A true child of the Caribbean, Brad Tafa Hemmings was born in Jamaica of a Jamaican father and a Trinidadian mother. Having lived on both of his parent's Islands and also in The Bahamian and Cayman Islands, Tafa had a desire to bring together the unique cultures to which he had been exposed in a forum for people from the region and elsewhere to enjoy the richness of their diversity and actively participate in a unified community.

Kevin Smith known to Caribbean music aficionados all over as Ital-K was born in the United Kingdom of Jamaican parents. Ital-K developed a deep passion for the music of the Caribbean as he spent his early years listening to the vibrant sounds coming from the basement of his home while his parents entertained their friends from 'back home' in the UK. Later as a teen living in New York City, Ital observed the significant role the music played in the Caribbean community there, "music was the common bond that kept dem in touch with their heritage or 'roots and culture' as we call it in the Caribbean." Ital-K's WLRN Bio

Tafa and Ital-K, first met on the set of an World Cup Soccer (1998) Adidas commercial filmed at Miami's Orange Bowl. They lost contact shortly after becoming acquainted when Tafa relocated to the Bahamas.

After returning to Miami during the year 2000 Tafa and Ital became reacquainted by chance. Tafa had returned to the U.S. to study information technology and was freelancing as a Web designer/programmer, while Ital was gaining popularity as an on-air personality on WLRN South Florida's nightly radio show titled "Sounds of The Caribbean". Ital-K had been seeking assistance in creating an online presence to further extend his interaction with fans. Tafa agreed to complete Ital's project and shared with Ital-K his vision of creating a top-quality online portal for the Caribbean community.

Within a week of launching in September 2000 djitalk.com captured the attention of Portalvision, a New York based Software developer which expressed interest in partnering with a project Tafa and Ital-K were developing: Afiwi.com. Afiwi (ah-fi-we) in Caribbean dialect means it's for us, and was the name they had chosen for their Caribbean portal. Together Portalvision and iCarib-Media Smith and Hemming's corporation launched Afiwi Internet Service a full service Internet Service Provider with connectivity throughout the U.S. and Canada. Information can be found on Afiwi's Internet portal located at www.afiwi.com.