Sunbeam Chats podcasts highlight Trinidad and Tobago, Caribbean businesses

Marketing and communications professional Arlene Holman said her entrepreneurship-focused podcast Sunbeam Chats was created to showcase existing businesses, provide encouragement to new businessowners, and educate people about various aspects of business.

The podcast, which was launched in October 2021, has over 80 episodes, the most recent in July 2024. Holman said having worked in marketing and communications for the last 30 years, she wanted to focus on highlighting the positive work people were doing.

“The idea to focus on profiling professional businesspeople and entrepreneurs and their businesses was to highlight the businesses that exist, because while you start your business, people need to know about you.

“Each episode starts with asking people, 'Tell us about yourself?' because I believe it’s not just a business, but it’s a reflection of the individual, and in order for you to grow and thrive, you must focus on your body, mind, soul and spirit. So it tends to start with, 'Tell us about how it started? What do you produce? Starting up with this idea, what made you start this business?'”

Holman said she went the podcast route because she had noticed as part of her marketing and communications career that people did not read as much.

“Of course this is a big concern for me. Having the platform in the digital space, it’s more accessible. You can access a podcast anywhere and at any time, you can pause and go back to it. Podcasts have been around for a long time. Basically, it’s radio on demand and podcasts are becoming a trend now. It’s readily accessible, you can get it on your phone through apps like Spotify, YouTube, Instagram, Threads, etc. You can listen while at the gym, while driving, and that was the point of having it on digital platforms.”

She said before beginning her podcast, she researched what podcasts were present in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean and what they focused on.

“I saw the niche where more of a focus was needed on highlighting business. There are quite a few podcasts but for me there was still a gap in terms of focusing on the areas of art, culture, business, women, and wellness. So all the episodes and the content are around those areas in different ways, but they all come back to a business aspect.”

Holman said one great thing about podcasts was that people could find episodes about almost anything they were interested in.

She said she chose the name Sunbeam because a sunbeam was a ray of light. She said she aimed to inspire people.

“It’s about enlightenment. If you’re a business person and you want to be encouraged about starting your business, you get to hear about people coming up with names for their business. You hear it’s not going to be easy but you have to know and understand your why, and that is what takes you through in tough times in your business. It inspires you to keep moving in that space.

“When you listen to the episodes, you will gain knowledge about specific fields and you will be enlightened about various topics. I recently did an episode on menopause, which is important for women, and I learned that women only enter menopause after they’ve gone a whole year without a period. You get tips, I did an episode where the discussion was about being fit and fitness, and I learned you need to get fitter as you get older because you lose muscle mass.”

The podcast has featured people from Bahamas, Barbados, Cayman, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts, Saint Lucia, Trinidad, Tobago, USVI, and the US with more countries to be featured this year.

The Sunbeam Chats Podcast was listed as one of the 52 Caribbean-owned Podcasts to Stream Now by Karibbean Kollective, a Caribbean lifestyle brand. Holman was accepted as part of the Forbes BLK Community earlier this year for the work of the podcast and for creating a space for the community.

The podcast can be found on Spotify, YouTube and at https://sunbeamchatspodcast.buzzsprout.com/.

Holman, who was born in San Fernando, has operated in various sectors, including advertising. telecommunications, manufacturing, entertainment, in arts, culture, education, and tourism. She has worked with many local, regional, and international companies and organisations, providing her wealth of experience in managing brand portfolios and products.

She currently splits her time between Trinidad and the US Virgin Islands. She has an MSc of Marketing from Edinburgh Business School, UK; a post graduate diploma in marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK; and a diploma in digital marketing from Arthur Lok Jack. Her areas of expertise are in brand development, advertising, event management, digital marketing, content creation and production.

Holman is currently the director of the NGO Willing Hands and was also a former director of Export Centre Companies Ltd (ECCL). She has a passion for the arts and creative industry, and was appointed the marketing manager and festival co-ordinator of Carifesta XIV. In 2019, she was appointed a member of the Caricom Interim Festival Development Committee (IFD), responsible for the development and marketing of festivals in the Caribbean.