Elaine Oxamendi Vicet is the boss lady

BY NADINE WILSON All Woman writer wilsonn@jamaicaobserver.com

Monday, February 13, 2012

WOMEN have often been accused of being antagonistic towards each other, especially at the workplace. But for the nine women who make up the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) Communication Studies Department, being at work is like being with family.

The department is not only headed by a female, but all the faculty members are women too. This was not done by design, but the women have no problem with how things currently stand.

At the helm of the institution is Elaine Oxamendi Vicet, a woman with many names as her staff will quickly tell you. Having taken over the reign of the department in 2009, she has been charged with the task of formulating policies and inspiring the other women to mould young professionals ready to tackle a competitive media landscape. It is not a job she takes lightly.

"All of us, whatever we do, we don't do it with a single mind, and that's why you don't have all the gossiping and the back biting, because we are not single minded in our approach. It is about the bigger picture," she told All Woman during a recent visit to the Seventh-day Adventist operated institution.

The Mandeville-based university first started offering communication studies under the Department of English and Modern Languages in 2003, until it became an independent entity in 2006. At the time, only two students were enrolled, a vast difference in comparison to the 300 students currently there benefiting from the expertise of the department's faculty.

With an emphasis on public relations, advertising, television, radio and journalism, the department is always striving to make students very hands-on, but at the same time very media savvy through their sound academic underpinnings.

The continued success of the department's graduates creates a sense of pride for Oxamendi Vicet, but so too is the fact that her faculty members are able to work together as a family.

"They are nice people, they are not hard to work with," she said.

It is this familial atmosphere that has been one of the highlights of working at NCU for Ralna Simmonds.

"While I don't hide things from my biological family, these guys actually know more of what is going on, because I spend my days with them," she said

"This spirit of affirmation that boss lady, as I like to call her, brings to the table, is good. She challenges you, and so while you do have a lot to do on any given day, we all know our respective chunks, but we appreciate so much more what we have to do because of the nurturing spirit that she brings to the table," she pointed out.

For lecturer and newest member to the team, Kerry McCatty, working in the department has been proof for her that things can be achieved with teamwork. The fact that her other faculty members have always been open and very mature has made settling in that much easier.

"Maybe in an environment where there are mostly women, you may fear or worry that there would be some catty behaviour, but here I think people actually try to steer clear of that sort of thing. It is not 100 per cent vanished, because that is everywhere, but you don't see it," she said.

Although her reign as head has not even yet reached a decade, Oxamendi Vicet is acutely aware that her current post is "not a destination, but a juncture on a time-line," as she succinctly puts it. It is upon this premise and a firm belief in the capabilities of her staff, that led her to start making succession plans already.

"One of the things with leadership and management is that it has to be transparent, because if when you walk away or you are ill and no one else is able to pick up, then you weren't good; it's when things are able to continue on their own, that is when you can say that you did well," she said.

Prior to going to NCU, the director was first communications manager, then human resource manager for Grand Lido. She has also done some features writing.

"Being in hospitality for seven years kind of refines your personality in that you deal with an international audience 99.9 per cent of the time. That gives you an exposure as to how to treat persons that are a little bit different from you in terms of their culture and their expectations," she said.

For Oxamendi Vicet, the focus right now and going into the next few years will be to get more students to appreciate more the value of becoming entrepreneurs. With her able faculty, she is confident more of their graduates will continue to make a dent on the media landscape.

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Elaine Oxamendi Vicet is the boss lady