Shaneeza Persaud, a Venezuelan of Guyanese descent was crowned Miss Caricom 2020 in October at the 16th annual Miss Caricom International Beauty Pageant. “It was a little bit unbelievable at first… It is a great opportunity,” the new queen said.
A little more than a month ago, The Scene featured Berbician Ederle Stephen who was crowned queen for the online category of the pageant. The pageant presented six winning categories with Miss Caricom 2020 being the top category. As such Shaneeza will represent the Miss Caricom International Foundation at the United Nations next year.
“Ever since I was a young girl, I loved watching pageants and beauty contests like Miss Venezuela, Miss Universe, and such,” Shaneeza said. “I loved seeing the participants display their talents, talk about their lives and what inspired them, and the joy on their faces when they won. I also loved learning about the activities and projects they partook in after the pageant, [as well] as how they used the platform and the resources provided to them. It’s always an interesting world to me.”
Now 17, Shaneeza has always been an extrovert with a cheerful demeanour. She loves dancing and spent a large part of her life in a dance academy. She is also disciplined and committed to schoolwork, and fond of animals.
During the first decade of her life, Shaneeza lived in Guyana where she attended St Gabriel’s Primary School until fifth grade before returning to the country of her birth where she studied at the U E Anzoátegui and later at the Liceo Nacional Cajigal where she graduated from high school.
She learnt of the pageant last year while modelling at an event in Guyana. The founder, US-based Guyanese Dr Monica Sanchez had approached her as she thought her fit to compete in the pageant and encouraged her to enter.
Shaneeza recalled that she began training weeks in advance of the pageant, but owing to the pandemic, the competition was held virtually. She, like all the other contestants vying for the various categories, were required to send photos dressed in evening wear, swimwear and business attire. Shaneeza explained that she put special effort into seeing that for every photo shoot there was a different background. She was also required to send a video where she detailed how the pandemic has affected her life. The teen added that she spent extra time writing a script for her video before filming it. She admitted to doing several takes before she was able to perfect it.
In her video, she said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has brought upon the world a lot of change. Quarantining and social distancing has affected us in so many ways. Education is different, homes have become the workplace for millions, [and] Saturday night reunions have turned into Saturday night Zoom meetings or Skype calls.”
She went on to talk about the wearing of face masks and social distancing becoming the new norm and of the negative impact the pandemic has had on society. Shaneeza noted that according to studies the effects of quarantining have affected many persons psychologically including post-traumatic stress symptoms, confusion, and anger. She further listed other effects like financial loss, frustration, boredom and inadequate supplies, among others.
However, her video also highlights in the end, how many people have been positively impacted. “Amidst all the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, we can also appreciate what we have learnt during the time spent at home in quarantine. During these past months, we have had the time to grow and learn, create and discover, analyse and reflect. We have immersed ourselves in new hobbies and dedicated time to learning new things. During this quarantine we have become bakers, artists, fitness experts, business owners, and so much more. We took this time to do things we never thought of doing, and we have learnt so much. The time we have spent in quarantine and practicing social distancing has shown us to appreciate life itself a greater deal, cherish the time we have with our loved ones, and to care for ourselves and our health. Our day-to-day lives have changed, and we have adapted to change,” she said.
One regret she has is that the pandemic did not allow for bonding among the contestants. They all trained individually and did not see each other until the day of the pageant.
Despite its online setting, Shaneeza shared that she was still able to take away other important lessons from the competition. She noted that the pageant has taught her that technology helps us to do almost anything and even at a time like this, people can still connect, engage in various activities, and share their talents and abilities while being in different countries and sitting in the comfort of their homes.
Asked whether she has her eyes set on any other pageants, she said that for the time being, she does not but if the opportunity provides itself, she will not let it pass by.
Shaneeza who is aspiring for a career in either digital or international marketing is currently a first year Marketing student at the University of Guyana. She is currently doing online classes from the comfort of her home in Barcelona, Venezuela but plans on returning to Guyana next year to continue her studies.
As the new Miss Caricom, she has a number of projects in mind she hopes to take on during her reign which she will be executing with the help of the organization. At present they are working on a project that will help young entrepreneurs in her state, Anzoátegui.
The Miss Caricom Foundation was unable to physically crown the new queen but sent the money to purchase her crown and trophy.
The other winning categories of the pageant were Little Miss Caricom Queen which was won by Guyanese Emma Mohammed; Mr Caricom King, which was also won by Guyanese Rondal Calender, Miss Teen Caricom won by Nasvaeh Benoit from Saint Vincent, and Miss Caricom Bilingual which was won by Laura Sanchez from Panama.
The Miss Caricom Organization is known for representing a platform that promotes empowerment in youths. The winners are selected based on their physical attributes as well as their talent disposition.
