miss-universe-winners

"I think people should do what suits them and make them feel comfortable. In pageants now where I get to be invited as a judge, the contestants tend to look the same. I swear when I look at them, they walk the same, they wear the same make-up, same hair, similar gowns. If I was a mentor, I would make them different."

"But at the end of the day, it’s really swertehan (luck) …. destiny, yes!"

"Always be thankful that you have luck by your side and people will love you more if you are doing your job right. It's good that you listen and learn,"

"I want to create my own character based on what role they give me."

"The natural. So I want to see a more natural person."

"But if you must help, just give a little as a present and don’t expect it to be returned."

"Don’t lend money you can’t afford to lose."

"Like I always say, winning or losing is not the beginning or the end. It’s only a step towards your own future, whatever it’s that you do."

"I think people should do what suits them and make them feel comfortable."

"Health, wealth, and time to spend it."

"I always wanted them to speak in their language, whatever they’re comfortable with…"

"In a way, I’m able to explain why I said this, I said that."

"I love the business as it is kasi it has made it very comfortable for me. Everything I have ( because of showbiz). A lot of what I have comes from the business."

"By being busy, working, having many friends."

"I think that’s the new age. That’s just how they are now."

"Now, they let kids make mistakes. Like my daughter (Isabelle). She let her children fall. And when they cried, that was fine. Unlike me before, when they fell, I got upset. It was very different."

"Before, it was different. Your mother wasn’t your friend. She always said no. She would tell you something couldn’t be done. She was your protector, your everything. Your mother wasn’t your friend. She always said no. She would tell you something couldn’t be done. She was your protector, your everything."

"Adjust your appetite. Look at the price from right to left. Adjust your appetite to the price."

"That’s the number one thing I always told my daughters.“Who cares?""

"Keep money not the main conversation. But more than anything, make sure they (children) always share, that they’re always part of a group, and that they don’t feel the need to keep up with anyone."

"I used to say that when you enter a contest, you must keep it in your mind that this is not the beginning or the end. This is just a stepping stone, something different. If you win, good. If you lose, okay. You make friends, you enjoy. But it’s more difficult for me to say that now because now, they are already 26 or 27, it’s a life-changing career."

"Oh, just the same things I do. I think if he has been in the moon for so long I think when he comes over he wants to change, I guess."

"I had never before in my life felt second place or second class, so that was all new to me."

"I am not a night owl and I have one big meal a day followed by soup and probably some organic herbal teas."

"You must be diligent and follow a daily regime with dedicated discipline."

"I am not in love with material things. The greatest joy, I experienced was as a goodwill ambassador with the Sasamani Foundation, empowering gender equity, working in places as far afield as Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and, right here in the Caribbean, Haiti and Jamaica."

"like everything else in life, what you’re bringing informs what you take from a beauty pageant. I was raised as a hard worker, fair and kind, and that’s what I think I brought to the pageant world."

"I am a woman of faith, shamelessly, and you can’t buy that quality, you can’t train it into someone."

"the women and men who stand the test of time and who may not even be in the spotlight — they have a combination of the physical and the indefinable. That ethereal quality, I call it."

"You find the religion that works for you, if you need one to facilitate your relationship with a higher being."

"It’s not about having it all, but having equilibrium. Being comfortable with wherever you are. It’s being content in your professional life, even if things aren’t perfect. Even if you’re having a killer day, you know that, overall, you are on the path you want to be on, and it’s not overtaking your personal life."

"And you also have to learn how to pull back and find that time for you, every single day."

"Love is about being selfless. It’s about losing control in the healthiest way imaginable."

"Another important element of love is finding yourself, and that’s how you know what love is. When you become much more comfortable with you. A relationship you have with your child, with a significant other, or with a friend that helps you to grow into your own skin — that’s a huge part of love."

"The George Floyd incident was a perfect storm — for the world to see and understand that these changes have to be made."

"Without George Floyd we wouldn’t have seen all the rest that’s happened over the past few months, or understood what’s at the root of parts of America."

"It’s an issue that’s touched the whole world, with protests everywhere, wherever there are people of colour."

"I had just moved back to Trinidad, so I did it for promotion. I hadn’t been there for some years and wanted people to know who I was. I went into a local pageant without any expectations."

"Only when we got there did I realize that I was really in a competition."

"I’d never even been on a stage before. Seeing the competitive spirit around beauty was very interesting."

"Except we never saw a black contestant on the cover."

"We weren’t seeing ourselves in the papers at all. We figured we were there just to make up the numbers"

"A person of colour was not a typical beauty."

"It was a hostile industry, but over the years I think I earned their respect."

"may help young people coming up have a sense of our history."

"There are so many pre-conceived notions of what '60' is first and foremost 'old'."

"Retirement has traditionally been tied to the 60s and that image hangs over it, but it just doesn't fit."

"looks."One of the things I'm thankful for is that I have all my original body parts."

"No fillers, no replacements, no substitutes."This seems miraculous in a world she recognises as revolving around instant beauty at all costs."

"costs."Everything is Hollywood. Everything is instant. Everyone strives for perfection the perfect look."