Chandy’s Julianspromos Debut: Interviewing Problem Child
On May 13, 2011, Chandelle “Chandy” De Riggs sat down with Vincentian Soca artist Problem Child at Mango Seed Restaurant in Brooklyn, New York.
It was Chandy’s first interview for Julianspromos and the beginning of an on-camera chapter that would eventually take her to Caribbean events and Carnivals across several markets.
But on this night, it started simply: Chandy, Problem Child, a camera, and a conversation in Brooklyn.
Chandelle “Chandy” De Riggs interviews Problem Child at Mango Seed Restaurant in Brooklyn, New York, in 2011. The interview marked Chandy’s Julianspromos media debut and the beginning of a professional relationship with the platform that continues today.
Meeting Problem Child in 2011
By 2011, Shertz “Problem Child” James was already well established within Vincy Soca.
He had won the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Road March in 2007 with “Party Animal” and again in 2009 with “Mad House.”
His music was also reaching Soca audiences outside St. Vincent. Around the 2011 season, tracks including “Sweetest Wine” were circulating as his profile continued growing across the Caribbean and diaspora.
That made Problem Child a fitting first interview for Chandy as she stepped into a new role with Julianspromos.
How Chandy Found Julianspromos
Chandy’s path to the platform began online.
While blogging on Islandmix, she came across Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson’s interview with nine-year-old Young Devyn. Seeing that interview sparked her interest in becoming involved with what Julianspromos was beginning to build.
She already had experience writing and photographing Caribbean culture, but the opportunity with Julianspromos opened another door: interviewing artists on camera.
On May 13, that opportunity became real at Mango Seed.
A Brooklyn Conversation at Mango Seed
Mango Seed Restaurant provided a familiar Caribbean setting for the interview.
Rather than a large concert or festival environment, the setting allowed Chandy to sit down with Problem Child for a direct conversation during an active period in his career.
The surviving image from the interview captures the two seated together inside the Brooklyn restaurant — an early snapshot of Julianspromos’ expanding interview coverage.
For viewers looking back today, the appeal is partly in seeing both sides of the interview at that point in time: an established Soca artist already carrying major Vincy Road March wins, and a new interviewer making her first appearance for Julianspromos.
The Beginning of Chandy’s On-Camera Years
The Problem Child interview was only the beginning.
Chandy went on to interview artists, photograph events and represent Julianspromos during a period when its original Caribbean media coverage was expanding beyond New York.
Her later coverage would include events in Toronto and Miami, but the starting point was this 2011 Brooklyn interview.
Years later, Chandy would move increasingly behind the scenes, eventually becoming Director of Public Relations & Media at Julianspromos.
That later chapter gives the May 2011 interview a different meaning today: it preserves the moment before any of that had happened.
From the Julianspromos Archives
The May 13, 2011 Problem Child interview captures an early piece of New York Soca media history and the beginning of Chandy’s work with Julianspromos.
Problem Child was already a two-time Vincy Road March winner. Chandy was conducting her first Julianspromos interview. And the platform itself was entering a period when artist interviews and original Caribbean media would become an increasingly visible part of its work.
More than fifteen years later, the interview remains a simple look back at where that chapter began — inside Mango Seed Restaurant in Brooklyn.
