Char­lene Stu­art, for­mer CNC3 and TV6 re­porter and a qui­et voice for men­tal health aware­ness in Caribbean me­dia cir­cles, died on Sun­day.

Born and raised in Guyana, Stu­art be­gan her ca­reer as a print jour­nal­ist be­fore mov­ing to Trinidad at age 23, where she found her foot­ing in broad­cast jour­nal­ism. She cred­it­ed the late for­mer Head of News Na­tal­ie Williams for tak­ing a chance on her at TV6, first as­sign­ing her to the Morn­ing Edi­tion pro­gramme. Though she was hired as a re­porter, Stu­art’s first on-air role came on­ly years lat­er, af­ter build­ing her craft be­hind the scenes.

In writ­ing her own sto­ry about her life some years ago, she said she was men­tored by fig­ures such as Andy John­son, who shared not just his Rolodex but his time and guid­ance, and Rose­marie Sant, who she said once warned her, “When the broad­cast bug bites, that’s the end.” Stu­art said she threw her­self in­to the job, study­ing Trinidad’s pol­i­tics, tun­ing in to the BBC, and sharp­en­ing her voice in more ways than one.