Beauty for child rights

Melissa Doughty Friday, September 1 2017

BEING able to scrap cars and be beautiful while doing it might appear to be a dichotomy to some. But 23-yearold Glenisica Wilson is exactly that. She is one of the 20 finalists vying to be this country’s representative at the Miss Universe pageant.

The final-year math student, reading for a BSc in Mathematics at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, is also the only contestant from Tobago.

She grew up in Les Coteaux, Tobago with her father, Glenford Wilson. While, she said, he was always there for her, he was never truly emotionally available. Her mother, Amril Melville, lives in the US.

She had two different experiences growing up. Living with her mother for five years, she was dressed up all the time as a girly girl.

Then living with her father who owns a garage and helping him scrap cars she was more of “a tomboy, scraping cars and wearing a jumpsuit.” Wilson who turns 24 on September 28, said about studying math: “I did math because it is what I am best at. I would like to become an actuary one day. I signed up for the CA (Certified Actuarial Analyst) certificate with IFOA (Institute and Faculty of Actuaries). That is where I would like to go in the future.” Wilson said she had always wanted to do some form of activism for child rights.

So when she realised, “I could not become a lawyer or anything like that...so because I realised that was not my nature. I felt pageantry would be the best forum to pursue activism.” While she is aware that she could have joined organisations in support of the cause, she felt entering the pageant would have been the best way to promote her cause.

“I feel pageantry would be the easiest forum for me to take over or have control or pursue my own personal agenda. Whereas simply joining someone else’s cause.” And that personal cause focuses on child neglect. “For instance, children who don’t have their parents around because, maybe, they’re incarcerated or, maybe, they’re too busy working various jobs. Or some parents just don’t have that innate love for their children and those are the areas I want to focus...” The cause has personal tones for Wilson whose father, she said, was always usually very busy and, “he was not the loving kind. He was not the family-oriented type of person.

He focused on work and I did not get to spend much time with my mother because she lives abroad.” Wilson felt she grew up on her own and wants to be the support for those who share similar experiences.

Although, she entered fashion shows from as early as six, Wilson did not envision a career in modelling.

She said: “It all began when I decided to start sewing. I went to designer Saleem Samuel’s store [work base] on Frederick Street to buy cloth and he asked me, ‘do you model?’ I said, ‘not really’ and he invited me to come walk in his show. [Monte Carlo] From there Saleem referred me to the franchise holders for the Miss Universe pageant and it began from there.” Although being relatively new to pageantry, Wilson hopes to do well, even win, despite having a lot of work to do in a very short space of time.

Growing up, while Wilson thought about entering the global pageant, it was more of “a fantasy thing.” “It was always a one day if I am lucky,” she said to the thought of entering the Miss Universe pageant.

Wilson believes while there are always things which need to be addressed in pageantry, she believes it provides and will always provide an avenue for young women to excel.

This year’s Miss TT Universe is scheduled to be held in October.

http://www.newsday.co.tt/features/0,248501.html