Miss SVG contestants 2018 revealed

The seven girls who will vie for the crown and title of Miss SVG were, for the first time, unveiled to the public in all their splendour, as they were sashed last Saturday night.

The Miss SVG 2018 Sashing Cocktail, kicking off activities leading to the Miss SVG 2018 pageant on June 2, took place at the Bungalow Restaurant at Villa.

Chairman of the Carnival Development Corporation (CDC) Ricardo Adams teased the audience before the girls made their first stage appearance, declaring, “the young ladies who have come forward as delegates this year are an absolutely wonderful group. I met them very early and I’m always impressed when I meet young ladies who are vying for the title of Miss SVG… and I met them very early in their training, and they can speak well, they look lovely, they can walk well, and I’m sure that they’re going to be fantastic ambassadors for the sponsors this year.”

Some new faces in the line-up of sponsors for the pageant this year are the St Vincent Cocoa Company, GECCU and Massy Stores SVG Ltd. Continuing their support from previous years are LOTTO, Metrocint General Insurance Company, Mustique Company Ltd and FLOW.

The CDC’s beauty shows coordinator Laferne Fraser, who introduced the girls, spoke on the hopes that the committee has for them, saying, “Miss SVG has taken up the responsibility of empowerment. It is something we take very seriously; it is very dear to us, and it adds meaning to an already important part of our Vincentian culture, which is pageantry and I hope we never lose it.”

This hope for empowerment also rests at the heart of some of the girls’ personal reasons for entering the pageant, as they revealed in the moments that they spoke to the media before they were sashed.

“A part of my empowerment campaign for the pageant is empowerment through education, so I hope as we go along to all the different schools and we’re doing our campaigning, to at least touch one person, and empower them to acknowledge the importance of education,” Criscione Morgan, who was born in 1995, is originally from Old Montrose and sponsored by Mustique Company Ltd, told SEARCHLIGHT.

Another contestant with a noble goal for the platform she now finds herself on is Azanie Lavia, who resides in Owia. “My platform this year is to raise awareness to cancer and the weakness it causes to survivors, victims, their families… I want to be able to start, facilitate a support group, to encourage awareness to cancer,” stated Miss GECCU.

For Nazira Graham, Miss Metrocint General Insurance Company, born in 1997 and a resident of Edinboro, it is her dream. “Participation in Miss SVG for me is a long-term dream. It’s a path that I’ve chosen to develop my skills in terms of confidence, in terms of how I put myself out there and opens a lot of opportunities that I’m willing to take. I saw that opportunity and I took it, and I went ahead and applied,” she disclosed.

Given that this is her dream, she replied that yes, she was confident she would win, because she does not want to leave any regrets on the stage. “Yes, please, I can feel it all in my bones. I’m gonna do my best. I’m gonna bring everything, because on that night I don’t want any regrets. I want to do everything that I always wanted to do and with that I hope that I would bring it,” she stated.

The chorus from all the girls was that the road leading up to the show has been hectic, with Morgan, who now works in Antigua, stating that she travels back every other weekend for training.

Miss Massy Stores SVG Ltd, Morrissia Williams, who is a lover of pageants, having participated in and having won the Miss Petit Bordel Secondary School (PBSS) Heritage Pageant, revealed that training has been “a little frustrating, but nothing good comes easy, so, I just have to endure.”

Similar words of resolve are also coming from Miss Vincentian Chocolate Cameisha Foster, who resides at Green Hill and wants to pursue a career in veterinary medicine and who stated, “It’s been very stressful and tiring at times; however, I know what I want to achieve, so I just get back into that mindset.”

The girls, who have been training together, already see each other as a close-knit group.

“They are lovely. It’s amazing how quickly you get so attached to people just by spending a couple hours with them… but they’ve been amazing and I look at all of them as my sisters now,” Miss LOTTO, Shellisa Nanton, born in the year 1994 and residing in Overland, revealed.

Miss FLOW, Solange Fernandez, who lives in Adelphi, described the bond between the contestants as being like ‘tribe sisters’.

Fernandez, who also owns and operates a clothing line, invited all to come and see the show. “It would be a great show; it would be extraordinary. I know that it’ll be a great show, because all of us are working very hard and I’m just inviting them to come on out on the night of June 2nd to witness nothing but the best.”

Foster also encouraged, “Come out to Miss SVG 2018; it’s going to be the biggest, best Miss SVG.”

LaFerne Fraser told the public on that night, “as the programme of Miss SVG 2018 continues, you’re going to recognize their talents, you’re going to recognize their wit, you’re going to recognize their tremendous spirits, that you are all going to be proud to call your own.”