Budding artist bests Miss Cultured
Burrowes School of Arts beauty Romichelle Brummel was last Saturday night crowned Miss Cultured Guyana 2017 after competing with two other contestants at the Umana Yana.
In a sit down with the queen, The Scene found her emotional at times as she explained what it felt like: “I’m still in awe. It still hasn’t fully sunk in as yet that I won but it’s a very warm feeling and I’m happy.”
This is the fourth pageant ‘Romi’, as she’s fondly called by friends and peers, has competed in. There was the Miss Guyana Talented Teen 2013 where she finished as the second runnerup, then Miss Summer Blaze 2014 (second runnerup), followed by Miss Mash Queen 2017.
Romi’s journey to the crown was no bed of roses. She revealed that usually the biggest thing in a pageant is getting sponsorship and this year was no different. “I was telling myself that I have all these ideas and no sponsor and was on the [verge] of dropping out of the competition. I had a side job that helped me to acquire the necessary materials. It was Monday, the same week of the pageant and I still hadn’t gotten a sponsor or designer and had nothing to wear for any of the categories. I called my best friend Michael Sam up and asked him to help me out. [Michael recently won the Best Talent Award at this year’s Mr Guyana African Roots Pageant doing speed painting to a dramatic piece that he wrote.] We got together that Monday just pitching ideas,” Romi shared.
The days to follow got even busier as the two tried to find materials for the much-needed pieces that would reflect the pageant’s theme: ‘Embracing Our Indigenous Heritage through Cultural Cohesion: A Statement of Unity.’ The two other contestants did manage to pull it off with the help of designers while Romi did most of the work with Michael from scratch into the wee hours of mornings.
Asked whether she is a pageant fanatic she surprisingly said no. Some years ago, while she was a student at St John’s College, flyers were distributed regarding the Miss Guyana Talented Teen pageant. Romi paid no mind but her best friend, Crystal Fraser jumped at the offer and decided to sign and insisted that she contest with her, but she declined. However, she accompanied Crystal when she went to sign up and learnt of the different categories and projects the contestants would be involved in. The talent segment, she admitted, meant the most to her as she loves singing and so she signed up as well.
This year’s pageant, Romi said, was not much different as regards the training and because she would have been exposed to this at other pageants it was easier. They were trained by Miss Guyana Jamzone 2013 and Miss Global International 2015 Alecia Bess on how to strut the catwalk.
Other training included classes to inform the contestants on the indigenous people as this year’s theme reflected on this particular ethnic group. Last year’s pageant was focused on Africans. It was during these sessions that Romi realised how little information was gathered on the first people. On pageant night when asked what she would do to promote the importance of a comprehensive indigenous curriculum to stop cultural erasure, she replied, “The aspect I would choose would be literature, because for indigenous literature, there isn’t much information on the indigenous people. You can check the textbooks, you can check online – there isn’t much and I believe that as our first people, they deserve the respect to have a concise curriculum focused on them, so that children would not become ignorant of their culture.” This answer won favour with the audience and judges.
A third-year student at E R Burrowes School of Arts, Romi is doing a major in painting and a minor in