Even with the most compelling products or services in the world, companies will never experience revenue gains without proper marketing and branding. The advent of social media has led to exponential changes in the ways marketing can be executed, and the onus is now on the older generation of business leaders in the Caribbean to grant opportunities to the younger generation who fully understand this new paradigm. One of the incredibly poised women leading the charge in the new generation of marketing and branding out of Trinidad & Tobago is the incomparable Achsah Henry.
Yes of course! – she is as proud as any Caribbean woman could be – so her Instagram page has the breathtaking bikini beach pictures you would expect and the lascivious carnival pictures that drive her plethora of male fans insane. Despite this, she manages to thoughtfully facilitate product placement on her page for brands that she thinks has promise and potential.
Her immensely-toned physique, incandescent bronze skin and quirky personality are all alluring features that make Achsah Henry a hit on social media – but her branding and marketing proficiency is not reliant on her jaw-dropping beauty. She graduated from the University of South Florida Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Public Relations and Image Management. Since then, she has acquired noteworthy work experience in Trinidad’s private sector with companies likes Tribal Caribbean.
As grateful as she is for all the corporate opportunities she has gotten to demonstrate her proficiency in marketing, branding and Customer Relationship Management, she is very excited about growing her own agency Facelyft Marketing Ltd which was launched at the end of 2018. When we quizzed her about how she came up with the name and concept, Achsah told us that: “I kept playing with the idea of helping companies redefine their brand and giving it a ‘face lift’ on social media. It’s a spin on the aesthetic concept of a facelift in plastic surgery, but I didn’t want to spell it the same; so one of my friends suggested to spell it ‘Facelyft’ – and I was like, ‘Yes, this is it!’ “
Achsah would be the first to acknowledge that some changes in the mindset of the older generation of business leaders in Trinidad & Tobago need to be made in order for them to effectively adjust to this new paradigm of marketing. To be fair, she thoughtfully acknowledges and understands why this transition could be a slow process, saying that: “ I think it’s natural that there is some hesitance there because when you don’t fully understand or know something you’re always going to be a little skeptical. With Digital Marketing & Social Media Marketing, you want to hit the ground running – which requires a budget for boosts, creating visual assets and sponsored advertisements. When you go to the older heads and tell them ‘This is what I want to do and this is the budget’, naturally they are going to be hesitant because traditional marketing is where they usually allocated those funds. The main thing though, is that they need to be a little bit more open to change, as it is the only constant. Life is changing, the world is changing and the generations are changing! A big part of it too is how we approach the older generation with these new ideas. Instead of imposing the need for digital marketing to them, we need to take a step back and educate them as to why it is imperative to have your business on these platforms.”
Before Achsah Henry was consummately engaged in the world of Digital Marketing, her first means of creative expression was dance. Achsah is famously quoted as saying, “No woman in this world moves like a Caribbean woman, and I would never want to be anything but a Caribbean woman!” She started dancing at the tender age of two years old and her riveting moves have cultivated the opportunity every Trini girl dreams of – to dance with Machel Montano. She has been touring and performing with the soca legend for a few years and is unequivocal about expressing how the art form shaped her identity. “I’ve been dancing since I was two years old. If you ask my Mother, she would say I’ve been dancing since I was in the womb. I don’t know how else to say it – but dance is just a part of me. I do it when I’m sad, I do it when I’m happy , I do it when I need a release , when I’m too pent up in my head or when my anxiety is bad. Honestly when I’m in the dance studio or on the stage, there is a level of freedom I feel there that I don’t necessarily feel anywhere else. It’s like my therapy in a sense.”
As is the case with many performers and entertainers, dance brings out an element of duplicity in Henry’s immensely intriguing personality. In regular conversation and day to day life, there is a tranquility and peacefulness about her spirit that is conciliating; but when she dances, she literally transforms into another person. “I consider myself an awkward turtle especially when it comes to dancing and being overly sexy. It honestly took me a really long time to own my sexuality. I don’t see myself as someone with sex appeal, so being on stage and evoking all that energy used to make me so uncomfortable. Now I feel like I’ve separated Achsah the person, from Achsah the entertainer. In the same way Beyonce has the split personality of Sasha Fierce, that’s literally how I feel when I perform. When I’m on stage, I am not Achsah; then I come off stage – it’s like, ‘Okay, she’s back.’ It’s like an outer body experience because sometimes when I watch back the videos of me dancing I’m like – ‘Who is that and what is she doing?’”
Outside of the realms of dance and marketing, Henry’s diverse ethnic background gives her a unique appreciation for culture, and she wasn’t hesitant in sharing with us some experiences and places she longs to visit . “In Trinidad, we have this saying – ‘you mix up like callaloo’ – and my background reflects that to a T; so I have French, Irish, Spanish and African ancestry. The last time I visited France was when Trinidad & Tobago qualified for the FIFA World Cup in 2006, on the way to Germany. France is beautiful and Paris is stunning. The other places I would like to visit in the near future are Thailand, Greece and Indonesia. I really like nature, aesthetics and the opportunity to learn new cultures. These places just seem so unreal to me, and I need to visit them in the near future – Covid, go away please!“
