Anita Johnson-Patty
Anita Johnson-Patty
General Manager, Communications (The Americas)
Bahamas Ministry of Tourism
Plantation, FL.
“A love of country,” prompted Anita Johnson-Patty to accept a position with the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism . Today, she serves her country as the ministry’s general manager of communications for the U.S. In this role, she oversees media relations, serves as a spokesperson, and coordinates strategic partnerships for the U.S. market. She is also responsible for communications for both the general and special-interest consumer U.S. markets. Johnson-Patty has worked with top-tier media outlets, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and The Miami Herald, to increase tourism to the Islands of The Bahamas.
Johnson-Patty became interested in international relations soon after moving to Washington, D.C., from the Bahamas. Her father, the late Livingstone Johnson, was the first ambassador for the newly independent Bahamas to the United Nations and the United States. His career and guidance instilled in his daughter a love of travel and an appreciation of different cultures. After graduating from Simmons College with a dual bachelor’s degree in communications and French, Johnson-Patty began her career with a CBS-affiliated television station in Boston as a production assistant. She later became a news assistant before transitioning into public relations. She lists among her many achievements her partnership with her sister, Deanne Johnson-Anderson, to co-publish their father’s memoir: The Past Remembered a Bahamian's Long Journey Home in Pursuit of Knowledge. The former ambassador passed away before finishing the memoir. “This was truly an honor because we were able to fulfill our father’s dream,” Johnson-Patty remarks.
Her accolades include her selection as one of the 25 Most Influential and Prominent Black Women of 2009 in South Florida, and being awarded the 2010 APEX Awards for distinguished service in the travel industry. Johnson-Patty, who speaks fluent French, studied the language at the prestigious Sorbonne University in Paris, France.
