– Miss World Guyana 2019 

JOYLYN Conway, Miss World Guyana 2019, has recently returned home after representing the country in the National Competition in London.
In a quick interview with ‘The Buzz’, the queen recollected her experience as one that was unlike any other.

“It’s not a pageant; it’s a competition, or sometimes they would coin the term festival. It allows a young woman to learn so much. It allows her, via the experiences, to evolve into a better version of herself; a more well-rounded individual. And I’ve seen that in myself,” Conway said.

Given her experience of evolution after venturing into the world of pageantry, she said “My message to young people out there, especially young girls, is don’t fear what you don’t know, like I feared this once upon a time. Embrace the unknown; embrace the unfamiliar, because you have no idea what it will teach you. And the Miss World Competition is one that teaches you so much; it is one that enforces young women being beauties, but yet those that have a purpose as well. Beauty with a Purpose; and that is seen through the Beauty with a Purpose projects, as it has been seen through mine in Stem Girl Glow,” she said vehemently.

Even though Conway’s participation in the Miss World Competition transformed her life, she said that more ‘country support’ would have made more possible.

“With the support of your country, it means the world. With the support of your government, it means the world. My journey was not an easy one, because I didn’t have a lot of my country’s support. I know we could have done a lot better, and I’ve seen it through the past years- not just my year alone. I’ve seen it through queens this year from Guyana, and I know we can do a lot, But I think our country needs to be educated, and to see that it is not just a girl going up to be all about the glitz and the glam, and about what catches the eye, but she is going out there to represent Guyana, to wave high the Golden Arrowhead, to share our culture with all the rest of the world. That is important; that is vital. It is important to tourism as well, and I think our country should want to be a part of that, should want to rally behind her to get her to that title… And so Guyana needs to be behind the queens moving forward– It can be in terms of sponsorship, it can be in terms of a simple sharing on Facebook,” the queen said.

In fact, she shared that in the Miss World competition, there is an aspect called Social Media, where one share is a vote.

“Downloading an app called Mobstar, and just liking one post is a vote. As simple as that. But again, our people need to be educated. They need to see people in high places supporting those young ladies because if they don’t they don’t see why they need to do it as well,” she said.

And most queens are successful, because they have the entire country rallying behind her to support, she added.

“So my message to Guyana on a whole is to support these young girls; support the queens, because the journey out there is not an easy one,” she said.
Now that Conway has returned to Guyana, she said she will continue working with her ‘Beauty With a Purpose’ project that was created for the pageant. In fact, she said that she wants to change it up to include both boys and girls.

“The first thing I would like to do with regards to Miss World is establish my own foundation. A STEM Glow foundation… not a STEM Girl Glow foundation, because if you say STEM Girl Glow, you just limit it to girls, and the guys need to glow as well. And so generalise it for the entire Guyanese population, and hopefully the world. Also, continue my studies, and give back to my community more; my students, because I’ve been away from my job for a while. I’m a lecturer. And as well work along with the Miss World Guyana organisation, because I firmly believe that regardless of what your experiences are with whoever it is, wherever it is your civil duty to come back home and share your experiences to help your country. Like I said, get closer to the title. So, I’m here as well to help the Miss World Guyana 2020 candidates, and the other years, because this journey means a lot to me. It is more than this crown and this sash. It’s who I am; it’s what I love doing. My work is not done, it has just begun,” Queen Joylyn said.