On April 17th, TIME released TIME 100, their annual list of the hundred most influential people for 2019. The compilation honored three West Indians, showing our wide ranging influence in beauty, sports, and art.
Marlon James 🇯🇲
Marlon James is a Jamaican novelist and writer. He is known for his books John Crow’s Devil, The Book of Night Women, and A Brief History of Seven Killings, which explores Jamaican history and political instability.
In 2015, he won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction.A Brief History of Seven Killings was the first book by a Jamaican author to be nominated for the award.
Fellow writer Salman Rushdie described James as “one of the most important voices of his literary generation.”
2. Naomi Osaka 🇭🇹🇯🇵
Naomi Osaka is a professional tennis player and the reigning champion in women’s singles at the US Open and the Australian Open.
While others try to place a single identity, Osaka has fervently defended both her Japanese and Haitian identities. Chris Evert writes that Osaka is “more concerned with being herself” while also representing “our more globalized, multicultural future.”
Pat Mcgrath 🇯🇲
Pat McGrath is a make-up artist and beauty titan. In her intro, Beverly Johnson writes that McGrath “allows [black women] to be seen.”
She speaks of a time when make-up artists struggled to understand the skin color of black women. When McGrath entered the industry as a self-taught make-up artist, she disrupted what was previously thought possible. McGrath, rightfully, deserves to be celebrated as a “creative genius.”
