Gregoire: TT Miss World my ‘childhood dream’

Rachel Gregoire, 24, of Plymouth Road, one of the ten contestants in the TT Miss World competition, is not focused on capturing the title to represent TT in Thailand, but has her heart set on making the best of the experience.

Gregorie, a clerk at the Division of Food Production, Forestry and Fisheries, told Newsday, “Whether or not I win this title, I have already won. Just participating in the casting was a childhood dream, but now that I made the finals, new goals are being created and marked off as I proceed."

Despite being a 15-minute flight or three-hour sail away from Trinidad, Gregoire said it is still a disadvantage having to travel between the islands for training and other activities pertaining to the pageant.

"On the positive side, I was able to learn a lot about Trinidad in the past week. As I continue this journey, I do hope that Tobagonians come together and support us both (herself and fellow Tobagonian contestant Karielle Ramsden) in this pageant.”

Gregoire is currently pursuing a degree in international management and during her free time volunteers with the Rotaract Club of Tobago. She also is the secretary of the Tobago West Youth League.

She said she enjoys spending quality time with family, taking part in outdoor activities and assisting in community-service projects.

An advocate for women's rights, Gregoire said women must be respected and men must understand respect when they said, "No."

To this end, Gregoire has teamed up with the Woman of Substance organisation, a victim support group, to help women who are victims of domestic violence on the island.

She is also a part-time model and has participated in beauty pageants before, but not of this magnitude. She described the opportunity to compete to be the TT Miss World representative as a “double dosage of accomplishments” that has thus far been a life-changing experience.

Like Ramsden, Gregoire has modelled in Tobago Fashion Coda and Tobago Fashion Week.

“This opportunity has allowed me to not only develop myself professionally but also leads me to conduct an in-depth self-evaluation, to see how I could develop myself personally.

"Another very important factor this pageant has allowed is the creation of new relationships with the other beauty personalities. I say 'beauty personalities' because I do not see this pageant as a competition, but instead, an institution for learning and experience.

"Thus far, we have had training sessions on communication skills, etiquette, floor training and how to apply makeup professionally by Richard Young, Karah Ramarine Shah and Lisa Ghany.”