27 outubro 2007

Valene goes for the World via China



Miss Trinidad and Tobago, Valene Maharaj, leaves for the Miss World pageant in China this week.

Six-feet-worth of Valene Maharaj strode in. Four inches courtesy stilettos. Glossy black hair, polished brown skin and skinny jeans accounted for the rest. With her departure for the Miss World Pageant in China just days away, the 21-year-old is anxious to play the game of beauty meet

strategy.

"The biggest lesson throughout all of this has been that little things make a big difference," she told me over a steaming cup of Chai tea (just one sugar). "Thank you notes for chaperones; being punctual, friendly, positive. I'm so happy. Someone would have to beat me for me to be sad. What is the point of being negative? Having a positive attitude gets me through lots of long days."

And she expects the combination of positive attitude and preparation to get her through her first real pageant experience. She was the teenaged runner-up to Kenisha Thom and Tineke De Freitas when Peter Elias and Company held one of their open-calls-and-final-decisions-in-one-day-flat two years ago.

Before that her only beauty-meet-competition experience was at the 2003 Caribbean Model Search with its finale at Jamaica Fashion Week. Still, that's not quite a pageant. She's yet to experience the psychological warfare that a month of estrogen-fuelled competition in the lead up to one crowning night must be.



She says it's her body and beauty types that probably got her heel in the door-long, lean, dark and exotic. But Valene thinks her world view gave her the edge.

"Everyone thinks there are typical answers in interview segments. But my interview went well because I was really able to capture the essence of me. From a young age I've always been goal-oriented. So when they asked what I intended to pursue as a career I knew what I wanted to do. That clarity at a young age was important," she flows.

But over these couple years her goals have been altered. When we first met her she was a business management student at Roytec. After the Miss World experience, however, she plans to pursue a degree that merges fashion, fine arts and marketing at the American Intercontinental University (AIU).

Trinidad and Tobago missed this year's Miss Universe pageant due to a lack of corporate and government support to get a girl prepared. But wasn't it a forgone conclusion that she would be next in line once the money came? Wasn't the last one-day-open-call-and-final-competition mere formality? Valene's 'no' answer actually makes you wonder.

"A lot of people were like 'obviously you'd get it'. I don't think so. Every year it varies. It depends on who is competing and which girls are most suitable for the respective pageants. I grew a lot within that year. I'd grasped a lot of the dos and don'ts. I think that allowed me to get an extra edge," she explained.

She hammers the point home with the assurance that she has no plans to compete in next year's Miss Universe. Valene believes that Miss World with its emphasis on charity and celebration of diverse aspects of girls' personalities is the best fit. And she's optimistic about her chances now that the decision-making power has been restored to a judging panel and is no longer being left to international votes via the internet. ("Hallelujah, Praise the lord!" she yelps.)

As the last outburst suggests, she's Pentecostal. She was raised in a close-knit, extended St Margarets family that prioritized church and education, she said.

"I came from a family where I knew I was loved. If you couldn't get something from mom you went to dad and then to your grandparents. Both my grandparents passed away last year within three months of each other. They had a very deep connection and were totally in love. That's the example I had from them. And their death has been the hardest thing I've ever have to deal with," she said.

Living on her own in an apartment on the opposite end of the island for the last six months probably comes in second.

The pageant prep has been intensive.

- Interview with Adrian Raymond.

- Etiquette with Marguerite Gordon.

- Make-up with Yvonne Popplewell.

- Photographs with Calvin French.

- Dance with Nalini Akal.

- Walk with Alyson Brown.

An intimidating cum inspiring three weeks in Toronto with pageant guru and designer, Bobby Ackbarali.

And Peter Elias for wardrobe and oversight.

"I have gotten a lot of inspiration from a lot of people. But speaking to Giselle La Ronde West-the only Trinidadian to have won the Miss World title-was phenomenal. I wanted to understand what she did to make such an impact. After having one lunch with her I understood. She has a great presence. She's very poised. Moreover when she speaks to you, you feel like you just want to give her a hug. They don't look for the diva at Miss World. They go for more of a sweet, demure person.

"She won Miss World but she is still a normal person. She has a family and home and job and she's engrossed in those things. She told me that life does return to normal. This is a journey in your life that eventually comes to an end. It was great for me because I guess after talking with her I realised how much it has consumed my life so far," Valene shared.

So while she's committed to the challenge, this warm and chatty young lady is putting it all into perspective.

At the end of an interview I usually ask whether there's anything else someone wants to say. After an hour-long conversation the answer is typically 'no'. But Valene's response was "yes. I want to say thank you".

"This is the most support I've had in my life from everyone from Minster Joan Yuille Williams to my personal trainer, Steven," she said. "So many people have helped me so much and brought me from scratch. I am really appreciative and overjoyed with the thought that all those people care for and support me. And I believe that with God's help I will do well and the experience will be fruitful."

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