JINELLE Crystal Thomas was born on September 19, 1998 and is the elder of two children. Born in Georgetown, she grew up on the East Bank in the village of Agricola before moving to Diamond with her family. She attended Green Acres Primary School, and graduated in 2010 as one of the top graduating students of her year while earning a pass to a top senior secondary school. She is currently studying law at the sixth form level and has her sights set on becoming a corporate lawyer.The stereotype exists that a beautiful girl is most likely haughty and self-absorbed. However the opposite is true for Jinelle, who is as soft-spoken as she is beautiful. She is also one of the humblest persons one can meet. Not overly concerned with her beauty, Jinelle is what the young generation calls a ‘foodie’ (she loves food and has no qualms about saying that) and her favourite food is pizza.

On any given day, Jinelle could be found surrounded by friends “chowing down” and just enjoying a good ‘gyaff’. Jinelle is a music lover with her taste coming from more than just one genre of music. She has an interest in make-up as an art form which she says is also one of her hobbies. Fashion also holds her interest but isn’t a top priority since she is just as comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt as she would be in a dress.

Jinelle is an amiable person and credits that nature to being surrounded by family and friends who are her biggest influences. Despite this nature however, she is as a force to be reckoned with when it comes to accomplishing what she wants. She lives her life by two main mantras: “I am mine before I am anyone else’s” which speaks to working on who you are as an individual before giving yourself to anyone else and “Love yourself and know your worth” which Jinelle says is a message that all girls should live by. She believes that those two things go hand in hand and once you do one you’ll do the other.

The societal views of beauty being limited to mixed brown skinned girls with the curly hair should be challenged and this girl embodies that challenge. Dark skinned girls are beautiful too! Just look at Jinelle!