Watching The Miss Universe 2017 Pageant, made me feel so extremely proud to be a woman, to be a sista, and to be a Jamaican.
This year’s The Miss Universe 2017 Pageant was nothing short of beauty, intelligence, and poise. The contestants were the most dynamic and multi-faceted crop of women I’ve seen. But Jamaica’s Davina Bennett and her glorious Afrostood out among the sea of blown-out or straight styles.
A black woman wearing an Afro on a major global beauty platform was a win for women of color. Davina Bennett did that! She basically put the world on notice by boldly saying, “world this is my hair and I love it!” Now that’s “Black Girl Magic.”
Davina didn’t take home the crown for Jamaica, but I would hardly say that being second runner-up is a loss. Not to mention, she captured the hearts of millions with her elegance, grace, poise, intelligence, and breathtakingly natural beauty. She shined brightly in her afro and yellow gown, while making history for Jamaica–as the first afro-queen to make it that far.
On her Instagram Davina wrote, “I came, I conquered and if you know me, then you know that’s just another story and you will be seeing a lot more from me.”
The 21-year-old Miss Jamaica Universe 2017, shattered the stereotype of what is defined as beautiful. Now my daughters (here and here) can see beauty defined in a standard that fits their image–from the hair down to the souls of their feet.
Like Shonda Rhimes, “I’m going to need some Miss Jamaica dolls for my mini-me.” Thank you Davina Bennett for sending a message of being “authentically you” and that you don’t need to change to fit the stereotype of what others deem beautiful. Thank you, for sending the message that wherever you are in your hair journey, you should own it. Thank you, for letting sistas like me and my daughters know that we can be fabulously fearless wearing our natural kinks and coils.
Keep scrolling to check out more of Davina the philanthropist and beauty queen giving us natural hair goals with the gorgeous afro.
