Guyana will be among a number of countries participating in the first ever Miss/Mr Model of Tourism World in Montego Bay, Jamaica in May. The competition focuses on tourism and cultural expression through talent and humanitarian work.
So far, the countries that have signed up to participate are India, Colombia, San Andres, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Haiti, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Jamaica, and Guyana. The local committee has already chosen two ambassadors to represent Guyana: Paul Charles, a 34-year-old model and dancer who is no stranger to pageantry, and 29-year-old dancer Raveena Mangal.
The directorship of the local pageant is held by Roshini Persaud-Boodhoo, a familiar face in pageantry. Roshini held the Miss India Guyana title in 2011 and went on to win the Miss Congeniality Award at the Miss India Worldwide Pageant. She is the choreographer of the Jewan Ka Nritya dance group and has been dancing for 26 years.
In 2015, she was awarded the National Youth Award of Excellence and the following year was presented with the Ambassador of Peace Award. She is also one of the co-authors with Sonia Noel in her recent book, Women Across Borders. Roshini is also a pageant mentor and talent trainer, television personality, and radio broadcaster making her qualified for the position as director of the local franchise.
Sharing about how she took up the position of director, she said Charles who has been in a number of pageants came across the pageant and was interested in participating. As such he reached out to the Jamaican committee voicing his interest before contacting her enquiring whether she would be up to taking on such a task and providing her mentorship. The mother of three was excited about the competition and agreed to be director. At this point, she realized they needed to work on getting a representative for the Miss category. Noticing that the pageant was catering for contestants ages 18-35 for the Mr and 18-30 for the Miss, Roshini thought of Raveena, who is one of her dance students, spoke to her and learnt that she was interested. In fact, Raveena said she had always been interested but could not qualify for the many of the local pageants as she was a few years older than the required age. She was ecstatic to learn that there was a pageant that catered for her. Raveena, who has a degree in Environmental Science, has done a great deal of travelling.
Judges in the pageant will be looking to see that contestants have a sense of responsibility, modelling abilities, self-confidence, talent, and work ethic. They should be physically fit, as consistent with a healthy lifestyle. Contestants should have a runway presence and should be photogenic. The winners may not score the highest in any one category but are expected to excel in all categories.
The titles for each competition will include a winner and four runners-up. In addition there will be special awards for Top Runway Model, Top Commercial Model, Top Fitness Model, Best Physique, Best Personality, People’s Choice, Media’s Choice, Best Talent, Best Tourism Speaker and Humanitarian.
Contestants will participate in photography and videography for AVP production and promotion, press presentation conference, city tours and sponsors visit, panel interview, tourism conference/ forum, charity visit, talent competition, swimwear, runway show and the grand finale.
Meanwhile, their wardrobe essentials are national costume, evening wear, swimwear and beachwear, costume for talent competition, and fun fashion outfit. The costumes for Paul and Raveena will be created by designer Dexter Gardener.
Roshini shared that the pageant will be held in a physical setting instead of a virtual one and explained that there will be strict COVID guidelines adding that whenever they are onstage, they will be required to wear facemasks and adhere to social distancing.
The international pageant committee comprises Chairman and CEO Nyelia Doyley; International President Romario Hylton, who will be taking care of branding, marketing and public relations; Director Mawande Qeqe, responsible for international relations, marketing and events; Senior Vice President Yakinie Mitchell, responsible for Operations and Production; and Training, Productions and Creative Director Blessed Mukondo. Roshini, who is also part of this team, is Vice President responsible for Marketing and Business Development.
Guyana’s representatives need sponsors and as such Roshini is inviting sponsors to be part of what she said will be an incredible experience.
