In 2010 she started trading at the Divali Nagar under her business name “Henna Trinidad” and invited other henna artists to join her at her booth to gain exposure and experience, increase business and grow their clientele in a popular, affordable, and convenient medium.

In 2012, she became the first-ever Internationally Certified Natural Henna Artist (certified by the ICNHA www.icnha.org) in the country and by extension the Caribbean.
Soon after attaining this certification, she embarked on a countrywide mission to teach others about the benefits of natural henna products and sensitize the public about the dangers of “Black Henna” and commercial henna cones, by utilizing social media platforms and attending local events, bazaars, and fairs and educating the public by providing them with data and information compiled in one easy to read pamphlet and posters.

She has built a team of 18 henna artists (and growing) who campaign via public events and their social media platforms on the traditions and beliefs of Henna and Mehendi, and educate the public about this ancient art form that is more of a tradition and cultural aspect and dispel the beliefs locally about Henna being linked to only one religious circle. The entire team has committed themselves in the fight against using commercial chemical cones locally and regionally and has embarked on a petition to ban the importation of such substances.
Risa has trained over 200 artists locally and regionally to date, with COSTAAT hiring her in her professional capacity. She continues to spread the word, through these platforms, about the many uses of henna, such as a chemical-free option to color and condition hair and scalp and treat scalp and hair conditions. She provides products for naturalist and natural hair care activists who use only 100% organic products in hair and on skin and has a wide range of Ayurvedic powders that are located nowhere locally, but at Henna Trinidad, whilst maintaining her goal of being affordable and convenient.

She has also started a program that encourages unity among henna artists locally in the form of an event called a Sip N Henna. This event is geared towards educating the public about the benefits of using natural henna and bringing the henna community together in one location to connect, network, share ideas, tips, and tricks and boost the morale in the henna community. She also is using this event to dispel the taboo character of the term “henna artist” as henna is more than just applying the paste on the skin to leave a stain that lasts 1-2 weeks.

In 2018, she started a program called Henna Artists With A Purpose (#hawap) that encourages henna artists to give back to the community that supports them. The first HAWAP2018 initiative raised funds totaling TT$4,325.00 that was donated in the form of household supplies, food items, and sanitary and cleaning products to the Florence Foundation Wesleyan Children’s Home in Chickland, Freeport. The artists donated their services free of charge and collected funds, pooled resources together, and provided a day of fun and entertainment to the children’s home in November 2018.

In 2019, she teamed up with the Caribbean Beauty Awards and created and sponsored a new category called “Henna Artist of the Year” with the initiative of giving the term “henna artist” more credit and more value that it barely possesses at the moment. Her plan is to one day host the very first Henna Conference in Trinidad & Tobago and have henna artists from all over the world visit and partake in our culture and inspire and educate the local artists as well, through inspirational talks, seminars, workshops, and meet and greets at the conference.

To date, she has given countless advice, help, and business opportunities to henna artists locally and regionally and distributes products in Caribbean Islands such as Grenada, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Aruba, British Virgin Islands to name a few. She has boosted the henna community locally and regionally, and has given many artists a platform to promote the art form and themselves as individuals, and helped many artists build their business from the ground up. She gives artists the option to build a business by becoming a distributor of her products and supplies and help them to make a small profit for themselves.
She has lost a lot in the past, trading with new suppliers and paying for items, never collecting goods paid for, and losing products in transit en route to Trinidad. This has never shaken her confidence in her pursuit to provide products and supplies to artists. She supports each artist willingly and selflessly and uses her own experience from when she began her journey, to encourage her to keep pursuing her dreams. Henna Trinidad is now the leading supplier of henna body art products and supplies locally and regionally and the name is synonymous with the henna arts in the Caribbean, and now the world.

In 2019, she opened up the training platform she currently offers and started moving up the chain of Caribbean islands, taking her knowledge and experience and started with Grenada to share insight and teach others the art of mehndi. Covid-19 proved to be a hindrance, however, this has not stopped her pursuit in training others via online platforms and providing others with materials to train, practice, and trade.

She has opened up trading platforms with countries that do little to no trading with us at the moment and brings in revenue for the country as well. She spreads the word about the culture and the traditions locally when it comes to Henna and Mehendi and has boosted the Henna community by leaps and bounds. She continues to help anyone who is willing to learn and grow in henna art and is a source of inspiration for young people all over the world, by proving to them that you can build something out of nothing, and do wonders once you continue fearlessly pursuing your dream.
She was also given the opportunity to speak and inspire other youths through various mentorship programs and platforms throughout the years and continues to do this at no cost and at a whim’s notice. Her main focus with this is to inspire other youths to create brilliant ideas from passions and dreams.

She is a wife, a mother of an 11-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl, a female entrepreneur, a role model for young people in her community, and a strong, independent, determined young woman.

Features:
May 2010 Guardian’s WomanWise Magazine
Jan-Feb 2011 Caribbean Beat Magazine
September 2011 Trinidad Express Woman Magazine
October 2014 Trinidad Express Woman Magazine (follow up)
October 2016 – Morning Edition Interview (TV6)
October 2016 – The Morning Brew Interview with Hema Ramkissoon (CNC3)
October 2017 – Feature in the Special Insert of Divali Special Magazine (Trinidad Express)
November 2018 – TV6 News at 7 pm Feature Live at the Divali Nagar Site
November 2018 – Sankhya TV Interview Live at the Divali Nagar Site
July 2019 – Featured Henna Artist – Hennapreneur.com – “I am Hennapreneur” Series
May 2019 – Indian Arrival Day Article on Henna/Mehndi & Indian Culture – Guardian Newspapers
October 2019 – NOW Morning Show Feature Divali 2019
November 2020 – NOW Morning Show Feature Divali 2020
November 2020 – Newsday Special Divali Feature – Henna Trinidad brings Mehndi to your home
November 2020 – TTT Sunday Night Newscast Feature – Henna Trinidad & facing/surviving the global pandemic