Eighteen-year-old Roshani Razack, who hails from St Cuthbert’s Mission – a small Amerindian Village on the Mahaica River – has copped the Miss Teen India worldwide crown.
She is the first Guyanese to walk away with the crown and said she always knew she could do it.
“At 12 years old I travelled to Georgetown to pursue my secondary education and I gained a scholarship after I wrote the National Grade Six examination. Coming from a small village…there were never enough opportunities but I always knew that I wanted more for myself,” the young queen said.
In order to pursue her academic goals, she had to leave her village of just 1,700 but she said moving to the coastal region was a stepping stone.
She attended the Richard Ishmael High School and ambitious as always, Razack acquired 21 passes in her CSEC examination. After which she enrolled at the University of the People and Jane University, where she is pursuing a degree in civil engineering and another in business administration, respectively.
She said academics were always important to her but she knew she wanted to achieve more. She joined the local Miss India Teen pageant which she won last year but she said she couldn’t do it without the support of her family and sponsors.
Razack faced many challenges but financing is the hardest of them all. “Growing up in such a poor community, there were not a lot of opportunities whether it was for personal growth or career-wise. Poverty is something that many of us have grown up in and I believe that my financial situation has been one of the greatest challenges for me,” she said.
However, she importantly noted that one cannot let their circumstances determine where they go. “We need to see past that. We need to expand our horizons and see beyond that, see beyond our limits,” she remarked.
“Pageantry so far has been nothing short of phenomenal. Nothing happens overnight. It takes a whole number of people as a collective of their ideas in order to be this successful. I know this is just another path through which I can attain my future goals,” Razack gleefully said.
The young pageant queen says her career goals are limitless. She wants to pursue law and perhaps a political career and she is certain she can accomplish anything she puts her mind to.
Before entering pageantry, Razack participated in the Global Youth Parliament, UNITE 2030 youth programme and volunteered with the United Nations International Crisis Summit. Her platform at the international pageant hosted a month ago in the United States was chronic illness. Razack is an advocate for exploring preventions and cures for chronic illnesses. She has volunteered at cancer and kidney foundations.
With her talent, drama and yoga, combined, she dedicated her win to her grandmother who died before she could be crowned. She said her talent, “depicted the message of me losing my grandma, I lost her so I really wanted to bring that message out of how you are able to face challenges and rise from that.”
The ambitious teen who holds several titles and nominations said she hopes her challenges with moving from her village to representing Guyana on a global stage will inspire other girls like herself.
What a great shot of her going to school and “Captaining” the boat. She will go places and you can tell by the look on her face.