‘I had cancer as a child, now I’m a beauty pageant queen’
Entering a beauty contest had never crossed her mind, as she focused on a career as a healthcare worker.
However, when her dad Eddie fell seriously ill she started thinking about doing things outside of her usual comfort zone.
“It was just before my dad passed away and I was wanting to do things that I would never have done before or normally think I was capable of,” she says.
“It was in Manchester and I thought it would be a one off, but I finished in the top five and caught the pageant bug at that point.”
Success in UK pageants earned her an invitation to contests in America, and ultimately her victory earlier this year in Orlando, Florida.
“This was my last attempt, so I thought it was a nice way to go out and I ended up winning. There was utter disbelief on my face.”
She chose the Ms Role Model contests because it focuses on being active in your community and what you do to help others.
It’s a world away from old cliches about Miss World, she says.
“It is all about the person you are. There is a lot of misinformation that these are all about how you look and you’ll be standing onstage reading out your measurements.
“It’s not about that at all. It’s things like giving a speech, meeting the judges, and being interviewed by them about a project that you are proposing be used in the next year.”
