By Ryan Bachoo
In a communications career that has spanned 15 years, Nyssa Pierre has never had a task on her hands quite like this one. On August 27, Cricket West Indies (CWI) named the T&T national its new Communications and Media Manager.
There is a joke that no job in West Indies cricket is an easy one, but there is some truth to that.
West Indies cricket presents its unique challenges on and off the field. Especially the latter. Given the inconsistent performances of the regional team, particularly in the Test format, Caribbean fans and stakeholders have been frustrated with the state of West Indies cricket.
They have not shied away from voicing their displeasure either. As Communications and Media Manager, Pierre will come face-to-face with such spectators whether in the social media realm or the stands, and she will be tasked with managing an international media looking for answers on the continued struggles of this once powerhouse in the global game.
From growing up in Petit Valley, Pierre’s communications career would take her across several continents. She has worked in parts of Africa including Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda while also plying her trade as far as Australia and, recently, Dubai.
Though she has spent a large part of her adult life working far away from home, her parents, Dave and Helen Pierre, remain at the centre of her life. “None of this would be possible without them,” she said.
It was while working in the Middle East, randomly scrolling through Twitter, she stumbled across the vacancy advertisement for CWI’s Communications and Media Manager. She was back in the Caribbean and was shocked when invited to interview.
However, Pierre’s rise to Communications and Media Manager of West Indies cricket should not be surprising. Her work in communications has never been far from sports. One of her two sisters also works in sports nutrition. Nyssa’s expertise includes crisis communication, government communication, and sports, where she has collaborated with current and former West Indies players, cricket leagues, Olympians, and state sports agencies.
In 2012, she worked with the Sport Company as its sport executive in the communications department. She came on board two months before the start of the London 2012 Olympics. She would play a pivotal role in developing the athletes’ brands while working with them on media training and their use of social media.
The year before, she was the communications manager for the Caribbean’s first low-fare airline, REDjet, working out of Barbados. Both those experiences, tied with her educational background from universities in Canada, Belgium and the United States, would prepare her for this role she now takes up with West Indies cricket.
As a woman holding the post, she is happy there is representation for women off the field as well as on, particularly when it comes to the senior management of West Indies cricket.
She has two main goals.
“I don’t see it as a Caribbean job. I see it as an international job but based in the Caribbean. We need to see ourselves as truly Caribbean-grown and an international brand. I’ve travelled all over the globe and people may not know Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados or Guyana, but if they hear West Indies, it’s an immediate identifier,” Pierre told the WE Magazine last week.
Her aim is to also tell the stories of both the region and players beyond the field of play. She added, “I would really like to see our stories go beyond cricket. You look at the story of someone like Akeal Hosein growing up in Laventille to where he is now. These are stories that people all around the world, may not recognise Laventille, but people know a rags-to-riches story or a pull oneself up by one’s bootstraps story. Look at Nicholas Pooran who went through that accident many years ago. Many people can relate to a medical emergency, medical trauma within their family, and somehow this person has found the strength in life.”
Across the region, Pierre will find many such stories with West Indies cricketers coming from some of the most rural parts of the Caribbean. However, she hasn’t forgotten the most important stakeholder in West Indies cricket, the fans.
She added, “The frustrations, the challenges, and the passion, all of those things are not unique to West Indies cricket. Anybody who is in any way into sports, feel the frustration. But, I also see the opportunity in not just telling the story of victory but telling the story of the region.”
Pierre said one of the reasons she was happy to take up the role is because she doesn’t view the job as a purely Caribbean one but an international role that puts the spotlight on the Caribbean.
“That’s a really important thing because we’re not just telling our stories to the Caribbean but to the world,” she remarked.
While regional fans have been holding out hope for better performances from the regional side, the communications expert in Pierre sees beyond the negative headlines.
She added, “I think it’s important to be clear in what we’re talking about when we talk about performance. For example, the men’s team is currently third in the world in T20s. We do need to keep remembering that. The women’s team consistently performs well. It’s very easy to focus on the negatives without remembering there is a lot of good and a lot of success happening as we speak.”
Pierre believes the inherent frustration lies with the West Indies Test team and that’s something that cannot be negated. The West Indies men are currently seventh in the world rankings of Test cricket.
However, despite the challenges her new venture brings, it’s also an exciting time to enter cricket administration. The International Olympic Committee last October announced that the sport will return to the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028 marking a return for the first time in 128 years.
Pierre herself is an Olympic supporter, and she loves the football World Cup as well. “This is part of history. It’s going to be really interesting as a fan to see how it all plays out but also from this side of the table being part of the management of West Indies to see how well whichever team represents us does,” she said.
From her early days at Newtown Girls’ RC to growing up in St Joseph’s Convent Port-of-Spain, Pierre knows West Indies cricket influences the lives of people in the Caribbean even if they don’t religiously follow the sport.
She concluded, “West Indies cricket is a unique unifier. I’m not even sure we grasp just how powerful it is. The West Indies make-up is so different from any other team in the world. We’re not just talking about cricket here. We’re talking about small islands and countries, each with a unique perspective, coming together to make it happen, and not only has it happened, it’s been happening for decades. We have created a nucleus of cricketing power, of regional unity, we’re happy together, we’re frustrated together, and we exist peacefully.” (Trinidad Guardian)
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