Newly crowned Miss Guyana World queen, 22-year-old Arti Cameron, has dismissed suggestions that pageants impact negatively on young women, arguing that they are empowering tools which help women improve their skills.
The new queen while acknowledging that some persons see pageants as a waste of time and not a sensible move for young women, put forward the view that “It helps them to communicate better… and to gain more self esteem and self confidence.”
“I definitely think pageants are beneficial to young women,” she continued; “especially when they are well organized and in proper hands, pageants can be a wonderful thing for a young woman.”
Still basking in the joy of copping the coveted crown last Sunday night, Arti, who one day hopes to be a doctor, sat down with The Scene recently and spoke at length about her life which she has spent in three countries – Guyana, Jamaica and her current home, the United States. Very family oriented, Arti is concerned about being a good role model for her younger siblings and could not stop singing the praises of her supportive family.
Dubbing herself a self appointed ambassador of Guyana, the new queen who aspires to be a doctor, was not shy about answering all the questions that were thrown at her, and made it clear that she would do her country proud come November when she participates in the Miss World pageant.
“I think we have amazing support from the Miss Guyana World Organization and I think people are starting to believe in the possibility of attaining the crown on the international stage. That’s where we aiming for,” she said beaming.
Life’s journey
Born on December 14, 1988 at the St Joseph Mercy Hospital to Savitri Chotoo and Wilfred Cameron, Arti said her parents separated when she was three years old.
The new queen related that she was six years old when she migrated to Jamaica where she attended the Savanna-La-Mar Primary School in Westmoreland. There, she passed through Grades 2 to 5 before returning to Guyana at the age of 11.
After returning to her homeland in 1999, Arti attended the Sacred Heart Primary School where she sat the Secondary Schools Entrance Examination and obtained a place in St Joseph’s High School.
It was at secondary school she got her first taste of pageants.
“I participated in the Miss St Joseph pageant in 2003 and was crowned the Junior Queen for that year. It was my first and only pageant prior to this one,” she said.
And following her win, she enjoyed modelling in her spare time before starting the preparation for her CXCs.
But she was not just a pretty girl who loved dressing up since she was also an ardent netball player and represented St Joseph’s High as part of the netball team until most of her team mates graduated ahead of her, as she was the youngest player.
“We competed very well, in several competitions. I think we got a chance to participate in two particular tournaments which we placed well at… got second in the tournament,” she recalled.
“Netball is my game. I would watch any other sport. I would enjoy watching football and cricket and volleyball, but the one sport that is really close to my heart and that I can actually play would be netball,” she said.
In the end she was forced to put these extra-curricular activities on hold to write CXC, following which she attended Queen’s College for one term before migrating to the US.
“I started college at 17 in 2006 at the La Guardia Community College where I did my associates in Liberal Arts, Math and Science… I did an associate in Science and I actually graduated with honours from that institution,” Cameron said.
She graduated in 2008 and moved on to Hunter College where she read for a degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry as a pre-med student.
While Arti is certain she wants to become a doctor one day there is still some uncertainty as to what she would specialize in.
“I’d rather hold off until I get to medical school and get to see what I’m passionate about, what I’m good at. You know, I don’t wanna be a doctor just for the sake of making money. That was never my aim. I wanted to be a doctor since I was nine-years old,” she told The Scene.
Her decision to become a doctor came after she was admitted to the hospital for one week following a serious asthma attack.
“My stepmother, Dr Karen Ducannon Cameron, was actually on her way to study medicine at the University of the West Indies at the time, so she definitely was one of my greatest role models, and she has always been there to help me through studying… and [giving] guidance…she has been a great help in that arena,” Arti said.
Today, her stepmother remains someone on whom she relies heavily for advice when she needs it.
‘Best Arti Cameron’
When speaking about her family Arti can talk forever, and enthusiastically held forth on the subject of her 12-year-old brother and her baby sister, who is just one-year-old.
“I think one of my biggest personal goals is to be the best Arti Cameron there can be so my siblings and others can look up to me as a role model and they can aim to better what I’ve accomplished,” she said.
“What I appreciate about my family the most is that they see where I’m going; even before I can actually have a conversation with them they understand my drive in life, they understand I’m very motivated. I set my goals and I try to achieve them. They definitely support me, they always have, and to be honest with you, I think they always will. I can’t express how grateful I am and how lucky I am to have such a supportive family,” she said.
So it came as no surprise that her family supported her every step of the way when she indicated she wanted to be part of the Miss Guyana World pageant.
“Somebody found out that I was still able to take part in the pageant even though I was based in New York, and once I found that out I got quite excited because I have always thought about getting into pageants again but I had given up on that dream of becoming, possibly Miss Guyana World because of my migration, but because I was born here, I’m Guyanese by nationality and both my parents are Guyanese, I was still qualified to enter the pageant,” she explained.
Preparation
Meanwhile, on her preparation for the upcoming pageant, Cameron opined that the local pageant committee has been doing a wonderful job in terms of training and preparing her mind for what needs to be done and for getting those things done as well.
She explained that she has been receiving amazing guidance from former Miss Guyana World, Alethea Shepherd, who has great experience.
“She has been through it all and she is willing to come back and share the information and she is willing to share her experiences with us so that we will know what areas to work on and what to improve and also what to expect,” Cameron noted.
Still on the former queen, Arti said that she understands the seriousness of participating in the international pageant in London and understands how passionate “we are about getting that crown and she understands where we stand.”
Cameron explained that Shepherd arrived in Guyana about a week prior to the pageant and has been a wonderful support system for all the girls, including her. She noted that she will be working closely with Shepherd as she is actually a part of the official Miss Guyana World team.
According to Cameron, the former queen will be in London early in September to assist her with training prior to the handover to the Miss World Organization, when she will be required to undergo another month of training.
During training with the international organization, Arti said, there will be a lot of prejudging, many preliminaries and sports events that will lead up to pageant night in London on November 8.
In order to prepare for this, Arti said there will be a lot of training.
“I will be focusing mainly on preparing for November… I will be working really, really hard to improve many areas; my communication skills, physical fitness and that sort of thing. But my training has been intense for the last month for this pageant but moving on, we know what things need to be worked on, we know our weaknesses, we know what to look forward to, so we are just trying to align ourselves to be in better standing for the Miss World stage,” she said.
Busy year
Arti foresees herself involved in many projects, especially humanitarian work with several organizations, both government and non-governmental during her reign.
“I will have a very busy year. I plan on travelling back and forth from New York to Guyana. You can do lots of work from overseas. We have a significantly large Guyanese population in New York and we can definitely do some fundraiser events out there to help back home and encourage people to support,” she said.
“There’s a lot of Guyanese out there and I still consider myself a self-appointed ambassador. I walk out of my New York apartment and I’m Guyanese; I’m ready to show this is what Guyana stands for, this is what a Guyanese woman looks like, this is how we behave, our tradition, our culture and I think everybody appreciates that. You don’t forget where you’re from. Guyana has my heart and that will always remain the same,” the young woman said.
And who is Arti Cameron?
The beauty describes herself as a down-to-earth person who is very passionate about making a difference in the lives of others.
“I think the alignment with this pageant in particular, is wonderful for me because I feel comfortable. The theme of this year’s pageant is beauty with a purpose, and I always believed that it’s good to have something good to focus on, something constructive to focus on as a young lady,” she said.
In ten years from now, Arti sees herself practising medicine and coming back to Guyana to give back to her country, not necessarily to practice, but to return from wherever she is practising, to serve in the best way she possibly can.
“I believe it is always good to remember where you’re from. No matter where you’re going, no matter where you set your standards, no matter what goals you may have in mind, you must always remember to honour the place you’re from and the people who surround you and helped support you and contributed significantly to the person you’ve become,” Arti said.
And she has some advice for her peers:
“My advice to young girls out there: don’t give up. There will always be challenges and good things don’t necessarily come easily. You need to be prepared to put in the work, put in the effort; you have to be prepared for the possible challenges that may come. You also need to remember that you can do it. If you want it bad enough, you will put the work in, you will get it. Don’t be discouraged by negative comments and negative attention that may be directed to you. You need to believe in yourself, believe it’s possible and work hard for it.” (nicham2009@yahoo.com)
