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Yashmini Amisha Sarjoo is the first ever Miss Teen India Guyana. She was handpicked to represent Guyana at the international leg of the competition as there was no pageant.

“It’s still quite overwhelming being queen and has been a wonderful experience so far,” she said. “I’ve gotten exposure to a lot to things, to meet a lot of people, to interact with them and help them. It means a lot with the support I’ve received from Guyana… and being chosen to be the first Miss Teen India Guyana.”

From the Cinderella county, Yashmini was born at Land of Plenty, but has spent the majority of her life on the East Coast Demerara. When the family moved to live at Success, Yashmini was almost a kindergartener, but she recalls bits of what life was like then, while other stories were related to her by her mother. The adjustment period took some time. For many persons, adjusting can be a challenge and for the Sarjoos it meant going without electricity and in her father’s case finding a job to maintain his family. It didn’t take him long, but because he wanted them to have a place of their own and not continue living at relatives, he did extra jobs as well as worked overtime, saving for their home. From a young age, Yashmini began to appreciate the sacrifices her parents made for her and while this may have been a difficult period for the family, it was this hardship that inspired her to help others.

“[Having] the title I want to reach out to youths and those living in poverty. As a [child] my family wasn’t well-off and because of that, people never interacted with us much… because of our social status,’ she said. “This was after we moved. How people treat people depends on their status and even while I was at St Joseph, children hung with the wealthy groups if they were wealthy or the poor groups if they were poor. There was segregation in the class. Being someone who is always jolly, I didn’t have a group, I interacted with the children of all the groups…”

Her jovial nature, excellent academic performance and outgoing personality saw her making friends easily. She was a dancer who was also involved in occasional events at the school as well as a badminton player. She was often the go-to person for advice as her peers trusted her. Some needed help with their studies, others had more serious issues such as depression because of problems at home.

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