Rihanna, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary' Entices In Savage X Fenty Campaign

In September 2018, Rihanna was appointed “Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary" to her home country of Barbados. The act represented the woman wisdom of Barbados’ new Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley.

“Plenipotentiary” is defined as “a person, especially a diplomat, invested with the full power of independent action on behalf of their government, typically in a foreign country.”

Born Robyn Rihanna Fenty in the Caribbean island country, the superstar became one of Barbados' cultural ambassadors in 2008, doing promotional work for its tourism ministry. Her new title came with expanded responsibilities.

According to a statement from the Barbados Government Information Office, the position gave Rihanna a specific responsibility for promoting education, tourism and investment for the island.”

“Anne,” you say. “Could you please cut to the chase? What does a July 2020 Savage x Fenty campaign, styled by Jahleel Weaver and lensed by Dennis Leupold, have to do with Riri’s top dog government official status in Barbados?”

I thought you would never ask! Rihanna is clearly trying to seduce us to a lush paradise near water. Agreed? One is reluctant to cite benefits of the COVID-19 pandemic, but one of them is the realization that so many jobs can be done remotely. Zoom and Teams have replaced face to face meetings.

Especially if you have no kids to educate, remote working lifestyles are more and more enticing.

Barbados is heavily dependent on the tourism industry, and week-long getaway tourism is very threatened in our new COVID-19 world. Tourism is 40% of the country’s GDP, with 30% of the island’s workers employed in the tourism industry.

Make no mistake — the island under the political direction of Prime Minister Mottley isn’t moving slo-mo. Quite the contrary. Such an idea seems logical to spring from the mind of a prime minister who makes hiring Rihanna one of her first actions of change in the country. And being elected with a bold plan for a climate revolution.

I can’t imagine that Rihanna wasn’t brainstorming economic solutions to the threatened tourism economy in Barbados, when the idea of working remotely in the island paradise sprang from some Athena’s head. And who better to front the campaign than Barbados’ “Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary”.

Prime Minister Mottley revealed that the Bajan government would soon be introducing a 12-month program under the branding of the Barbados Welcome Stamp to allow visitors to work remotely for up a year at a time. 

In announcing the scheme, PM Mottley said: “You don’t need to work in Europe, or the US, or Latin America if you can come here and work for a couple of months at a time, go back and come back. But in order for those things to truly resonate, what does it mean? It means that what we offer has to be world-class, and what we continue to offer is world-class.”

Note that work stations are currently under construction. Perhaps PM Mia Mottley can give Donald Trump a few pointers on how to deal with an economic gut punch. The US President is presently wandering around the White House Rose Garden singing ‘Dancing in the Rain’.