ST. VINCENT: – Ten young women will on May 29 vie for the title of Miss St. Vincent and the Grenadines 2010, as Vincy Mas, marketed as “the hottest carnival in the Caribbean”, officially gets underway in Kingstown.
The young women come to the competition with various levels of formal education and experience in pageantry and will compete for a university scholarship, in addition to cash and other prizes.
The winner of the competition will represent SVG on July 2, when beauty pageant winners from across the Caribbean and some Latin American countries compete in Miss Carival 2010, a leading Vincy Mas event and one of the English-speaking Caribbean’s most prestigious pageants.
The Ms SVG 2010 contestants are Ashelle Morgan, 24; Hadia Creese, 23; Bonnie Allicot, 22; Anna Ellis, 18; Jodesia Claydonna, 18; Joeverne Webb, 22; Patsy Richards, 24; Shannon Murphy, 20; Aphesha Matthews, 18; and, Kimeisha Bailey, 19.
Morgan graduated from the University of the West Indies (UWI) in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science in economics and political science.
She has been working in the offshore banking sector in Barbados for the past two and a half years and aspires to be a lawyer, specializing in international business and corporate and commercial matters.
Morgan, who considers herself a motivated individual, hopes to become a positive role model for future generations of Vincentian women, helping them to “think constructively about their future”.
Aspiring dietician Hadia Creese also hopes to get the opportunity to model professionally, both regionally and internationally. She is now employed at a fast food restaurant in Kingstown.
Creese, who graduated from the Campden Park Secondary School, is entering her first beauty pageant but has always dreamed of being crowned Miss SVG.
She plans to use the pageant to fulfil her “commitment to community service … and being a positive inspiration to women of all ages”.
Human rights and justice activist-in-the-making Bonnie Allicot aspires to advocate for these by becoming a successful lawyer, a career that the Ms SVG scholarship will make more possible.
Allicot graduated from the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Community College (SVGCC) in 2008 with passes in law, sociology and communication studies. (Follow I Witness-News on Facebook)
Anna Ellis, a graduate of the St. Vincent Technical College (SVTC), where she studied business administration.
She is currently employed in the accounts department at a restaurant in Kingstown, but hopes to manage her own business.
Jodesia John is currently studying a Caribbean Tourism Organisation programme at the SVTC. She plans to read for an associate degree in Tourism Management before pursuing studies in tourism management at the UWI.
The part-time tour guide considers herself an ambassador for SVG and describes herself as “energetic, ambitious and spontaneous … sociable, hard-working and very much goal-oriented”.
Bishop College Kingstown graduate Joeverne Webb had her induction into military-style organisation during her years as a member of the SVG Cadet Force. She was first attached to the organisation’s Band before transferring to the Marine Unit.
She has since joined the SVG Coast Guard Service, following her dream of becoming the first female commandant of the unit and a private investigator.
“Humble, talented, ambitious”, Patsy Richards comes to the Ms SVG pageant with much experience as a dramatist.
The member of the Richland Park Methodist Drama Youth Group graduated from SVGCC where she completed Advanced Level studies in psychology, sociology and general studies.
Richards is currently employed at the Inland Revenue Department but eyes a career as a psychologist even as she aspires to become one of the country’s actresses. (Click here for larger images)
Shanon Murphy will bring to Ms SVG pageant the tenacity of one who is following a childhood dream of taking the crown.
The St. Joseph’s Convent Kingstown graduate plans to pursue studies in psychology, with a view to becoming a marriage counsellor.
Murphy, who has entered two pageants previously, feels that her ability to interact with people will be an asset in her chosen vocation. She enjoys sports, singing, dancing, watching television, and socialising.
Michelle Matthews has already won one crown and five other titles in six pageants.
She was crowned Miss Diamond Queen in 2008 and won the first Independence Song Competition, held in 2008, with her hit “Celebrate Independence”.
Matthews is an assistant secretary at a law firm in Kingstown and studied mathematics, principles of accounting, business studies and communication studies at SVGCC.
Kimeisha Bailey was SVG’s third best Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) performer in 2007, obtaining 11 ordinary level passes.
She has since graduated from SVGCC and now teaches integrated science, chemistry and English language at St. Joseph’s Convent, Marriaqua.
Bailey won the Girls’ High School Miss Heritage Pageant in 2004 and was second in the school’s Miss Teen Model Pageant, that same year. Last year, she spearheaded the organisation of SVGCC Teen Heritage Pageant 2009, an initiative taken by the school’s Heritage Club to raise funds for Rodney King, a college student, who needed a kidney transplant.
Interested in law and international relations, Bailey hopes to pursue studies in one of these disciplines at the UWI.