By Azara Lavia
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Veteran broadcaster, communications professional and entrepreneur Marcella André, whose voice and influence reached audiences across Antigua and Barbuda and the wider Caribbean, died at the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre on Thursday morning.
Sources close to the family said André died with friends and relatives at her bedside.
A former member of the Observer Media team, André became a familiar voice during her years in broadcasting and was remembered by colleagues for her professionalism, confidence and commitment to her craft.
Observer Media Sports Director Neto Baptiste, who worked alongside André during her time at Observer Radio, remembered her as an efficient professional who genuinely loved her work.
“She loved her job and she was always professional. She’s a good person, someone who would listen, someone who would give advice, and I know that she will be missed by her friends and her peers and just those who knew her in general,” Baptiste said.
He also recalled André’s willingness to embrace new opportunities and challenges.
“She wasn’t afraid to try new things. Marcella was always one of the first to put up her hands and say, ‘Hey, I’ll try that.’ So I think that she’s definitely going to be missed,” he said.
Baptiste extended condolences to André’s family, friends and loved ones.
André’s influence extended well beyond the broadcast studio.
She later founded NIA Comms and built a career in public relations, communications consultancy, marketing, training, event management and professional development.
She was also widely known as a master of ceremonies, moderator, motivational speaker and mentor, using her experience to help entrepreneurs and emerging professionals strengthen their communication and presentation skills.
Among the organisations paying tribute to André was Team Antigua Island Girls, which remembered her as an important part of its historic Atlantic crossing.
The team said André was one of its earliest administrative volunteers and played a key role behind the scenes while the rowers were thousands of miles away at sea.
She helped manage the team’s social media platforms, sharing updates about its progress, challenges and achievements with supporters at home and abroad.
“Marcella helped us carry our story across an ocean, and we will carry her memory with us always,” the team said.
Its tribute ended with the words: “Once an Island Girl, always an Island Girl.”
Just days before her death, Team Antigua Island Girls had appealed to the public to rally around André as she faced serious health challenges.
Born in Dominica, André came to Antigua as a child after Hurricane David devastated her homeland in 1979.
The experience of displacement became an important part of her life story and was later explored in her TEDxAntigua presentation, Displacement Breeds Discovery.
Although much of her personal and professional life was built in Antigua and Barbuda, André maintained strong ties to Dominica and was recognised across the region for her work in media and communications.
She was also involved in initiatives supporting women and entrepreneurs, including mentorship and professional development programmes.
Her death has prompted tributes from family, friends and members of the media and wider professional community.
For those who worked alongside her at Observer Media, André is being remembered not only for the voice audiences heard on air, but also for the professionalism, willingness to help others and readiness to take on new challenges that colleagues witnessed behind the scenes.
Veteran broadcaster Marcella André dies
