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GWEN
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RABY

Beauty queen from Rochdale who is pursuing a career in
modelling after reaching the Miss England Final

How did you get started in pageants?
It’s coming to the end of your year as Miss
Southport. What sort of things have you been Having low self-esteem and a lack of confidence, I
getting up to?
decided to go for it after hearing they boosted con-
fidence. It definitely changed my life for the better.
I turned the Southport lights on with East 17, The more I competed, the more I wanted to use the
and walked in the Derian House Fashion Show. title for good, and I started my ‘Big Up Sista’ cam-
I judged ‘best dressed’ at the Southport Flower paign.
Show, went to the Formby festival, the Woodvale
Rally, the Bolton Food and Drink Festival, and a Tell us more about ‘Big Up Sista’.
café opening.
The media portrays this ‘perfect image’ of how girls
What have you enjoyed most about your year?
should look, so I ran workshops talking about the
importance of self-love and positive body image. I
I’ve loved my involvement with charity events plus showed schoolgirls edited and unedited photos, so
helping and encouraging others. I would look up they could see that everybody has imperfections.
to the girls with titles whilst I was competing, so it
has been nice to be an ambassador for them. After I am proud to have used my titles to promote a cause
raising almost £5,000 in the last three years whilst that means so much to me; I don’t think I would have
working towards various titles, it has been great had the courage to do so otherwise. Starting out, my
to still be involved.
aim was to help other young girls that struggled in
the same way and I am happy I’ve achieved this.
How did it feel to make the final 50 contestants of
the Miss England Grand Final in 2017?
What’s next for you?

I had the best time. Whilst I didn’t manage to It saddens me to say I have hung up my pageant
achieve my dream of being in the top five, just shoes, at least for now, whilst I focus on my model-
being there was a dream. I think I was one of the ling career. I have loved being involved with the Miss
top fund raisers and I placed in the top 15 for the England organisation, who have helped me believe in
‘Miss Beautiful Hair’ award.
myself enough to pursue this career path. Right now
though, it’s time for me to focus on my dreams. I will
I’ve had so many amazing opportunities since then, also be spending a year in Australia next year, some-
even representing Southport and the contest at thing I have always wanted to do.
the launch of new clothing company ‘MeSheMe.’
I walked in their London show and modelled for
their website, a real push for my modelling career.
Photo: Malcolm Journeaux
Make Up: Sonara Parker