hopes to empower Afro-Guyanese through a mental health platform birthed from the pageant

SEVEN delegates stepped into the limelight on Saturday last and, believe it or not, they had the entire National Cultural Centre (NCC) glued to their seats, waiting to see who would be crowned, Miss Emancipation Queen, 2023.

This year, the pageant was held under the theme ‘Afrocentric intelligence’ and saw Tryanna Anderson, Na Shava Thompson, Alisa McKenzie, O’Neilka Bacchus, Jayda Overton, Deneita Fredericks and Aaliyah McKoy vying for the crown.

When the curtains were drawn, revealing the delegates for this year’s pageant, the audience was enthralled.

It was a ‘stiff’ competition and the judges were tasked with making some very difficult decisions.

Although there were some minor hiccups, the programme proceeded well, as each delegate brought something invaluable to the table.

The pageant consisted of a number of segments, which included an introduction segment, the business wear segment, followed by a project presentation, and, finally, the question-and-answer segment where a series of questions were asked to assess the knowledge the delegates would have attained during preliminary challenges and academic courses held months prior to the pageant.

After a series of outstanding performances, Na Shava Thompson emerged as the Miss Emancipation Queen while four other delegates joined her ‘court’ as runners-up.
The first runner-up was Aaliyah Mckoy, who was able to ‘cop’ the prizes for the people’s choice winner and the best stem project. Second runner-up, was Deneita Fredricks; third runner-up was O’Neilka Bacchus and Alisa McKenzie secured her place in the ‘court’ as the fourth runner-up due to a tie.
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Meanwhile, Thompson, in addition to being crowned the Queen, was also declared the winner of five prizes. These prizes were presented to her for having the best smile, best-spoken word, best evening gown; miss congeniality and best African history presentation.

The Buzz was able to chat with the Emancipation Queen earlier this week on her journey to the crown, and this is what she had to say: “There were two reasons behind my interest in the pageant, and that’s because I wanted to learn more about my roots and where I would have come from. I know being a part of the pageant would have exposed me to those sorts of things.”

By participating in the pageant, the young woman said she has learned how to be more confident, specifically when performing and speaking publicly.
On the night of the pageant, Thompson recalled that she was excited: “I was just a ball of energy backstage. I was excited to just go out and you know, give it my best and now here we are.”

Her positive attitude is what she believed helped her to win the best smile and the coveted crown. “I toned down the laughter and just radiated and smiled,” the Queen said.

‘MIND OVER MASSA’

Aside from the glamorous aspect of the pageant, Thompson was able to launch a website ‘Mind Over Massa’, a platform which she hopes will empower young Afro-Guyanese and address mental health issues in the community.

“It’s called Mind Over Massa and it’s a play on the phrase ‘mind over matter’”, she explained. “Since we’re looking at persons within the African community, I used the term ‘Massa’, meaning the slave drivers and slave owners and it basically is looking at the mental health of persons within the African community.”
The website, she said, is available to anyone who wants to access it.

“You know, a lot of times in the African community we don’t play, we don’t pay great importance to our mental health. We are overworking ourselves. And we’re thinking, ok, we cannot rest because if we do, something bad is going to happen. Basically, it’s what our ancestors would have been through.”

She credited the launch of her website to the pageant and shared plans to expand it.
She expressed her gratitude to her sponsor SAC Packaging and Courier Services INC, which she said had been a great help to her throughout the many challenges she faced in her pageant journey.