Perhaps my resilience came into sharper focus when goaded on by my friend, Jennifer Osei-Nartey, I took on one of the most daunting endeavors, by entering the Miss Ghana Beauty contest. My mother had once run in a similar contest, did I have as enough courage as she did for such a venture? Yes, Miss Ghana was about beauty, but it was about beauty with brains. Did I have the fortitude to go through it all, the ‘thick skinnedness,’ to ignore trolls and critics, the self-discipline to go through the processes of learning how to catwalk and to maintain a good posture? I was good at public speaking but was I ready for the big stage? Did I have the courage and energy to go through all the grooming and preening; the maintenance of my skin, hair and nails, and the wherewithal as well as all the frisking that came with Miss Ghana 1995 making and trying on new apparels as my coach, stylist and designers with counseling frommy mother developed a new wardrobe for me? Could I keep up with the food regime needed to attain the required weight, vital statistics, and shape? And could I combine all these with my internship at Joy FM? Imagine the joy when I won the regionals and then the explosion of joy when I came second runner up at the Nationals. It was the same achievement my mom had clocked in 1960. Talk about being a chip off the old block. It was one of the beginnings of my exposure as anything, as a beauty queen, as a media personality. I mean, think of going to Miss Ghana, being a second runner up, and then working for the first official private radio station in Ghana. All of that exposure was just great. It was a great experience to have all that. 24 The Birthday Journal
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