Hello everyone.It’s been a long time since I blogged
but I’m back. I’ve been in what I call a training course that I will never
forget.This training course is called Miss Bahamas World. I was chosen as a
contestant mid-March and my life has never been the same.
As a little girl growing up in Nassau, during the month of August,
I was fixated at the bottom of the TV waiting for the Miss Bahamas Beauty
pageant to come on. No one knew that I envisioned myself being on that stage
one day when I got older. That came to pass for me this Sunday June 29th,
2008 at Wyndham Resort in Nassau, Bahamas.Not only did I walk across the stage
but I was transformed into a confidant and more vibrant young woman.
This 4 month-course was not easy. My family
members could not understand how at this point in my life of completing my
first degree that I wanted to enter a beauty pageant.They did not fully support me but that did not stop me.This required flights every weekend to Nassau to attend meetings,events for
four months and ridicule for being a Christian taking pictures in a 2-piece bathing suit.Boy did I go through.I had no assurance that I was going to win but all I knew was that my
dream door opened and I was ready to enjoy the show.
I visited the pageant’s weekly because I
saw how it changed and groomed a former co-worker into a vivacious, beautiful
Bahamian woman. Her name is Anya Watkins- Miss Bahamas World 2007. Michelle
Malcolm, a former reported at our local station in the Bahamas called ZNS is
the driving force behind this amazing organization.There were other pageant
experts on the team such as former athlete and title holder Leslia Miller, Pia
Glover-Rolle, Shervaughn Bain, Jerome Sawyer and more.
They all took the time to ensure that we got all we needed in
preparation to become a queen for a year. Crown or not, I can truly say that
Ms.Malcolm has been called as a woman to transform the lives of young women in
a special and unique way. So this post is my thanks to her and the Miss Bahamas
World team.
I also got to meet young women ages 18-23 from all walks of
life from around the Bahamas. We were able to put our differences aside and
submit ourselves to a God-given process. As a result, relationships were
formed.
Now granted we probably will not see each other every day. But I can
say that I can call on my friend Sharanna to host a seminar with Dr.Myles
Munroe; vacation in Harbor Island thanks to Miss Harbor Island Paris Knowles;
work with special children alongside Miss Grand Bahamas Kerel and just have a
good time with Chase, Philippa and Chrystal Bethel and I love you ladies.
I am now closer to discovering who I am in God.Was it nerve wrecking to have 7 judges watch me walk across a theater stage and smiled until my face to see if I was fit to be a queen? Yes it was!
Being a Christian, you don’t always get to work with people
like yourself. Most importantly I learned how to be myself in the midst of a
competition.The tearful moment for me came when I was chosen for a spirit
award from Puerto Rico’s Critical Beauty judge Hector Joaquin. I was titled the
new Miss Critical Beauty World 2008 and got the best smile award.This was award was for the young lady who
exemplified a great spirit throughout the pageant experience. I was very
surprised but yet grateful for such recognition. This award came from above and
no one can take it away from me.
So I congratulate the new queen Tennyse Johnson. There were arguments of who did not get certain awards but I have come to realize in the world
of pageantry or not, whatever happens-God allowed it. As a former contestant,
it is not up to me to start bashing another woman for her victory.I believe
that we should all rally behind our new queen because the world has already begun
falling in love with her. So who are we as a country to say that she cannot
represent The Bahamas?
So to my fellow Bahamians around the world, what is done, is
done. Like I shared with the other contestants, this experience should be the
beginning of a new chapter for all of us. We cannot throw away four months of
transformation and call it a horrible experience just because things did not go
our way. Our crowns of diamonds do not come from the stage. It comes from how
we handle unfavorable situations in life when no one looking.
