Do you know Miss Guyana Universe 2010?
Morvinya Sobers, Lianna Damond, Mia Rahaman, Odessa Phillips, Meleesa Payne Jenella Cox all took aim as Guyanese Beauty ambassadors at the Miss Universe crown but while some got pre-pageant night international media attention they never made the final cut. In fact no Guyanese in recent years has been able to do that despite their best formulas and strategies.
Last year our hopes were pinned on Tamika Henry: a rounded Guyanese Scholar who arguably is more than just a beauty and a warm personality. Yet again Guyana’s hopes were dashed, and some have thrown the towel in while optimists look to the 2011 competition with hopes galore.
The pampering clouds have faded leaving fond and treasured memories of a month of all expenses paid; enviable glitz and glamorous experiences in Sin City, Las Vegas, USA. Miss Guyana has returned home quietly void of the pomp and ceremony accorded queens in other countries with a mission.
A Queens’ College grandaunt from the Tucville Community, this Guyana scholar who completed a Degree in Forensics at the Miami University unlike some past queens is not likely to fade into the woodwork anytime soon. Tamika is among a privilege few that will not only be a beauty queen face but a personality to look for in Guyana’s forensic fraternity with an eye and brain for detail that could see many crimes being solved through scientific genius.
During her One-one -One interview on Caribbena Music Box we realized that amidst all the famous educational and fashion exploits, Tamika is an average Guyanese girl, very simple with a love for cooking, music and playing with animals. But while she paraded herself in swimsuits on the local shores and the USA for the world to see she categorically states that “I’m a very strict church girl.”
One of five siblings in a home with its own financial difficulties, she blossomed from a shy, quiet and withdrawn lass into an outspoken woman of substance who realized that the best way to become a person of note in society she “had to be smart.”
“Education is the key to the world and fulfilling your dreams …If I’m smart enough I could get a scholarship, go study abroad and then make real money and live the good life…that was my aim growing up.” Hence she gained a place at Queen’s College where she did home work at times for some of her peers.
By Mondale Smith