

Yeah, so now I could see why, but because when you say going to all them restaurants and asking that, it feels like such a task, but you you've been doing it.

Shira:

And I'm getting food in the process, you know. I'm I'm I'm eating with purpose.

Corie:

Yeah, of course, of course. Let's like if I put in chat GPT now, give me a list of the Italians who could beat tasser. I feel one will come up.

Shira:

Yeah, I could be hello. I'm in newspapers.

Corie:

Yeah, seriously beating drum.

Shira:

Beating tasser. Uh-huh. Rolling that tassa.

Corie:

You can still play and thingy. Feel if you take it now, you're good.

Shira:

Well, I've been dying to put my hands on a tasser to see if I could still rule it.

Corie:

We gotta make that happen. We gotta make that happen. We gotta make that happen.

Shira:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love a drum.

Corie:

Yeah. Hell of an education. What are you seeing yourself as then? You had aspirations of being like a career or what you want to do. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Shira:

So, of course, because uh from very young I had this passion for animals. Um, and then of course I grew up in a rainer village, which gave me a lot of opportunity to explore animals. Um, I wanted to be a vet. I see. Like I really wanted to be a vet because I want to save all the animals in the world. And um, but so I did my biology, I did all the subjects that were required to become a vet. Um, but no one really told me that after secondary school you'd have to pay to go to university. Well, you thought it was the CXE, you know, yeah. I thought it was like, yeah, well, I got university, yeah, I'd become a vet. So that posed a little problem because you know my family wasn't very affluent. Sure. We have wealthy stink rich with land. Yeah, but I like land, but I can't cut a piece of land and eat it. And I can't cut a piece of land and pay for my education.

Corie:

Of course.

Shira:

So I wanted to be a vet. I really wanted with all my might to be a vet. As a matter of fact, I even did eventually do some courses. I'm a certified veterinary assistant, but I had to go back, I had to go to work, and the objective was to go to work to be able to make some money, to then pay for myself to go to university to become a vet. And that was the end of that. Yeah.

Corie:

Yeah, boy. Just keep working.

Shira:

Essentially, that's what it is. I went, I got a job, and um, it was in a company. Of course, in school, they told me, Shyra, you should do P.O.B. And I'm like, no, I'm not doing POB. And then my teacher said, Shyra, you're you're not being realistic. POB, literally, you can read the read a book and you can do the exam. It requires very little studying. Like, you just read a book. I'm dyslexic. So reading for me is a huge, huge problem.

David:

Yeah.

Shira:

I would read everything for you, but I don't understand a thing that I'm reading, right? Oh, it's yeah. Bring it. I read in it, but ask me a question after, no retention. So for me, that was just like a no-no, and it's gonna hamper with my plan to study my biology. Of course. I want to dissect frogs and do stuff like that, right? I don't want to be reading about business. Don't talk to me about business. Accounts, nah. I will do maths. I could work out maths problems for you. Don't ask me to do accounts. So I refuse to do principles of business in school. And there I was in my first job, walk into a company and asked to speak to the boss. I didn't know anything about positions, I didn't know about you know CEOs and managers, and I just wanted to speak to the boss. Had a one-hour conversation with the boss in a company, a factory in a remote and a mirror road that made tires and batteries. That yes, sold tires and batteries. And I'm just having a conversation with this boss, and then he said, You know what? He asked me, he said, Well, what do you want to do? I said, Well, I don't know anything.

Corie:

This is you now trying to gain something.

Shira:

I just trying to get a job because I need to study, I need to make money to go to school. Of course. And he put me in the switchboard and he said, Look, I'll put you on the switchboard, and you seem to be very good, you know, in speaking to people. So look at that.

Corie:

You come here and you know the language, know you're on a switchboard.

Shira:

I know. It was actually I never thought about it, but yes, you're very correct. So I got to go on the switchboard. I've always had this desire to help people, right? So people would call and ask, and so I started trying to solve their problems. So I'd say, hold on, let me figure it out for you, as opposed to just taking a note and whoever would be.

Corie:

So just transfer you. Yes.

Shira:

So I started getting very involved. Then I started working in the marketing department because I thought that I would have been very good at that. And I was. Um, and then my time was up for holidays, and I thought that I was very stagnant in that position, and I wanted more because I needed to make more money because I my savings wasn't going as planned. And I still wanted to be a vet.

David:

Yeah.

Shira:

So I went on holiday and I told the boss, I say, Mr. Rossi, I'm going to go on holidays. But while I'm on holidays, I'm going to be looking for another job. I really appreciate the opportunity you have given me here. But I think I could do more and I need to make more money. And so I really, really am grateful, but I just I'm just letting you know, nobody else. I'm just letting you know that I'm probably not going to come back if I find another job. And then he called me and he said, Shira, there is an opportunity in Port of Spain at Neil and Marseille Caribbean. And, you know, it's a very small company. They do market and hub for the Marsi group. Um, it's led by Antonio La Gaza, who speaks Spanish, and he's the honorary counsel for Spain. And, you know, and it's just, and he's looking for an assistant. So I think you'd be doing, you'll do well in that position, but it's in Port of Spain. I said, Well, I have no problem going to Port of Spain. Mind you, I'm still living in arena, right? Yeah. So I said, I have no problem going to Port of Spain. I'll travel. It's not a problem. You know, and it's more money, marketing assistant. I know.

David:

You like that anyway.

Shira:

No, I have title. So I took the opportunity. He said, however, you're gonna have to go back to school. So I said, Well, fantastic. I've always wanted to go back to school. He said to do your marketing degree. And at that point, I was at a crossroad. I really wanted this new job, but I wanted it because I wanted money to be able to go to school to do veterinary. And here I am, presented with a job, but now I have to go back to school to do marketing. So after consulting with a couple people, they said, you know what? They're paying for your school. They're giving you a car allowance so you can buy a car. It's a good job. You know, you're getting more money, they're paying for your education. Take it. You'll be a fool not to take it.

Corie:

I said, but kind of age you're at that point.

Shira:

I was about 20 20.

Corie:

Oh, 21. Nice.

Shira:

About 20, 21.

Corie:

Yeah, great opportunity at that age, especially.

Shira:

So um, so it was a really hard decision to make because remember, me want to hear nothing about POB and POA. You sending me to do marketing, like anyway. So I ended up going, taking the opportunity, and I'm very grateful for that as well. Um and that position gave me an opportunity to explore um doing business with like Cuba and you know, different Latin-speaking countries. Um, it gave me a lot of opportunities. It opened up the whole world to me from a business point of view. And I went back to school and I did my marketing degree in public creation and advertising as well. So I have that. So with that under my belt, now I started moving around within the massive group. And you know, my dream of becoming a vet just got further and further and smaller and smaller until it was just like a wish. Right. It was just a dream that and you know, it still is a dream, actually.

Corie:

Right, yeah. Yeah, because I have a puppy hung in some trouble, you know, so get a dog right now. Maybe it could be you. But at the first time I met you was in a marketing position. I met you working at Synergy at a point in time. I don't even know if that was marketing. I was in marketing. So we had to meet with you guys uh working at Synergy. How long that how did that come opportunity come about?

Shira:

So after the massy stint, um I went to work for another company, another distribution company. And very quickly worked my way up within that company, which was a family-owned distribution business. And um, and then at while I was at that business, I realized that I was very good at organizing events. And because it's a distribution company, we needed to organize an annual event um in September where we would invite all our customers to kind of pre-order what they wanted for Christmas. So I started getting very creative with events, you know, wear hats and do this and themes and so on, and then decided to do an event um certification. So at that point in time, um, Arthur Lodchuk had started their event management courses.

David:

Oh, right.

Shira:

So I think I may have been like year two. Oh, wow. Second batch. So I went and I got certified for that. And once I was certified, I started doing um sporting events. Like I would work and then on the side, I would be doing planning, sporting events. And my cousin and I started planning extreme races, yeah, extreme off-road adventure races.

Corie:

Like bike racing.

Shira:

Like mountain biking, orienteering, trekking through the bush, kayaking, and then coming back, finding your way back to point. So, adventure racing, we actually introduced adventure racing to try and tobacco. Yes. So my cousin did it and it entered in a couple races, and then so he had the experience from a participant point of view, and then we both had this experience with event management, so we decided to, you know, started hosting these races. And who's his cousin?

Corie:

There's Kylenzu.

Shira:

No, there's another guy. Oh, okay.

Corie:

All right, just checking.

Shira:

Ryan Mens. Okay, Ryan Menz is actually the first person, if I'm not mistaken, in Trina and Tobago, who represented us in adventure races in New Zealand.

David:

I see.

Shira:

Yeah. So I mean, he's crazy.

David:

Yeah.

Shira:

You know, he would do a race that's three days long, and you just literally stop to sleep for like a couple hours and then continue. I mean, yeah.

Corie:

Yeah.

Shira:

So he so he's not good at all.

Corie:

I just want to put it on record.

Shira:

No, but it was fun, it was fun. Everything is fun. And um, so right, so we did these events, uh, we planned these races. So at that point in time, I realized, you know, my my employment was not satisfying me. I had reached a point where all I wanted to do was events and not really go to work anymore. So I, you know, had to, I I left the job very good terms, but you know, I had to say, look, I need to do this events thing. And it was it was very um, it was a huge step for me because I'm moving from a secured income, monthly income, which at that point in time was a good income. I had just gotten married and I was pregnant and I just had a baby. So um, you know, there were a lot of financial factors to take into consideration, but my passion for events gave me the strength. That and Mark Fojo. So there's this gentleman called Mark Fojo who met with me once and he said, Chara, you need to have your own business. And I'm like, Are you crazy? And he said, No, you really should. And he actually helped me start up my business. And with his support and the support of my husband at the time, uh I left. I left my job and I started doing event management. So more and more we started doing more and more races, more and more extreme sporting activities and events all over. And then at that point in time, Synergy TV approached us because they wanted to cover one of the events. So I started working closely with the producers of the show. I can't remember which show it was, but um, so I started working very closely with the producers because, of course, in as an event manager, production's very similar. Project management, event management, production, they're all very similar.

Corie:

Yeah, cousins. Yeah.

Shira:

So we I started working very closely with the production crew, and um after that, they offered me to come on board to help produce shows. So, of course, I just started my business. Yeah, you know, money tight.

Corie:

Or they're offering you as a as a job, not as a contract, like.

Shira:

No, no, it was uh it was a contract, okay. But still, you know, it's another client. Yeah, yeah. I'm looking at it as another client, an actual official client, um, as opposed to me just doing races. Sure. GSK came on board as well as a client to try me out, and they're still my client today. Yeah, nice 20 years later. Wow. So um, so yes, I started working with Synergy to on different productions. Um, Peter C. Lewis came back from wherever he went one time and thought that I needed culturing.

David:

Yeah.

Shira:

Yes, because I didn't know enough about black culture. So he gave me a magazine called M E T Soul something. Anyway, it was a magazine that spoke a lot about black music and black culture and whatever, whatever, because he thought that uh you know I needed more culturing. Like even up to now, I have a problem identifying races because I grew up just knowing everybody's everybody. Asked me to describe somebody, I the last thing I would say is what their race is, because I still don't know. Yeah, good.

Corie:

Like I can't tell what race you are. Oh, well, I mean, that's good.

Shira:

I can't tell what David is.

Corie:

Me neither.

unknown:

Kalaloo.

Shira:

So he said, listen, if you're gonna be waking sinage, you need to know about all sorts of cultures, right? Right, it makes a lot of sense, though. And all I listen to is Guns and Roses. You know, I don't know nothing about anything other than Guns N' Roses and soca. Yeah, I love so you do.

David:

Yeah, okay.

Shira:

But you know, I listen to my queen, my George Michael, and that's who I listen to. So he's like, nah, Shyra, you need to. So he brought me this magazine and he handed it to me. He said, Go home and study. When I flip in through this magazine, I saw a puke bag. You know, airplane, you get a puke bag, right? And this puke bag has a set of notes in it. So I was like, oh my god, I'm reading something I'm not supposed to be reading. And then I open it, and I'm like, call them. I said, Peter, that puke bag you left in there, was it a mistake? He said, Oh gosh, I forget. I was just writing on some ideas, but I forgot it in there. So you could read it, it's fine. So I read it. And there he was pretty much outlining a concept where he wanted to do an event or a show that would um foster the development of soccer artists, young, so young, young and upcoming soccer artists in Trinidad and Tobago. Um, so I read through it and I was like, you know me, I love to help everybody. I'm like, oh, this is fantastic. We can get a lot of youngsters to come out, you know, and expose them so that people could start hiring them. You know, I love the concepts. So that was my first project.

Corie:

So Synergy Soka starts start on a puke bag, is what you're saying. That's right. We had to get Peter to come here.

Shira:

Yeah, up to now, Peter's asking me, where the puke bag? Where is it? I keep finding it and losing it and finding it and losing it, moving around. I'm like, So it still exists.

Corie:

It's somewhere.

Shira:

It's somewhere.

Corie:

Beautiful.

Shira:

I think it's in my warehouse. Right, yeah. Yeah, it's a storage, it's safe.

Corie:

Not your good. It's Ralsey.

Shira:

But I don't know where, but it's Ralsey. Um so that is what happened. So we did Synergy TV Soccer Star for a couple of years, and then we decided.

Corie:

So you were there the original one, the the first?

Shira:

Yes.

Corie:

Yeah, because I remember the original one was when Fireball went in.

David:

Yes.

Corie:

And the second one was where we got involved because at that time our company was representing Sony Ericsson.

Shira:

Right.

Corie:

So we had a sponsorship deal, and I uh they had seen the show, the first one, just in traveling here.

Shira:

Oh, really?

Corie:

Yeah. Uh so they would come here several times a year to meet with at that time it was B Mobile and Digicel to sell their phones and stuff. Yes. And um Nokia and BlackBerry was dominant.

David:

Yeah.

Corie:

So they were always looking for avenues. So they actually brought that to us. Right. They said synergy, so because I was like, Oliver, well, I so glad because I like, you know, I would I would have never thought, yeah.

David:

Yeah.

Corie:

The only promotion we had run before that was uh um an artist by the name of Robbie Williams. Okay, you know, a white rock artist, right? And they keep trying to push this thing. That's how I was in Jamaica too, same company. Right. And I was only this Robbie Williams thinking, oh, you know, we need to find we are soaker artists, so always trying to tell them about, and then they came and they was like, but what about this you know, is young people involved and this and that or the other? And that's how I there was a guy you used to work with there too. Uh uh who I can't remember his name, but I remember coming to y'all and we we've had the initial meetings. That that time y'all were at um upstairs the post office there by Amara Building.

Shira:

That's right.

Corie:

Yeah, yes, and TC was the host and that kind of thing.

Shira:

Well, actually, that was you're correct, because we started off at the top of Gordon Street.

Corie:

That's where it was, the big glass. Yeah, so it was and we had this big glass.

Shira:

No, Gordon Street and like all right.

Corie:

Umtown. Yes, yeah, yeah, yes.

Shira:

It was a little office, it was the ecstatic office.

Corie:

That's true, it's the ecstatic office. I remember some of the initial videos, or some of the things I'll never forget about so because some of the initial videos, I guess they're teaching youths how to deal with the ban and all that, and they used to have the band play and go off key and see how the artists respond. Yes, or they really put a mutes through some things, but it was not really good.

Shira:

It was good, it was good.

Corie:

The country latched onto it, yeah.

Shira:

And actually, from that first year with Fireball, uh, one of the prizes that he won was a free management contract for a year. I see, but they had nobody to manage him. Yeah, oh serious, I'm like, you cannot say you're gonna give a management contract and not manage.

David:

Yeah.

Shira:

And what are we gonna do now? And I'm panicking, and of course, Peter's like, eh.

David:

Yeah, don't worry, we're gonna figure it out.

Shira:

Something will happen, something will happen. And I'm like, no, until I was told, well, if you are so concerned about it, why don't you do it?

Corie:

You take it all.

Shira:

I said, Well, I do not know how to manage an artist. But he said, Well, you'll learn.

Corie:

Like everything else.

Shira:

So I started and I managed Fireball for a number of years.

David:

Yeah, yeah.

Shira:

Up to when he got that huge sign-up with Bob Sinclair and went viral in Europe.

Corie:

Yeah, I remember it.

Shira:

Oh, so all then you and I was only background and learning, you know. Um, I met this gentleman by the name of um Cabaza, Christian Cabaza, and he was showing me the ropes pretty much, and he helped was very instrumental in signing up that deal. TC was also involved. So TC jumped on with me to help manage. Um, I mean, when Fireball was busy, we hit in. I mean, I remember one night we hit six gigs, and one of them was in Santa Flora, and the other one was in Grandi.

Corie:

So you're there.

Shira:

I drive and partner. Fireball next to me, sleeping in between gigs because he had a rest. Yeah, of course. And I am driving and trying to find these places all over the place. Yeah, it was an experience, it was a beautiful experience.

Corie:

That was a time, you know, Synergy Soker was a was a was a was a thing. It was it was something else to see. I always remember, and I told David this before you came, right? I say when he when he said Shira mom, I was like, Shire is who behind restaurant week? Which is like it goes way back because then I am 20 a little bit, and you know you study business, so you had to act like you know about business and you'll go to these meetings like you're comfortable. And the corporate space has never been the most comfortable place for me. It could be brutal. Yes, but I always remember how kindly you treated me then as well. You know, you never treat me like the little boy who's trying to do this and that.

Shira:

Well, because I I I'm really open and I'm really interested in people, like I really am, and um I don't know, maybe I'm very empathic. I don't know, maybe I am, but maybe too much so. But um, I believe that everyone everyone does things for a reason. So you know, there's a reason for every single behavior, there's a reason for every single action, and whether the action is positive or negative, that doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is why. So if I can understand why it is you run off the road to bonkst that dog, I will quicker not want to murder you. Like if if I understand that you have a little psychological problem, I will I will be able to quicker curb my anger and not pelt a brick behind me or something to that effect.

Corie:

Good enough for some grace.

Shira:

So it's always been very important for me to understand why people do things, and and I always am genuinely interested in hearing other people's point of view, which is why Restaurant Week again is so successful, because I'm lit I'm listening to people, I'm listening to what people want. People right now want street food. Yeah, so next year I have to find a way to incorporate street food into Restaurant Week. There must be a way, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, so because that's what people want. And back to synergy days, you know, it was a lot of you were learning, I was learning.

Corie:

Yeah, I was trying to figure it well, it didn't seem so to me, you know. It looked like all I had it sold together. You know what's up to me? There was one time we were in a meeting.

Shira:

Was it Randall? Was his name? Randall de Gans. Randall de Gans. Who still wakes up with me up to now? Serious, yes, he's involved in the world. Randall was the next one of them people.

Corie:

Serious, tell Randall that's it would happen. He's another one of them. It was the one meeting I know I could go any month where everybody just cool and it wasn't corporate like right. And I remember.

Shira:

But Randall is Yeah.

Corie:

It was just cool. And I remember you all explaining at the time you're gonna do a marathon. We were trying to figure out how to get some heroes, and we all talk about the marathon thing, and of course, me with my green self, I said, Well, alright, we have so much of jerseys, we can put everybody in a jersey, and then if they're on the marathon, and you all listen to me so kindly for grant about 15 minutes about this marathon, and he's like, No, a TV marathon. It's like a show when your show shows over and over and over. But it just felt like that space. And I mean, now that I say it like that, I before now I would never think that you're learning, and you know, and TC was so I'm I mean, he was experienced, he was around a long time by then, but still learning. Like I remember things just being behind the scenes, it was amazing how much was happening on the fly. Yeah, like somebody who just talked to TC and then and then it it it turns into something that you've seen on TV.

Shira:

You learn to um uh no comment is a bad comment. You learn to appreciate everyone's point of view, um, and you learn to think quickly on the go and make decisions, yeah. Because if you don't, then the moment has passed and that's it.

David:

Of course.

Shira:

Um, so that space, that synergy, young synergy, was incredible, create a very lovely creative space where anyone, uh the boom man could have a concept and that could develop into a show.

Corie:

That is true. Like I see some of that. It's it was amazing. It was amazing.

Shira:

So it was it was a really nice um nest for developing in different aspects of the whole television industry.

David:

Of course.

Shira:

Yeah, and I really appreciate it. Um, I stayed there for quite some time, and like, but then it was starting to take up a lot of my time, more and more and more of my time, so that I was just doing productions and managing Fireball. Um, you know, uh, and so my whole business model had changed. I was consumed, and then I was expected to be there for all these hours, and that left me very little time to do anything else. So there was a point where I just needed to cut back, yeah, move on and move on. Um, but yeah, I so enjoyed my time there.

Corie:

Yeah, it's like when you get to see the artists now who won Soka Star, it's like so many of them, some of the top artists we have now either Voice or Umi or Fireball or or one of my favorite people, Trinidad Killer. You'll see him now. His name wasn't Trinidad Killer then. I forget what his name was, but I'll never forget his song though. He's been who years. But it's nice to know that the people behind the scenes now, because who would I connect Synergy Soka Star with Restaurant Week? It's such a uh you know, it's so it's so hard to do.

Shira:

And you know what? Because it was such because of the nature of the soccer star model, we all got very close. We so I'm still very close to all of those guys, you know, and at any point in time, no matter how big they get and wherever they are, I still feel like they're my kids.

Corie:

Uh I would imagine, I suppose, yeah.

Shira:

Yeah, because they were so much younger than me at that point in time. You know, I remember um with Fran Alves, he was not legal to be going to places. Like he was below the age of 18, or whatever the case may be. And I had to be his official patch uh chaperone. Of course. Um, so you know, so he always holds a very special place in my heart. Um, so I feel we've we're all very connected because we're all very bonded.

David:

Yeah.

Shira:

Um and we bonding through moments like those, and you know, your growth makes you friends for life. Yeah, and you don't have to see each other for years, decades. But then when you see each other, it's like Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Corie:

Just connect.

Shira:

You know, it's like that unspoken word of I suppose.

Corie:

And the thing about it, just before I move on from this, one of the things that people may not remember about Synergy Soker Star was like the initial auditions. It was hundreds of youths. It's people, you know. You might see the show in the end where you have, but it's hundreds of youths. Yeah, we'd be missing things like that now here, you know? Yeah, we'll be missing some spaces like that.

Shira:

Yeah, I remember those days, boy, those auditions would go on for hours and hours and hours. Our poor panel of judges, Carl Bieber Henderson, Nante Carroll. I mean, I was I don't know how they did it. These are good. Like, how you how are you judging one and number hundred equally? You know, like it's it really is very taxing.

Corie:

It would be, it would be, it would be, it would be. So that that was just one moment in time. So, what what happened for you next day? Where did where did jump between there and restaurant week? Is it that you you got back focused on your event competition?

Shira:

So I got back focused on event management. Uh I started doing corporate events along with sporting events. Um, so I did a lot of corporate events, and then I realized that even though that made money, it was not it wasn't satisfying. And one thing that I learned very early on is that I'm driven by passion and not financial remuneration, which is sometimes a problem because I make very silly decisions. I like I use that to make decisions, and I probably shouldn't, not at 50 years old, right? At 50 years old, you're supposed to kind of say, money, bring me money. But um if I'm not passionate about an event, I'm not doing it. Um and that's basically what it is. And um as part of my you know growth, I think that is how Restaurant Week was born. I was called into a meeting with the representative of Restaurant Week in Jamaica because this distribution company was having a meeting because they wanted to host a restaurant week in Tran Tobago and they wanted to hire me to manage it.

David:

Right.

Shira:

So we had all preliminary conversations and there's a lot of information sharing. And then I started doing my own research because now I have possibly the position of manager for this event. But then the distribution company became very unresponsive, and communication with them was like non-existent. So fast forward two years now, I have now finished doing all my work, meeting with all these people, all this expense, my own expense, right? Um, so I decided to still have to still go ahead with the project. So and that was the first restaurant week. I approached a company and they did come on board for a couple years as a sponsor. And um, but then you know, then the kind of other sponsors came on board and they moved on and so on. So really and truly restaurant week came in as right after when Synergy TV had stopped, and I was afforded breeding room to be able to say, hmm, let me create something.

Corie:

I guess when you say 13 years ago, it would be right at the tail end of I see.

Shira:

Yeah.

Corie:

Yeah.

Shira:

So 15 years ago is when I started planning restaurant week, and my business is now 20 years old.

Corie:

That's good. So is the main focus of your business now?

Shira:

It is. So year wrong, you work in year wrong, I work in on restaurant week. Yeah, yes, and but mind you, uh that don't make me much money. So I still have to do little events here and there. Oh, good, okay, go ahead. So I still have corporate clients that I do events for, okay, and those pay my car insurance.

Corie:

Yeah, nice car insurance. I'm a rather sell to maybe pay that.

Shira:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, a little help. So skip that one. But um, yeah, so I so I still do a lot of corporate events, um, but my main focus is restaurant week. And it's always at the back of my mind. Meaning I could be knee deep into an event in the middle of the night at three o'clock in the morning, and I'm sound asleep, and you know, and I have to wake up at five o'clock to go somewhere to set up something. And I would wake up at three o'clock and make a note on my phone this year for restaurant week, I want this. Gotcha. A passion. It's just a passion, you know, and and as well as I don't have anyone telling me no, I can't. And that's a you know, so restaurant week is all from here. Yeah, everything that happens for restaurant week, I have decided on without anyone telling me no, you can't, and a million reasons why you should not.

Corie:

I would that's easy to come up with in this culture. You usually hear that.

Shira:

Yes, a lot of times. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and especially when you're doing events for other other entities, right? So, especially corporate training to be good. They have so many guidelines and rules and red tape and whatever, and this needs approval and that approval, and that word needs to change, and this word needs to be the by the time it's over. I'm like, but this is you cannot, I'm not gonna charge you for creating an event because all I am doing is executing.

Corie:

Okay, you facilitate it. I got you. So this this gets to be yours end-to-end.

Shira:

This gets to be mine, so I get to do what I want.

Corie:

I like that. So, who's some of your sponsors? Who's some of the tried and true people that have been here over the years? You have some of them people on our list?

Shira:

Yeah, we have our so financial financial institutions have been very supportive, yes. So we've had Scotia Bank and Republic Bank both on board, and you know, they were each on board for like a three-year contract. So I'm very grateful for for them. The distribution companies came on board in the earlies, but now they don't find it useful because and it may not necessarily be a good fit for them either. And I agree with them. And that is because if AMCO is sponsoring and AMCO has these wines that they would like to promote for restaurant week, it is in their best interest that the restaurant sues those wines. It's also in their best interest that the restaurant only sues those wines. Of course. But who's gonna tell a hundred restaurants you could only sell these wines? You can't.

Corie:

Yeah, they responded to the customer. Right?

Shira:

So it's um for distribution companies, the model for sponsorship has to change. Now, and it has changed, what they do is they actually approach restaurants and offer them specials. So they use restaurant week as um uh as an event to generate sales, like a boost, like a cash cow. Of course. You know, so doing it.

Corie:

Yeah, because their sales had to be slow in September too if restaurants understood.

Shira:

So they would do run specials um and offer specials for restaurants who are partaking in restaurant week. Um so that is how that is the approach, but of course that doesn't bring in any money. Yeah, of course it doesn't benefit you. Right. So I still have to, you know, play chip chip charlie.

Corie:

Yeah, but I don't know. That must be Talian, I don't know nothing about that.

Shira:

Try to make a dollar out of 50 cents. So you twist definitely Melanese. Anybody else know this? You don't know chip chip Charlie, so so many restaurants.

Corie:

I know there's a hundred of them. Good. But give me give me an idea some now if you had to make recommendations to me. I live in right close to the savannah. You have any in mind that I should be within which savannah? Queen Spark Savannah, forget you not from here.

Shira:

But no, we have a couple savannas in Trinidad actually, okay? Right. Yeah, couple is the rangwe savannah. No, but we have savannah.

Corie:

Any of them come to mind? Like people who've been on or you have restaurants that have been on since the beginning?

Shira:

So, yes. Um, actually, last year I celebrated the restaurants who on barred with me for the longest of since inception, actually.

David:

True.

Shira:

Um, and it was just one, it was more vino. Oh, really?

David:

Yes, yeah.

Shira:

That crazy guy, David Stone, he stuck with me through all his years, boy. And I don't talk to him otherwise, you know, just wrestling him. My best, my best friend. Yo, you yo, yo, what?

Corie:

September, buddy.

Shira:

Yeah, that's what September, buddy.

Corie:

Yeah, and you know, it's funny because when I was looking at some of your interviews, uh the media interviews, uh, I came across the influencers who would talk about it or food bloggers, whatever you call them. And a few of them more for more, you know, the open insults and that kind of thing.

Shira:

Yes, because during restaurant week, there's a lot of exchanging of ideas and a lot of introductions and a lot of trials, and so on. So restaurants would get an opportunity to meet all these influencers. Um, and that continues, it doesn't stop just at restaurant week, it continues. So their relationship with these influencers would would continue. It's the same way that a restaurant would introduce a new dish or prepare a special menu just for restaurant week, and on that menu they would introduce creations that are off menu.

David:

Yes.

Shira:

So the same way that works, right? So they create these fantastic combinations, or sometimes not fantastic, and they try it during restaurant week, and that's like the test.

David:

Makes sense.

Shira:

And if it's good, then they put it onto their menu, the regular menu. And that has happened a lot of times with a lot of restaurants. You know, so restaurant week is not only a time where people go out and enjoy themselves and dine, and that's what happens front of house.

David:

Sure.

Shira:

Behind the scenes, you have a crazy chef saying, hmm, how can I fit plantain and this and that together and call that whatever? And you know, how can I create this? How can I blend these two flavors? That is what happens leading up to restaurant week, and that does not just happen overnight.

Corie:

Yeah, of course. There's plenty planning and plenty work.

Shira:

Yes. So the same way, I same way I wake up in the middle of the night and come up with concepts. Same way I'm sure there's a chef somewhere waking up in the middle of the night saying, aha! Yeah, I know what I'm doing this year for restaurant week.

David:

Okay.

Shira:

It's not just about slashing prices, it's about coming up with creative new fusion cuisines, which makes us really and truly the culinary capital of the tr of the Caribbean.

Corie:

Oh, you're going back to that fight. So listen to me.

Shira:

I promise you that by the end of this year, by the end of restaurant week this year, Trinidad and Tobago will be will be the culinary capital of the Caribbean. Because we already are. It's just a matter of letting AI know that.

Corie:

Yeah, of course. Well, you say it's positioning. We we had to be deliberate about it.

Shira:

But if you do however, all now, if you research the largest the largest restaurant week in the Caribbean, it's Trina Tobago. Oh, really? Yes. Congrats on that. That's nice. So it's we're already there. But now I'm gonna coin that Trina Tobago is the culinary capital of the Caribbean. Okay. Because it just is.

Corie:

Gotcha. Well, congrats on it, congrats on all the things you talk about. I mean, we went far from the the restaurant week topic, right? But it's very, very interesting. It is really nice to see you and connect with you again from since those old them days back in the day. You can't make it song too too old, right? You can't make it song too long ago. But thanks a million. I appreciate you coming. And um, just tell us before you go again that the dates when it when it's on and everything, because I'm gonna be uh don't like to come out my house, huh? But for you, I will. So Friday, we're coming out, we go into places and we did say in an interview that you're going to Bago for two days because you have five restaurants. You're gonna do breakfast, lunch, and dinner here. I don't have that kind of salmon, but I can promise you that every day in restaurant week, I'll find somewhere that David could take man and try something. So remind me of the date something and any other details we need.

Shira:

Sure. Uh so this year, restaurant week is from the 26th of September. That's a Friday, and it goes on for 10 days until the 5th of October.

David:

Great.

Shira:

So two weekends and the week in the middle. Um, it's quite fun because you can literally dine out three times a day because there are breakfast places, there are lunch places, and there are dinner places. So it's very simple. If you want to hit 10 restaurants, you can more than do it because you could do breakfast one day, lunch one day, dinner the next day, dinner, and so on.

Corie:

Make the most of it.

Shira:

Make the most of it because you never know what you could stumble upon. Um one year I discovered this pizza by Chop Chops, which is now closed.

Corie:

Chop Chops was more spotted. And the prepper over there.

Shira:

They had a pizza collet.

Corie:

Yeah, we used to have all the time.

Shira:

Pizza with grape on it. Listen.

Corie:

Oh man, what are they going? Tell them, come back out. You know that.

Shira:

Oh, really?

Corie:

That's what it was. Yeah, all right. Let's see if it works. But congrats on it. You'll see us around for restaurant weekly. And I'm looking forward to having you back to talk about however it changes. Because I I I'm an advocate for the street food too. So when you figure it out, yeah.

Shira:

I have a couple models in my head, but it's um it's taking like restaurant week is taking some time to actually happen. So, because I want to have it right, you know? I want to make sure that's it.

Corie:

Yeah, doubles back to a dollar.

Shira:

Well, hello. That's actually part of part of the thing that I'm working on.

unknown:

Right.

Corie:

Not a dollar, but yeah, good, good, good, good, good. Thanks very much. It was nice. I appreciate it.