The idiom, ‘beauty is only skin-deep’ certainly does not apply to Miss World Guyana, Ambika Ramraj, who is beautiful, inside and out. The 19-year-old who will represent Guyana at the Dec. 8, pageant in Sanya, China, received warm wishes at the Urban Gallery in Williamsburg, during a farewell reception, on Nov. 4.
Ramraj spoke passionately about using her awe-inspiring ‘beauty with a purpose’ platform to discuss mental health issues, with a focus on children who have experienced some form of trauma.
Her drive for this charitable cause has helped her to gain knowledge while volunteering with the Guyana Golden Lives Organization, started by Marva Langevine, a Queen Elizabeth Youth Leadership Award-winner, whose institution aims to enhance the lives of underprivileged children during mentoring programs.
Dressed in an ivory beaded dress, the young woman whose smile lit up the room filled with well-wishers, including Consul General of Guyana to New York, Barbara Atherly, spoke candidly to Caribbean Life about completing high school, and her uncertainty about life’s goals, choosing essentially, to enter the pageant as a way to learn more about herself, and gain experiences along the way.
Her goal was not to enter any pageant, but one that would be beneficial to her, hence, the Miss World, because of the ‘beauty with a purpose’ platform, that raises funds and participates in humanitarian projects.
Ramraj, who recently arrived in New York via Fly Jamaica Airways to prepare for the various categories of competions talent, sports and fitness, runway performance, and camera-ready interview skills, handed out tokens of appreciation to patrons.
Inspired by past Guyanese contestants including Skakira Baksh, who placed third on the world stage, she is confident that she will do well in the pageant, and called on her peers to support her in whatever way they can, especially by using multi-media platforms to help increase her status in the completion.
The 5’5” tall, shapely 33, 24, 37 contestant, who participated in physical activities, including cricket, track and field, and soccer, ultimately becoming a badminton champion, thanked the Miss World organization for working with sponsors to ensure she received the necessities needed to stay competitive in the pageant.
Her advice to contestants who will follow her, is be the best version of ‘yourself.’ “I would like to tell up-and-coming contestants to follow your dreams, don’t give up on them, set your goals, and work hard to achieve them,” advised the beauty contestant.
Follow Ambika #MissWorld #MissGuyana #MWG18.
Guyana National Pageant Director, and pageant franchise holder, Natasha Blu Martindale, who founded the Miss World Guyana organization, five years ago, said she ensured that contestants understand the pageant is a serious undertaking, noting that the Miss World pageant looks for an all-rounded, quintessential woman.
She instills in the young women, the importance of being gracious and grateful, exuding beauty inside and out. Someone, she added who understands her journey, while embracing her failures, not someone who is overly emotional.
Martindale took on the pageant aware of the challenges former contestants faced. Her task has been to make the young women feel good about themselves. It is a process of elimination that ultimately leads to someone as graceful and well rounded, as Ramraj.
She has used the power of social media to recruit candidates, in an effort to get back into the top 10, and insists that since contestants are admitted from the age of 16 to 26, a college degree is not a prerequisite to enter the pageant. However, she encourages higher education for all young women.
The Miss World Guyana Organization thanks designers, Roger Gary and Michelle Cole, Patricia Jordon-Langford, Tony Singh, Dave West Indian Imports, Hibiscus Restaurant, Zaman Mohamed Amin, Miss New York Outstanding Teen Cayla D. Kumar and everyone else, who made the farewell to China, a success.
