Melissa Hamilton - Carlington WilmotNINETEEN-YEAR-old Melissa Hamilton has always wanted to be on the catwalk. As a child, this pretty teenager who lives in Vineyard Town, Kingston, wanted a career in modelling.
Back in 1992, in Old Harbour, the then 10-year-old Davis Primary School student got her first taste of fame when she entered the Mini Miss Davis pageant.
This February she was a contestant in the Miss Black History Month Pageant held at the Sutton Place Hotel in Kingston where she brought home the prize for second runner up.
"It was 1999 winner Jennifer Hugh who told me about the Miss Black History Month Pageant," she said. "I put out every effort to become a part of the show."
Shyness? No problem.
"Because I've been going on stage from I was younger, I was already used to the spotlight," she said, "I believe that was a plus for me."
Melissa, a past student of Old Harbour High, is attending EXED community college where she is reading for a diploma in Business Administration. After completing the course she plans to work part-time before going to university.
She said that as much as she wanted to be a supermodel - she planned on only doing it part-time because she believes that one can never make enough money in Jamaica with modelling as their only profession.
"I have gotten a lot of offers," she boasted, "but right now I have to be concentrating on my schooling because no matter what, education is still the key and will always be. I will wait five years, by then I should be in a full-time job and be comfortable enough to do modelling part-time."
In the future, she hopes to get a modelling contract in France.
"France is the place for modelling because it's where you find all the top designers and everyone has a fair chance of reaching supermodel status," she believes.
Tyra Banks and Lois Samuel's are the two supermodels she admires most -- Lois especially because 'she is a Jamaican who has fought hard to make it internationally.'
"She shows us that once you are willing to dedicate your life to it then you may become a supermodel," Melissa added, "with that advice, all I'd add is strength and determination."
-Carlington Wilmot
