AS part of her ‘BeYOUtiful’ campaign, 17-year-old Omaiah Hall, a student of the Bishop’s High School, held an empowerment seminar on Monday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, to teach the concept of loving and believing in oneself.

This initiative is part of Hall’s project as a contestant of the Miss Guyana Teen Scholarship Pageant slated for September 7, 2019.

The young woman told the Guyana Chronicle that prior to her entering the pageant, she was at her lowest, as it relates to her self-esteem and how she viewed herself.

She subsequently overcame her habit of harbouring negative thoughts about herself and reached the brink of empowerment.

“I started surrounding myself with the right people and tried to empower myself and I came to the realisation that I am enough, and I wanted people to also realise that they are enough, and that is how this whole ‘BeYOUtiful’ idea came about. In order to be truly beautiful, you need to be yourself, and love yourself for who you are and what you look like,” Hall said.

The seminar took the format of an interactive session, where Hall shared her story of evolving into a confident young woman. Other motivational speakers also shared their stories to the group of attendees.

Miss World Guyana 2019, Joylyn Conway and creator of Guyana Animation Network, Jubilante Cutting, were two of the guest speakers.

Hall said the experience thus far in the pageant has made her experience significant self-growth. The project she has aligned herself with, is also serving as a ways and means of adding to her development as a young woman.

“You would usually see Omaiah as the girl out there singing but I would have never been on a platform talking about my story and this pageant has given me the opportunity to share so much. I’m also meeting some amazing people that share my same goals and values, and this is a very amazing experience for me,” the young woman said.

Her mother, who was present at the seminar, said that Hall was always a very outgoing child.

Omaiah as a child, always thinks out of the box, always dare to be different.

“So from early we knew this child was going to do great things. From small we always used to be saying ‘oh you’ll be the next Miss Guyana’, and so on. From early there were certain things that we said to her, so I guess this is as a result of us speaking positive things into her life and saying to her that she can become whatever she chooses to be. And I always tell her, whatever she chooses to do, I’ll support her. Once you do the right thing, and bring the grades,” her mother said.

Attendees deemed the seminar empowering and inspirational, as the stories shared were touching and motivational. They were also gifted with merchandise that Hall prepared for them.