Destiny can never be diverted. Marie’s journey with Anguilla began in the mid 1980’s at a CTO trade show when I first laid eyes on this lady in a navy blue dress and thought “what a pretty woman”. We didn’t meet then but our spirits must have connected and it was late 1988 that she made her first visit to Anguilla. Whatever opportunity she got she would say I came to the airport to meet them barefoot and pregnant. I can no longer dispute it.
Fast forward to October 2003 when Amelia as Director of Tourism and I as Advisor Tourism, attended a CTO Conference in St. Thomas, USVI. Sitting in the lobby waiting for some medication and unbothered by my surroundings, Marie swept by, reestablished our acquaintance and shared that she had recently started her Sales and Marketing Company, Turnstyle Marketing and she would like to share information on the Company with us. As fate would have it Anguilla was also at the place where it was looking for Representation in North America. Amelia and I met with her during the Week and the rest became history.
She joined us at World Travel Market in the November of that same year and under the Chairmanship of Mr. John Benjamin, Marie was appointed as Director Sales and Marketing for North America. Marie knew her strengths and she knew our needs and brought onboard Noel Mignott PMGROUP to head up our public relations as well as manage our events. She was also responsible for identifying the rebranding team which up with the tactical tag line “ The Anguilla Experience…..Feeling is believing”. It was a concept light years ahead of its time not understood and not fully embraced locally but which in time to come showed us as trailblazers validated by the direction that other major destinations were moving. Marie seemed to monitor everyone’s tag lines and when a similar concept was being used she would say, “see Anguilla was first”.
It was under Marie’s leadership that Anguilla opened its first Anguilla Tourist Board Office in White Plains New York on June 8, 2004 until its closure in 2012. Anguilla stood tall; and Marie during that time period employed four Anguillians to work in that New York office at different time periods, but on a continuous basis. She was a mentor and guide to the young Anguillians and as she did with all those who worked with her she provided support and encouragement.
You either liked Marie or you did not. She was hardly in the category of the “tolerated” and would never want to be. She made work a fun adventure. Her personality; her storytelling and her ability to get you in some trouble if you weren’t careful. No one told a story like Marie. She was like an engineer of a great road network that provided many detours but could still get you back on the path to your final destination. Sometimes you just had to stand back and watch Marie “do her do” and deliver you out of a hole.
I always recall the Launch of the Anguilla brand in 2004. We selected a hot spot in New York City and we wanted a big name draw. Kevin bacon was suggested. So how are we going to pull that off? Somebody said he and Bankie are close; Marie’s mind started turning and in true Marie form, at the Anguilla Yacht Club in Cul de Sac Anguilla, Marie, missing a waitress uniform, served Hennessy as required, all the while giving me the eye and a smile “got to get the bacon”. Anguilla, in June 2004 had one its most memorable events with Kevin Bacon in attendance. She pulled out every stop for Anguilla.
Marie the Jamguillian, as she was sometimes referred to, had amazing passion, commitment, loyalty and love for Anguilla and its people. She gave of herself and her finances to promote tourism to Anguilla and she made sure that she personally contributed to the tourist arrivals figures bringing down her birthday parties to Anguilla; she was having fun but she was also doing some business.
She would always recount her days under the chairmanship of Mr. John Benjamin when Amelia was Director and I advisor. He referred to us as his angels and Marie loved the flow of our energies together, playing to each other’s strengths. We never made presentations without rehearsals and she would always be so pleased about “how we flowed” like “a horse and pony show”.
Her Dreams for Anguilla were big! The Programmes and plans she submitted were tall. And Anguilla’s Finances for tourism then and now in short supply. Marie made it happen. As Jamaicans say “ good friends better than pocket money” she was not afraid to leverage some of her relationships to the benefit of Anguilla. She was never afraid to ask a question because as she said “they either say yes or no”; but No was hardly a word she understood or kept in her vocabulary. She felt there was always a way to get things done. Ran her into some discomfort at times but she was determined.
In her first stint and in her second stint with the Anguilla Tourist Board Marie demonstrated willingness to take initiative and follow up in record time. A welcomed train and she expected the same.
When after leveraging all of her contacts, and money was slow coming in, it would take a toll on her. Some of Anguilla was not always kind to Marie but that could never dampen her love and dedication for the island.
In the recent past the Anguilla Tourist Board recognized that the more things may seem to have changed many things still remained the same and that personal selling of Anguilla as a destination needed to be revitalized. There was no time for learning curves and we needed experience and passion to hit the ground running. Marie came back as part of the PMGROUP team with responsibility for Sales in the USA and hit the ground running she did. Her company Turnstyle Marketing was earlier this year appointed to provide Sales for the USA.
Her attitude was one of “Anything you can do. I can do it better. I’m the toughest”. She had Ideas and was always ready to share them; a true professional; always fair and evaluating both sides of a discussion; one of the most creative and innovative forces in Caribbean tourism. A phenomenal woman who loved and promoted Anguilla like it was her own – truly passionate, knowledgeable and excited about Anguilla, the tourism destination and its people.
She was generous with her time her knowledge and her love; and preferred being genuine with people, saying what needs to be said.
Hers was a forgiving spirit; and I dare say sometimes looked on people and life through rose colored glasses. She was always happy to do what she loved best..promote Anguilla! She loved what she did? which in turn gave her a great sense of accomplishment, worth and value. She seemed larger than life and was certainly a lover of life. Like the rest of us Marie was over the moon with the performance of the tourism industry 2018/2019 which showed record breaking increases.
Every show she did, thanks to technological advancement, she was able to share in real time displaying the pride she got in her work and the responses from the agents. Everyday on WhatsApp messages would flow through, and I am sure that she continued the tradition at the end of every night calling Sam and giving him ball by ball commentaries of the day. Sam’s ears rang I believe more than the phone of a switch board operator. Everybody knew Sam without meeting Sam.
Marie literally and figuratively gave her life for Anguilla up to the very end, on her bed of affliction, still making plans for a fam visit to Anguilla; preparing her presentation for the next week’s marketing meeting and planning an Expedia trip immediately following.
Marie maintained a close relationship and many friendships with persons with whom she worked. Relationships that were sometimes misunderstood; relationships that resulted in pain to her but relationships that ran deeper than a work environment. She understood that professionals are those that can have the closest of relationships without crossing boundaries and without compromise. I am pleased that I had that relationship with Marie as well as many others on Anguilla. As was our beginning our last days together were during a CTO Event.
Whether her hair was frazzled, the back of her shoe slipping off and she was hustling lugging a heavy bag when Marie walked into a space she dominated. Her sudden departure has been the same. We stopped……In bewilderment and tears…..But we stopped. On July 10, 2019 Marie danced on and off of the stage of our lives one last time and will forever hold a place in our hearts. Rest in perpetual peace my friend. Rest…..
