Archie Kalyana

Archie Kalyana was hired by BBC Sport last year as Diversity Producer for Cricket. Kalyana scouts’ players, coaches and media staff involved in cricket, to ensure there is diversity of ethnic backgrounds among them. “We need role models, women who look like us - where are they?”

The BBC hired Kalyana in November 2019 because they saw that there was a lack of both people of colour and women in cricket. When I spoke to Kalyana on a stormy Sunday evening, her passion and enthusiasm for her job shone through, with her telling me that she practically skips to work and loves her job. “It took me twenty-three years to get to this point in my career”, she says. “And I can see how much change has happened”. She is referring increased equality for women, talking about ‘Me Too’, and the United Nations ‘He For She’ campaign. “It is our responsibility to tell the stories of women to encourage girls that there are people out there who look like them and that also love doing what they do. We need role models, women who look like us – where are they?” As well as there being a lack of role models, she thinks that there are a number of reasons preventing women from participating in sport, questioning whether local clubs are professional enough. For instance, those who do not live in a big city, may be denied the resources, facilities and funding needed to help girls get into major leagues of their chosen sport disciplines. Added to this, Kalyana feels that it is around the age of thirteen, that girls begin to drop out of sports due to having poor body image. One of Kalyana’s biggest career achievements is when she won the Asian Women of Achievement Award in 2019, after being nominated by a producer friend. She tells me how proud she was of the female Asian community at the ceremony. Being an Asian woman herself, Kalyana has a career commitment to get women - particularly Asian women into sports, and to put them on the map, so to speak. She tells me about her travels to Pakistan with her job, saying how momentous it was last year, as the Sri Lankan cricket team went to Pakistan for the Cricket World Cup – this was the first time in ten years, after the Sri Lankan team buses were attacked with guns and grenades in 2009. With her job,

Photo courtesy of Archie Kalyana

With her job, Archie is also heavily involved with the cricket coverage for the Indian Premier League, travelling to her home country to film the ‘Rajasthan Royals’. As a cricket producer, she does feel that there is not an equivalent women’s cricket team in these countries on the scale of the men’s teams. She talks about being particularly interested in doing a piece on Mithali Raj, the current Indian women’s cricket captain from Rajasthan, who is frequently described as the greatest Indian cricket batswoman. “We have got to look at female teams – and put their work at the forefront”. I ask her to tell me about a typical working day for her. When she is in the UK, her work is based in Manchester, where she will meet with the senior management and editorial teams to feedback ideas, speak with potential contributors, connect with new people, look up budgets, set up filming and work with editors - overseeing filming projects. When she is abroad, such as when she is in India, days can range from twelve to eighteen-hour ones, coupled with jet lag and extreme hot weather conditions. She may be at the stadium watching players train, while directing the cameramen, conducting

interviews with players for networks such as BBC Live, TMS and 5Live. This is one huge feat, considering the difference in time zones with these locations. Kalyana might also change locations several times during the day, if she may need to go to a player’s house and interview them, or talk to locals for a broadcast piece, or perhaps the camera crew need a sunset shot. As well as travelling all over the UK and abroad with her job, Kalyana is an extremely busy woman. But her hard work doesn’t end there. She is a part of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Innovation Builder Panel and of Street Child United - a UK charity which aims to use sport to help street-connected children globally. Kalyana is particularly impressed that singer Katy Perry is set to perform at the Women’s Cricket World Cup Final in Australia on Sunday 8th March. The date is particularly significant as it is also International Women’s Day. Kalyana thinks that, the fact that Katy Perry is singing at the event, will mean that more girls are tuning in to see her perform, resulting in greater visibility for women’s cricket. A campaign featuring Perry alongside the Australian cricket team player Ellyse Perry, sees them both

depicted in a wall mural in Melbourne, to publicise the event. It is clear that Kalyana is the type of person we want to be covering women in sport because of her commitment to telling the stories and increasing visibility of the women who play it. And for a woman wanting to work in the media coverage of sport, she says they must be creative, innovative and have an interest in sharing the stories of those who are under-represented. “Go for it, the platforms are there, you will have a good support network and your voice will be heard.” She tells me just how rewarding her job is and calls it a huge responsibility, to empower more women to get into sport. Her dedication to her work, and her achievements in the industry are evident that she is doing just that.

For more information about Archie Kalyana, visit www.archie-kalyana.com