A young television producer, with a penchant for elegance, has won the Best Dressed Competition at an annual tea party organized by the United Vincie Cultural Group of Brooklyn (UVCGB).
Ronissha Marksman, 29, who is also an adjunct associate professor at Long Island University (LIU), downtown Brooklyn, won the competition on May 7 at St. Anthony Baptist Church, at the corner of Utica and East New York avenues in Brooklyn.
Marksman, who was born in Brooklyn to Vincentian immigrants, was the unequivocal winner in the contest that comprised nine other competitors. The Best Dressed Competition was part of the UVCGB’s 8th Annual Tea Party.
The post production coordinator for Eastern TV in lower Manhattan, who teaches film and television production at LIU, wore a green hat, with a white and floral dress, white cardigan sweater, and lace gloves and white shoes.
She, clearly, impressed the judges and the sell-out patrons as she strutted her stuff on the catwalk.
“I feel good,” Marksman told Caribbean Life shortly after her performance. “It was exciting. It was a pleasure to participate in the competition. And it was an honor to win, especially with such tough competition.”
The winner of the Best Dressed or Hat Competition is usually declared “Miss United Vincie Cultural Group of Brooklyn” for the particular year in which the competition is held.
Annette Stowe, a Vincentian-born Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) executive, who won the Hat Competition in 2014, was first runner-up in the Best Dressed Competition this year.
Marksman will be crowned on Sept. 10, when UVCGB holds its annual fund-raising cultural show in Brooklyn, according to president Dr. Roxie Irish, a youth minister at the Miracle Temple Ministries in the Brownsville, Brooklyn.
Barbadian Jefferson Alleyne, who was invited to the Tea Party by his Sister-in-Christ Vincentian Augusta Greene, won the Men’s Modeling Competition. They worship at Mt. Calvary Pentecostal Church on Prospect Place in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
“Lovely!” exclaimed Alleyne when asked about competing. “This is what I do. I had been doing this all my life; I’m an ex-party boy.”
Jamaican Vernal Hall took the second spot in the Men’s Modeling Competition. His wife and compatriot, Evangelist Lovinia Hall, of the Miracle Temple Ministries, where several UVCGB members worship, won the Song Competition.
She sang to the tune “On Christ the Solid Rock I stand / All other ground is sinking sand / All other ground is sinking sand.”
“It’s always a pleasure being here,” Mrs. Hall told Caribbean Life afterwards. “I believe people should live together in love and unity.”
The Tea Party also featured, among other things, “instrumentalities” by the UVCGB band, sing-along, singing by Brooklyn school teacher Vincentian Zita Adams, and a purse and wallet game.
Patrons were treated to, among other delicacies, finger-licking chicken wings, beef and chicken patties, fruit punch, and an assortment of teas, including “Bush Tea.”
Among the table identifiers were: Majestea, Trinitea, Pietea, Eternitea, Suretea and Royaltea.
“Tea Party 2016 was a great success for us,” said Irish, a former St. Vincent and the Grenadines national netball star. “The members and volunteers worked very hard, despite the many challenges we faced. We were determined to succeed.
“Each year gets better and better,” she added. “We were fired up to accomplish all that we set out to do. There were lots of new attendees this year, and the feedback is wonderful. The guests were dressed to a ‘T’ – no pun intended.”
