Beauty Pageant Contestants

"I have always loved nature and the outdoors. There is something grounding about life beyond tall towers and buildings. In the rural area, I can actually smell the flowers and feel my inner powers. Although I was raised in the city, the congestion of traffic lights and take out is not my thing"

"It took resilience and the will to pursue my intended purpose to enter and win and still recognise myself in the mirror after my reign"

"Hospitality in our family is a trait many possess. Both maternally and parentally. We love to host, support and nurture. Philanthropy is just an extension of that. Serving beyond the family unit"

"Where there is more than one person, there is difference. Just like how we differ as individuals, so does culture and how we express it"

"Education is not limited to books and instructional teaching and learning. My family was and remains the teacher of values, culture, diversity, emotional intelligence, financial literacy and hygiene. So how I understand, value, care for and celebrate my culture is a reflection of the educational role my family plays when it comes to teaching me about my cultural roots"

"I am just going to do my best. I am going to represent Ghana to the fullest. I need the support of every single Ghanaian; they should support me in every possible way they can"

"I represented Ghana well and did my very best but I didn't come out victorious. We can only give thanks to God for whatever happens"

"I used to be called ‘Khiwa’ which means white or ‘nkawu.’ Nkawu is a monkey in my native language. Although my brother would stand up and defend me, he still left school before me, and so I had to learn to stand up for myself and be vocal about what was going on in my life"

"A good course that will not benefit only us, but generations to come as well."

"We live in a world that questions our capability as women and, in turn, set to marginalise, abuse as well as discriminate against us, but that very same world is diversifying. We have feminists and humanitarian activists who are advocating for change as well as inclusion. It is awful that we spend most of our time fighting but it is also great because we are fighting for something bigger than us."

"I have told myself that I am equally capable as the next model. Whichever designer, photographer or promoter who will exercise prejudice will miss out on an opportunity to work with this wonderful, hardworking individual. I have also made it a point to bring out my very best when I get a modelling gig."

"I had sisters and mothers who told their children and siblings not to play with me. I had relatives who pretended to like me. I was overwhelmed with confusion, I never really knew who honestly cared about me."

"At a very young age, children of my age were asking me questions like, ‘What happens to you when you die?’ ‘When will you turn black again?’ ‘What happens if I beat you?’ ‘Why is it you and your sister are different from the rest of your family, are you from another planet?’"

"My teachers would make me sit in front because I was short-sighted and then I started questioning all these occurrences. It was painful being the only child in a school of 1 500 pupils who looked different, and people made fun of me."

"I discovered in primary school that I was different when other children started asking me questions like, ‘Are your parents white?’ ‘Why is your brother black?’"

"If traditional leaders, churches, local authorities, policymakers and ordinary citizens start spreading the message of tolerance and inclusiveness, the world will be a better place."

"We have to understand that as citizens of this global village we are all different. There is something unique about each one of us. For persons with albinism, it is their skin. There is a need for society to embrace this uniqueness."

"I am saying as persons with albinism we should not allow someone else to dictate to us. Like all humans we have the freedom of expression, let’s utilise it. I am advocating for change in society and the world at large."

"We have stereotypes that say we are not as equally capable as other people. I have made it my job as an activist to spread the message that we should refuse to be defined by unjustified harmful cultural conspiracy beliefs."

"We have old cultural myths that have existed for a very long time. It is believed that people with albinism do not die and there is the misconception that our body parts can be used to heal chronic diseases."

"Pageantry has definitely given me a platform to be a voice for those that cannot speak for themselves, a platform where I can empower other women to stand their ground and speak out against issues to do with abuse and discrimination."

"My story started in Auckland, New Zealand, where I discovered my love for dance at a studio in Takanini called Stewart Dance Studios. As a kid, I was very involved in competition dance, winning many national titles before diving into the professional dance world that Auckland City has to offer. In New Zealand, I danced as a dancer on the SkyCity Cheer Team and was on Dancing with the Stars New Zealand before making the move in 2018 to Los Angeles to attend AMDA College of the Performing Arts. After graduating AMDA in 2020 with my Associates in Dance Theatre, I made the move to Dallas, TX, where I danced for Zion Dance Project, Urban Performing company, and The RevCrew. I also started teaching and choreographing at Studio B Dallas and Frisco Dance Studio. At the end of last year, I made the move to New York City to train and audition more in the dance world; however, I now basically live between New York City and Dallas as I come back once a month to choreograph and teach for Studio B Dallas as well as to perform at events throughout the year."

"I’m always interested in working with new people! You can email me – [email protected], follow me on Instagram @emma.morris, and honestly, a simple like, save, or share of my profile or dance videos goes a long way!"

"I am a dancer, choreographer, and teacher trained in Jazz, Contemporary, Hip Hop, and Ballet. I would say as a dancer and performer, the main styles that I specialize in would be Hip Hop and Jazz. As a teacher and choreographer, I mainly teach Jazz, Contemporary, and Hip Hop but mainly choreograph Jazz and Contemporary. As a dancer, what sets me apart is that I am very committed to any role given me, and I love to rise above challenges that may seem impossible. As a teacher, I believe that repetition is important; I will quite often give my students various exercises that we will work on each week so that they can master certain skills and really get a good foundation of each style. As a choreographer, I feel like I can cater my choreography to any level of dancer to best showcase their talents and abilities whilst also giving them a challenge to help them grow as a dancer. When I am choreographing group dances, I also love to play around with formation changes, and any of my students could tell you that they are never in one formation for too long. As a Choreographer, I am proud of all the pieces that I have choreographed for Studio B Dallas, and as a dancer, one highlight would be my recent work dancing with Metropolis Productions for the Mary Kay Seminar that was just in Dallas, celebrating 60 years."

"My road hasn’t been that smooth, but it also hasn’t been too difficult either. I would say my biggest struggle would be juggling my teaching/choreographing with my life as a dancer. I love to dance, and I love to teach, and although these seem to go hand in hand, there can also be many conflicts so I am constantly trying to juggle what one I want to prioritize more. At this stage in my life, I would like to first dance more than choreograph and teach as my body is not young forever. However, teaching and choreographing can tend to pay more than dance gigs, so that can be a big factor to my decisions as well."

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

"Responsibility dictates behaviour and winning never dictated how I lived my life."

"In the quest for perfection the line keeps moving."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"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."

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

"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."

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

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

"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."

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

"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."

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

"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 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."

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

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