Shareka Bentham has three passions: speech therapy, fitness and photography. During the day she can be found in her clinic, schools, hospitals and homes, seeing adults and children with various communication and feeding/swallowing difficulties.
On evenings she’s either working out in the gym or teaching a fitness class. Weekends she is behind a camera capturing the true beauty of Barbadian landscapes as a member of the Barbados Photographic Society, and was recently elected to serve on their board.
A graduate of Harrison College, Shareka is a Commonwealth Scholar whose first degree is in psychology. She attended the University of the West Indies and York University in Canada. The 28-year-old has received a master’s degree in speech and language therapy from the University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Starting her private practice Easyspeak Enterprises four years ago, Shareka has made aural rehabilitation for children with cochlear implants fun and a great experience by creating an app for the Apple iPad for speech therapy.
Her business goal is to give everyone a voice, to expand across the region (she has already done work in Antigua), to continue to offer individual treatment and support to patients and their families, and to keep her model in line with the latest research and technology within the field, which can see her handling acute neuro at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in one instance and the next hour blowing bubbles in a classroom.
Shareka has a full day with assessing and treating children and adults with communication and feeding/swallowing difficulties; managing the day-to-day office operations and administrative work; managing financial operations in collaboration with her accountant; updating clinic resources and ensuring continued education requirements have been met for the year such as attending conferences, webinars etc.
She is certified as a group fitness instructor with the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America, launching a workout called “Dibby Fit” with routines to soca and dancehall. She teaches in various workplaces under a programme run by Premium Performance Training and has her own seasonal programme at J & S Gym. (NS)
