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To celebrate diasporic brilliance and Caribbean futurism through film, food, art, and radical hospitality.
Structured as a 501(c)(3) (or equivalent in Barbados), Black Star will operate at the intersection of food justice, local economic empowerment, and cultural preservation. The studio blends a seasonal restaurant, chef residencies, immersive workshops, and product R&D with a powerful storytelling strategy. Its mission: to celebrate Caribbean culinary heritage, support local talent, and build a sustainable model that fosters pride, opportunity, and innovation. -
To become a global platform where culture is cooked, captured, and shared.
Anchored in Barbados, but vibrating worldwide. -
Art & Ancestry
Community & Celebration
Diaspora & Belonging
Future-Minded Storytelling
Leadership
Chef Pierre Serrão
Chef Pierre Serrão — known to most as Chef P — is a co-founder of Ghetto Gastro, the Bronx-born culinary collective merging food, art, fashion, and activism. His work now expands through Black Star Barbados, a world-building initiative reimagining Caribbean creativity, sustainability, and independence.
Devon Scarpulla Serrão
Equal parts intuition and orchestration. Devon builds beauty from the bones up, bringing fierce intention to everything she touches. As the architect of Black Star Barbados’ operations, Devon is the current shaping its rhythm from the pulse of a campaign to the mood of a room.
With a background in storytelling and visual direction, she holds space for story, strategy, and soul to coexist.
Mahaneela
Mahaneela is a multidisciplinary artist and cultural strategist whose work bridges storytelling and strategy across the worlds of music, fashion, and film. She has led global campaigns for brands including Nike, Meta, Google, and Vogue, and most recently served as lead creative on the Levi’s x Beyoncé collaboration, shaping one of the most anticipated drops in recent fashion history.
With a background rooted in visual art and a creative philosophy shaped by diasporic memory and identity, her work spans photography, filmmaking, and experiential design. She has brought her vision to agencies such as Wieden+Kennedy and Saatchi & Saatchi, and directed projects that speak across generations and geographies.
At Black Star Barbados, Mahaneela helps shape the platform’s creative and cultural direction. Her role ensures that every touchpoint, from dinner table to screen, feels intentional, resonant, and rooted in a modern Caribbean worldview.
Dong-Ping Wong
Dong-Ping Wong is a New York–based architect and the founder of Food, a design studio known for pushing the boundaries of architecture through cultural storytelling and unconventional forms. His work spans public installations, residential spaces, and civic projects, all rooted in community, experimentation, and joy.
As the lead architect for Black Star Barbados, Dong-Ping brings his spatial vision to the Caribbean—designing a culinary and creative hub that reflects the island’s rhythm, heritage, and future. His approach honors the natural landscape while reimagining what Caribbean spaces of gathering and innovation can look like.
With a portfolio that includes collaborations with Virgil Abloh, Kanye West, and MoMA PS1, Dong-Ping continues to shape how we move through space, culture, and conversation.