Come August 14, seven Afro-Guyanese women will take to the stage at the Natural Cultural Centre to vie for the crown of the Miss Emancipation Pageant. Tamica Garnett sat down with the contestants earlier this week and shares what he found out about each of them.

Delegate # 1 – Shellon Andrea Massiah
Age: 19

An aspiring cardiologist, Shellon hails from the mining town of Linden. The Texila University medical student wants to one day open a cardiac clinic in Linden. She also hopes to give back to her community by contributing to the development of recreational facilities.
She is a member of the Linden Youth Corps, which engages in volunteer work around the community. She was driven to become a doctor after seeing her mother’s love for nursing.
“My mom is a nurse and I always loved hearing her experiences at the hospital caring for persons and helping them. So I always wanted to follow her footsteps, but she always taught me that I should strive higher. So, I thought, why become a nurse in three years when I could become a doctor in five years?”
Outside of being a medical student, Shellon enjoys doing a bit of modeling, something she has been doing ever since she was little. She recently auditioned to model for Guyana Fashion Week.
“I started modeling since I was in nursery school. When I am on stage it just takes away all of my stress and all of my worries, I just feel good. It helps to boost my self-confidence, so I really enjoy modeling.”
She also enjoys cycling, and represented District 10 at the Schools’ Nationals for three years. This is not Shellon’s first time dabbling in pageantry; she was one of the contestants in last year’s Miss Linden pageant.
“I entered pageants before and I have learned from those pageants, so I have experience and great self-confidence, which I will use to win this pageant. If I win this pageant, I will use my crown to advocate for the promotion of African culture.”

Delegate # 2 – Faith Harding
Age: 21
This former Christ Church Secondary student loves a good challenge, which is why, she says, she took up the mantle to become a Mathematics teacher. Currently, a student at the Cyril Potter College of Education, Harding is a Math teacher at the South Ruimveldt Secondary School, where she has been teaching Form One to Form Four for the past three years.
But teaching is just a stepping stone to Faith’s aspirations of becoming a Regional Education Officer. This South Sophia girl decided to become involved in the pageant because she wanted to get more involved in her culture.
“The experience is what I would like to take away from this. It gives me a chance to actually focus on my culture, because before now I wouldn’t have placed that much focus on African Studies. So win or lose, I’ll be taking away that experience; I get to learn and embrace my culture.
“Basically, the fact that it’s more of a cultural pageant and not beauty-focused is why I decided to do it. A friend referred me to the pageant and she told me that you don’t have to worry about your body and wearing bikinis and all of these things.”
This petite beauty, who rocks a natural hairdo, will be letting her confidence shine through come competition night.
“Being the queen would just be a bonus for me because I’m comfortable with being me. Being the queen would mean that they chose the most confident, naturally beautiful, selfless, and success driven individual.” Faith commented.

Delegate – Shomane Daniels
Age: 19

A medical student of the Georgetown American University, Shomane is an aspiring paediatrician. Once a prominent athlete, Shomane had to put her athletic pursuits on the back burner a bit when she began moulding a medical career, though she still trains and participates whenever she gets the chance.
The former Richard Ishmael student is also a physical trainer. She made the decision to be a delegate in the pageant because she wants to be an example to her fellow young people of African descent, encouraging them to learn more about their culture, and embrace who they are.
“Growing up I’ve always seen people with straight hair, and I’ve always wanted to know what is my identity in the community, who am I, what is my culture about, so doing this pageant I will be educated on African history, and also I will be empowering other youths in the community to know more about their African history, and to tell them not to be disappointed about things like their complexion – that they should be proud to be African, it’s a phenomenal thing.”
Shomane is also a math tutor and enjoys a range of activities.
“I love to explore the world beyond limitations.
“I would describe myself as a phenomenal, educated, beautiful, and an outstanding person. I’m confident in myself, and when you’re confident in yourself, you have that belief that you could excel to the highest.”

Delegate # 4 – Kipenie Jordan
Age: 23
A third year University of Guyana Communications Studies student, Kipenie Jordan wants to be a lawyer, hoping to specialize in welfare cases. Kipenie joined the pageant for the Afrocentric experience.
“I wanted to learn more about my African heritage. I just feel that there was a lot that was left out and simply not taught while we were going to school.”
If she wins, the former Richard Ishmael student would use her platform to promote African culture. Kipenie describes herself as a very energetic and determined individual who always gets the job done when she needs to.
And now she’s turning that determination to win the Miss Emancipation crown.
“I’m very energetic, I’m very friendly, and I have a very determined spirit, when it comes to getting things done; if something is very important I make sure I get it done. Being a pushy person, if matters are brought to the table I’m able to get them taken care of in a speedy manner.”
Kipenie hails from Pattensen, Turkeyen on the East Coast of Demerara, and has a love for reading, cooking and karaoke.

Delegate #5 – Gabriella Chapman
Age: 21
Behind the bright smile of 21 year old Gabriella Chapman is a determined self-motivated Black woman who works hard for what she wants. A third year University of Guyana student , studying for a Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture, this gorgeous farm girl hails from the town of Bartica.
“I’ve always been a lover of pageantry but I don’t exactly suit the stereotypic description of a pageant girl. I don’t have a flat stomach…I don’t have a perfectly toned body that can walk confidently in a swim suit on a stage in front of a lot of people. Basically I have a lot of flaws that I need to become comfortable with, and I wanted something that could help me with that. So I said, why not Miss Emancipation? When you hear Emancipation, it’s about the Africans, so it doesn’t matter if you don’t have long flowing hair, and any of regular pageant girl looks.”
She hopes to use this pageant to help build up her confidence and self-esteem. Gabriella loves to sing, dance and make people laugh. She most recently worked as a teacher at the Bartica Secondary School where she taught English, Agricultural Science and Health and Family Life, after she took a year off from her studies at University.
If she wins the crown, Gabriella hopes to use the influence to encourage programmess that look towards mentoring children, especially young women so that they can learn to embrace and love themselves for who they are.

Delegate # 6 – Delesha Wright
Age: 21
Delesha Wright, from the East Bank of Essequibo village of Vergenoogen, is a bubbly country girl. She has a deep appreciation for nature and the great outdoors. Though she currently works as a Typist at the Leonora Technical Vocational Training Centre, she wants to one day realize her dream of becoming a teacher, and of course she wants to teach Agricultural Science.
Towards that end, Delesha is looking to soon register at the Cyril Potter College of Education to become a qualified teacher.
“I find it complements the lifestyle that I want to live. It’s who I am. I love the country life, so I want to work in the Agriculture area, get people to understand that if you grow your own food, plant your own stuff, then you’ll eat healthier.”
This nature girl describes herself as a fun loving person, who likes to dance and sing.
“I’m a fun person, a very fun person. I would sit down and observe my environment if it’s very new, and after that I would just groove if and everybody would know what a fun person I am.”
Delesha is enjoying every bit of the experience the pageant has to offer, especially the friendships and bonds she gets to form with her fellow delegates.
“My fellow queens are totally amazing and no crown, no position could be compared to what I’ve learned from them.”
Outside of the amazing friendships she has made, Delesha hopes to “take away soul food and brain food” from her participation at the pageant as she builds on her knowledge of the African culture.

Delegate # 7 – Jasmine Adams
Age: 19

Environmental officer Jasmine Adams is one who likes to follow her own path. She is the youngest environmental officer attached to Environmental Protection Agency.
She is passionate about advocating against bullying, having personal experienced what it feels like to be bullied.
“I want to open a shelter for kids who have been bullied. I was bullied a lot as a child, physically, emotionally, verbally; people were just mean. I’m really tall and I was always the tallest person in class, so I was bullied about that. And the fact that I was always the smartest in the class that used to intimidate people, they would call me a nerd.”
But what were once major flaws are now great assets for Jasmine, who is now, among other things, a smart, confident model.
“Modeling helped me to boost my self-esteem, and help me to see that I am beautiful and talented, and that I shouldn’t really care about what other people think. They teach you a lot when you’re modeling. People think it’s a self-absorbed type thing but it really isn’t, at least not for me.”
Modelling for the past two years, she is a model with the ASX Modeling Agency and wanted to get into the world of pageantry, and so she was told that the Miss Emancipation pageant was a great place to begin.
She also hopes to use the pageant to better her knowledge on African culture. She describes herself as an easy going, unique individual, who’s in love with being different.