UWI graduates are everywhere – politics, business, the arts, and as public intellectuals. In the coming months, UWI TODAY will profile some of our high achieving alumni who have made or are making a positive impact on society.
“My parents had a very great influence on me,” she says. “My father served as President of the Guyana Heritage Society. As a child, I was fortunate to attend many academic lectures.”
Collins-Gonsalves is now the Managing Director of the Historical Research International Inc (HRI), which offers in-depth historical research for companies, government agencies, historical societies, and other organisations. She says her work as a historian of Business History and the practical application of historical research and writing led her to start HRI.
Throughout her academic life, history always fascinated her. As early as high school, at St Stanislaus College in Guyana, she was awarded the prize for Best History Graduate alongside a host of other accolades. She then went on to the University of Guyana, where she did her Bachelor of Arts in History, served as the president of the University of Guyana History Society, and upon graduation was awarded the Council of the University Prize.
But it was at The UWI that Collins-Gonsalves found the historical niche that would become her bread and butter.
“My research at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, centred on a 100-year study of the Entrepreneurship of the Portuguese in British Guiana (now Guyana),” she says.
This work took her across the world—from Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago, to England and Madeira, Portugal. “This international research influenced my own entrepreneurial journey. Corporate and business history were my initial focus. Now, [HRI] has expanded to include biographies, research on the history of organisations, public history for museums, archives, and government agencies, among other aspects.”
She credits the lecturers and academics at The UWI for helping to shape the trajectory of her work. “I had very good lecturers, and they were very instrumental in my journey,” she says.
In addition to support from her supervisor, Dr Heather Cateau, she also had in her corner Prof Bridget Brereton and the late Prof Brinsley Samaroo.
“They both reviewed my work when I was a post-graduate student, and they have helped to shape my work over time... In fact, it was Prof Brereton who encouraged me to publish my second book.”
Being at UWI also helped her further develop the skill of critical analysis, which is important for parsing through archival records, newspapers, oral history and the range of sources that must be investigated to create as close to a complete picture as possible. In Caribbean history, where many of our stories have been missed by the archive or erased entirely, this has been crucial.
“Thorough research sets a strong foundation for historical writing... and has been key to writing my books over the years,” says Collins-Gonsalves, who notes that she has found this to be a cornerstone of UWI St Augustine’s History Department.
With this as her foundation, she has authored over 30 research projects, books, book chapters, academic articles, research papers, conference papers and biographical profiles. In addition to a book emerging from her research at UWI, Portuguese in Business in Guyana 1835-1935: A History of Entrepreneurship, Expansion and Diversification in 2025, she also published From Ashes to Ferro-Concrete: A History of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Guyana) 1814-2014 in 2014, and her second book (which Prof Brereton encouraged her to tackle) Iris de Freitas Brazao, Legal Luminary and Trailblazer: Caribbean, Canada, Wales, England, 1896-1989 in 2023.
“[Prof Brereton] actually wrote the introduction to that book,” says Collins-Gonsalves. “I'm very honoured that she was able to do that.”
In 2025, Collins-Gonsalves was recognised as one of Canada’s Top 100 Black Women to Watch by CIBWE and she serves on the Advisory Board of the Farquharson Institute of Public Affairs, Jamaica among others.
For young Caribbean historians entering the field, she is a shining example of how a love for history can become a thriving business and publishing career. As to why students should study history, she notes that “history and historical research have often been highlighted as one of the disciplines that promote critical thinking, coupled with the skills and tools of rigorous research.”
For scholars of tomorrow, critical thinking is a crucial skill in a world where it is in short supply. She is married to Serafin Gonsalves and they have two children, Matthew and Theresa.