Jade Tha Gemini is a Caribbean lifestyle creator, singer and author proudly representing the island of Dominica.
Known for her sharp wit and rich cultural insight, she uses social media to unpack Caribbean identity, from calling out the misuse of the word “Caribbeans” to defending the correct way to cook plantain. Blending humour, history and heritage, Jade shares stories in her native Kweyol while also exploring Caribbean love and complexity through her growing body of novels.
Here, she reflects on her mission to educate, entertain and empower through every platform she touches.
Please introduce yourself …
My name is Jade Leatham, I am a multi-hyphenate creative (author, musician, film-maker, content creator.) I’m from the Commonwealth of Dominica and I’m a Gemini sun, Pisces moon, Aquarius rising.
Describe your life right now in a sentence or one word …
Chaotic.
Why are we here?
I’m an author who’s just completed the first draft of the last novel in my ‘Mirror‘ series. I published the first novel Mirror, Mirror this January and will be publishing the second, Smoke & Mirrors, this month. This is my first body of work centring Caribbean characters, told through a Caribbean lens because I feel our love stories often go untold or misunderstood.
I created this series to reflect the rich, nuanced romance that exists in our culture where Caribbean women are not damsels in distress, but rather radiant in our complexity; strong and soft, bold and tender, sensual and conservative. Our femininity isn’t performative. Neither is our masculinity. Our men, for the most part, enjoy women, respect them, and participate in love in a way that doesn’t always follow western romance tropes and I think that deserves a platform.
I also wanted to disrupt the idea that love stories need toxicity to be compelling. The Mirror series explores how two people confront their own emotional fractures to build something real, not perfect, but fulfilling and powerful. I wanted to show a romance where no one has to shrink to be loved, where being fully seen is the entire point. This is the same theme I explored in my short film shot last November. Right now the world feels dark and divided, I believe artists have a responsibility to contribute something beautiful and constructive. My stories are my way of doing that. To remind people that healing, love, and wholeness are still worth writing about.
GETTING TO KNOW YOU
If not this, then what? Oh man, maybe medicine or psychiatry.
What’s made you sad, mad, and glad this week? Sad, dealing with house fire cases. Mad, batant racism. Glad, watching Nicolandria ship on Love Island. (I know, I know! But friends to lovers? Slow burn? Forced Proximity? Forbidden love in real life is too good!)
What are you watching? I don’t watch anything except Love Island currently. I’ve been busy writing and filming.
What are you reading? Sensual Faith: The Art of Coming Home to Your Body by Lyvonne Briggs.
The last film you watched? Rewatched, Wakanda Forever.
The last play you saw? Oh my. It’s been so long I can’t remember.
The last live music event you attended? World Creole Music Festival 2024.
What’s currently on your music playlist? I have been having Sleep Token, My Chemical Romance and The Neighborhood playing a lot lately.
Which song are you listening to on repeat at the moment Provider by Sleep Token.
Which podcast(s) are you currently listening to? Smosh Reads Reddit Stories and Reddit on Wiki (I love Reddit stories).
What’s on your bucket list? Going to Hawaii, Bali and Kenya, Buying a farm in Merida, Mexico, Training a murder of crows and a conspiracy of ravens as my agents
Where’s your happy place?
A water sandwich. Let me explain. It’s something I do back home in Dominica, when it’s raining, I either go to the beach or the hot water baths, float on the water while the rain falls on me and I stare at the stars. So there is water
from the heaven above me, and water on earth below me, and I am the middle. Water sandwich. It’s so soothing and spiritual.
Celebrate someone… There’s this dynamic woman, Rianna Patterson. I call her a national treasure. She is so accomplished and passionate about her work with Dementia Research and she recently did a film about it. She is such an inspirational person in her work and character.
Celebrate yourself… I am proud of keeping promises to myself this year. My last birthday I lost all my creative work I had been doing for five years. I decided to skip being depressed and hunker down, telling myself if I could create it once I could do it again. Before my birthday this year, in less than 12 months, I wrote, directed, acted and produced a short film, wrote three novels, published one, started another book series and was a delegate at the Caribbean Canada Leadership Dialogue, where I got to speak to Princess Anne and Wes Hall and my final presentation was a documentary I shot and edited in four days.
What’s next? My focus now is publishing the next two books of my Mirror Series, finishing my film and submitting it to film festivals, and hopefully getting a manuscript picked up by a major publisher and do my own online mini
series.
Where can we find you? IG & Threads: Jadebrevesmuzic. Tiktok & Facebook: JadeThaGemini
Where can we see or hear your work? You can check out my socials and my website – creolecollective.com
My book Mirror, Mirror is available on Kindle and Amazon and on my website.