Keita Charles honoured with Caribbean American Heritage Award on Long Island

Trinidadian-American businessman Keita Charles described himself as deeply moved after being named among those given the Caribbean American Heritage Award in Nassau County on Long Island.

“Receiving the Caribbean American Heritage Honor was a truly humbling and meaningful experience for me,” Charles told Caribbean Life on Friday, July 17. He collected the distinction at The Reckson Center at the Museums at Mitchel – Cradle of Aviation in Garden City.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman sponsored the ceremony, together with the Nassau County Office of Minority Affairs, Caribbean Business Connections, and Team Jamaica Bickle.

“I felt proud to be recognized as a Trinidadian-American and grateful that my work, values, and commitment to the community were acknowledged,” said Charles, a Morehouse College alumnus who is also a father, entrepreneur and community advocate. His career has spanned real estate, banking compliance, marketing and business development. In recent years he has collaborated with Schneps Media and Caribbean Life to help local firms and civic groups raise their profile through print, digital platforms, advertising and strategic marketing.

Charles said he remains dedicated to uplifting Caribbean culture, backing entrepreneurs and opening doors in the community.

“The honor also gave me an opportunity to reflect on my journey as a father, entrepreneur, and man of faith,” Charles said. “I was thankful for the family members, mentors, friends and supporters who encouraged me along the way, and helped shape the person I became.

“I accepted the honor with gratitude and pride, knowing that it represented more than my individual accomplishments,” he added. “It represented my heritage, my community, and my continued responsibility to inspire, serve and create opportunities for others.”

Fellow recipients included Patricia Chin — widely known as “Miss Pat” — the Jamaican businesswoman, music industry trailblazer and VP Records co-founder. Over more than 60 years she has helped bring reggae and dancehall to listeners across the globe, building a modest Kingston shop into one of the Caribbean’s most consequential music houses.

“Miss Pat’s vision, determination and dedication have made her a respected cultural icon and a powerful example for women in business,” Charles said.

Also honoured was Andrew Morris, born in Jamaica and co-founder and chief executive of Sam’s Caribbean Marketplace in West Hempstead, Long Island. With his wife, Jean, he launched the family enterprise in 1993 and has since made genuine Caribbean foods and goods available to buyers across the United States and overseas. Morris is regarded as a community figure who sustains Caribbean culture through business, civic work and education.

Drawing on Trinidadian roots and a Morehouse education, Charles has spent over 20 years in real estate, advertising sales, compliance, entrepreneurship and community work. He is known for linking people, projects and ideas — from guiding families through property deals and helping companies reach multicultural markets, to leading advertising efforts for Caribbean Life and Schneps Media, and looking into new AI marketing projects. In all of it, he said, he brings “strategy, heart, and hustle.”

As a father, sibling, son and man of faith, Charles said he believes “true success is measured not by personal achievement alone, but by legacy — by the doors opened, the bridges built, and the ground made firmer for the generation that follows.” He lives by the saying that “one hand can’t clap,” keeping collaboration, community progress and culturally aware business at the centre of his work.

His career, he said, has never been “a straight road.” Moving from banking compliance into real estate, then media sales and business development, he has shown a capacity to adjust, reinvent himself and press ahead. That path, he said, mirrors “the determination carried by so many Caribbean-American families who arrived on these shores with faith, ambition and a plan.”

Charles said he now stands for what Caribbean-American success can look like: commercially driven, family-oriented, proud of culture and focused on community. The Caribbean American Heritage Month honour, he said, speaks not only to his own record but to the ancestors, elders, mentors and neighbours who moulded him, “because Caribbean Americans have always contributed far more than food, music, and carnival energy.

“They have brought leadership, entrepreneurship, education, creativity, and a work ethic that commands respect,” said Charles, who treats his heritage as a “foundation.” He said he navigates life “through the world the way Caribbean people always have — with grace under pressure, fire in the vision, and an unshakable belief that what was built with sacrifice deserves to be celebrated.

“The work continues, the legacy grows, and the culture wins.”