Teino Evans, Staff Reporter

Yendi Phillipps has great memories of the Miss World 2007 contest and no regrets. - File

Miss Jamaica World 2007, Yendi Phillipps, is still feeling on top of the world after placing in the top 15 at the Miss World 2007 pageant, held in Sanya, China, on December 1.

Phillipps says "it was a fantastic experience. We experienced a whole new culture and spent an entire month with different girls from all over the world. I got very close to Miss Grenada. Miss Guadeloupe was my roommate; she was fantastic. Miss India, Miss U.S.A., Miss Lithuania and Germany, but I was closest to Grenada".

Not at all disappointed in her top 15 placement, an optimistic Phillipps says "I feel great. It's an accomplishment in itself and it only reminds me that I can achieve whatever I set my mind to and I realise that I can create my own destiny. I did well in all the fast track events. I was the only person to have been in the finals of all five of the fast track events - well, that's what I was told by the PR for the Miss World pageant".

Even when considered good enough to be a beauty queen, it was unlikely that Yendi Phillipps could escape criticism entirely, as there were those who felt that her curvaceous figure was not in keeping with the traditional, very slim image and it may have affected her final placement in the pageant.

Phillipps, however, dismissed the critics, saying, "I don't think that had any basis at all. The top five in the 'Beach Beauty' were all shapely girls and I came second in that and, for the finals, Miss Angola was quite shapely. She has meat! So, I don't think thick-skin has any bearing on it at all".

Furthermore, Phillipps says, "I would do nothing differently. I went there, I was myself and did my best in all I did and the outcome was the outcome. I maybe would have been a little more curious with the food but I don't know how to say I feel sick in Chinese, so ..."

Yendi Phillipps, shortly after being crowned Miss Jamaica World 2007.

JAMAICA IS COOL

Phillipps added that although not being able to speak Chinese, just being a Jamaican was enough to gain favour and popularity among the foreigners.

"Jamaica is like the coolest thing to anyone overseas, so people just thought I was cool just because and, when I got to know them, the girls were just really nice. I guess I was known as the have-fun person to lighten up the mood," Phillipps said.

The Miss World pageant, which was being held in China for the fourth time, is reportedly set to move to the Ukraine next year and there were speculations that the selection of Miss China as this year's winner was a political ploy.

Phillipps, however, opted to remain neutral, as she said, "I think Miss China is a great girl and if she had in her what the judges saw fit, then congratulations, but she is really a sweet and poised girl. I'm not going to say it's political or not. I'm not going to question it. The outcome is the outcome."

AMAZING WELCOME

Since returning to Jamaica, Phillipps says "the response has been amazing. I don't think anybody was upset with my performance and I don't think I've ever felt so proud to be Jamaican. The reception has been overwhelming".

And now that the Miss World pageant is behind her, Phillipps says she will be completing her reign as Miss Jamaica and revisit completing her master's degree.

"Well, I still have to complete my reign as Miss Jamaica, I still have a lot of courtesy calls and work on the scene as role model for the youths. I know this coming Saturday (yesterday) we have some Christmas giveaways," Phillipps said.

She added that "I was thinking to give more attention to my modelling career that I left to go to UWI, but I also have to complete my thesis for my master's research, which is on how art programmes can combat youth delinquency in inner-city communities".

Phillipps, who is pursuing her degree in recreation and leisure management studies, which she says "is just a really long way of saying entertainment coordinator", hopes to one day be a prominent figure in the entertainment sector.

She promises, after she has lived her years as a beauty queen to the fullest, that she will definitely be on the entertainment circuit in the managerial capacity one day.