It's that time of year...It's beauty pageant season… September and October showed us the likes of Miss Uganda UK, Miss America, Miss World, Miss Face of Africa and of course Miss Ghana UK. The glitz, the glamour and the beauty are all common themes associated with pageants. You always hear of scandal...fixes, bitchiness, affairs with judges, feminist opposition, backlashes from various religions... So why is it that people still take part? For me personally... all above didn't put me off!
As mentioned in a previous post, in 2011 I took part in Miss Ghana UK. Why? Gosh..various reasons...it wasn't a vanity thing I promise you that. I'm more unconfident than confident trust me...I wanted to do something that was out of character. To be honest, I thought about doing Miss Ghana UK for a few years but I never plucked up the courage. When I turned 25, it was a strange stage because although still young I was disappointed that I was
a) unmarried
b) I hadn't flown to all the amazing places I wanted to
c) I wasn't a CEO of my own company.
I questioned a lot about my self when I was 25, at one stage I even questioned the career i had chosen. I even questioned my existence. It was what you call the quarter life crisis. Yes, I believe I had a mini one! Hard times!
Anyway for me, Miss Ghana was a chance to do something bold, something crazy and something brave.
I also wanted to find a way to connect with the community because I didn't know what was going on. That stage in my life I also wanted to find out more about my culture and I knew that doing Miss Ghana would help expose me.
One evening, I randomly asked my friend her thoughts on me entering.
A hurried what’s app conversation with my friend Joanna confirmed that I should apply.
Me: Jo I want to apply for Miss Ghana UK, what do you think?
Jo: Go for it!
Me: If I do it will you do Miss Nigeria?
Jo: Nah you do Miss Ghana mate, i'm not doing Miss Nigeria
Me: Pleaaaaase it will be me and you together!
Unfortunately Joanna still refused so I was on my own. My younger sister helped me take some pictures for my application. I quickly wrote a small 'Why I want to be Miss Ghana", sent my pictures and speech to Joanna to check and BAM I was ready.
The next day I went to Boots to print off my pictures and send my application. This was a day before the deadline so as you can imagine I was pretty pushed.
By the skin of my teeth I met the deadline. My application was submitted and all I could do was wait!
A few weeks later I was invited for an audition.
We were told to wear a white vest top and blue jeans and be prepared for questions. I arrived on the day feeling pretty apprehensive. I got speaking to some of the other girls and really enjoyed their conversations and company. Now Ghanaians are know for their kindness so I wasn't surprised by their behaviour. I did however have to remember that this was a beauty competition - not everyone would be as nice as they seem.
When it was my turn to meet the judges I was naturally apprehensive. I did my walk and introduced myself.
They asked me what was special about me and at that I honestly wasn't sure. I didn't sing, act or dance...it was only writing that I hadn't done for a while.
They asked me what my favourite poem was and asked me to recite it. I stood praying for the words of Maya Angelou's Phenomenal Woman to enter my head but to my horror that wasn't happening. I was blank. I was asked to free style some poetry and I did. I vaguely remember putting together a poem about Ghana, myself and Nigeria. Haha! I got an applause so it was well received yay! I was also told that I looked a lot like Ghanaian actress Lydia Forson. A comment that kept popping up though my Miss Ghana UK experience.
I received a phone call a few days later telling me I had been selected to be part of the show! I was pretty surprised and excited at the same time. I had mixed reactions when I shared the news that I would be taking part. Happiness, shock, discouragement to name a few. I think the funniest reaction was when I told my work colleagues. I work in HR so naturally, I like to play by the rules.
I asked my manager to check that me participating wouldn't cause any harm. I think they were probably cracking up. I mean why did I feel I had to consult them? What rules would I break? Was it really any of their business? I was innocent and very naive in my younger days. I can only look back and laugh.
Rehearsals started promptly. My Sunday afternoons became all about Miss Ghana. My routine was church, Miss Ghana and home. Rehearsals were a rude awakening to me. Being totally oblivious to the work behind beauty pageants., I didn't realise how much was involved. The leaders were strict with us. They quickly laid down the foundations of what was expected of us. We were also reminded that this was a competition. I must admit it was at this point I felt a little out of my depth. Yes I understood I entered a competition but competing ferociously was something I wasn't sure I was comfortable doing. Miss Ghana UK is a prestigious pageant especially within the African community and we had to perform well.
Rehearsals consisted of walking (properly in heels, admittedly a weakness of mine), speeches, rehearsing our traditional dances, walking with men for the evening wear section, practicing our talents. It was hard work! At times I felt I wanted to drop out as the pressure was a lot. Be prepared for criticism too but it's all about how you take it. I must at most admit I felt the weakest out of all the girls. I felt that they were all models and I was an amateur. I felt the least attractive and it played a lot with my confidence.
I wanted to give up many times but told myself that this was a challenge I had decided to bring upon myself. There's no point in giving up when I had already come so far.
One thing I noticed about myself was that I remained calm in every situation. I am naturally quite a positive person so I did encourage the other girls and kept smiling despite sometimes feeling low.
I won't lie to you. Pressure was high and with pressure came emotion. The arguing, competition, back biting and crying began to occur more often.
At times it was a hard environment to be in that's why I was grateful when I went to Ghana for 3 weeks. There was only so much emotion I could take!
The night honestly in my opinion was magical. To get your hair and make up done professionally was something I hadn't experienced before and I was transformed!
I stood boldly on that stage delivering my speech, danced to my chosen song and was encouraged by the support of my family and friends. I performed my talent well too. It was a poem about identity. A fellow contestant danced ballet to it. I was proud! :-)
Swim wear I walked to Jenny from the block. It seemed like an obvious choice, my evening wear song was Mary J Blige’s Be without you and my traditional wear song was Azingele by Ruff and Smooth.
I left the night winning Miss Personality which is something I am so proud of! The girls voted for me and I appreciated it!
Looking back I do not for one second regret doing Miss Ghana UK. It helped my develop the confidence I never had, it pushed me to do something that I would never do and it opened many doors for me. It also helped me connect a lot with the Ghanaian community and exposed me to events that I never knew occurred. #blessed.
I watched Miss World this year. It definitely did bring back many memories.. I was even proud to discover that our representative Carranzer Naa Okailey Shooter came third in Miss World making her Miss Africa! She is a beauty, intelligent and extremely elegant. I also followed Miss America on the news and was sad to discover many people were unhappy that winner Nina Davuluri faced abuse due to her Indian heritage. People took to twitter to direct insults at her, calling her terrorist and un-American? Will a different ethnicity other than the dominant white ethnicity of America ever be accepted (this is another blog post) but to all the haters, shut up and face it... a person of a different ethnicity got the crown. Cue music "I'm hot cos i'm fly you ain't cos you're NOT" ;-)
So would I advise you to enter a pageant? Do it! It’s something different! Get your friends to help you, be confident, be prepared for criticism and bitchness but most importantly enjoy the experience! I am still in touch with some of the girls and value the friendships I made.
You never know where it will take you and most of all….you want to change the world and save the children right?
Every year, The Royal African Society brings African Film to London for a week. Much to our delight, for 10 days we are treated to beautiful films from around the continent. 
