'I am beautiful'

Sean A. Bennett, Gleaner Writer

Two weeks after being crowned Miss Jamaica World, 24-year-old Chantal Raymond is still feeling like the luckiest girl on Earth. She would feel much better, however, if she could shake what some people have been saying about her.

"There's this opinion going around that I'm not attractive," said the Harvard graduate. "I don't know why, but I look much better in person than in photographs. I've been hearing all these comments that I have purpose, but not beauty, which is weird for me, because I've never been called unattractive before."

A public reaction like that would put anybody's confidence in their shoes, but not Raymond.

The soft spoken beauty queen admits that at first she felt hurt, but believes that if people were more open minded and got to know her, they would have a different opinion.

"I really want people not to be so set on what they see. Just because they see a bad picture then they assume that's how I look all the time. People really get taken in by my personality and I consider myself to be very warm. I try not only to be attractive on the outside, but on the inside. I really care about people and really try to get to know them, and that's what I want to come across," she said.

Familiar with pageants

No stranger to the Miss World competition, Raymond entered in 2006 and made it to the top five. Back then, she says she didn't try very hard and decided to give her all the second time around. When she was named the winner, she recalls not being able to think.

"It was so surreal, I was hoping not to hear my name until they were calling the winning spot, then when they called my name. I couldn't think of anything else. I was too excited."

Born and raised in St Andrew, she attended DuPont Primary School then moved to the United States when she was 11 years old. That year, she decided she would go to law school after someone tried to break into her house.

"I was at home alone with my five-year-old sister and I actually saw the person. I had to go to court and identify him. I was just amazed and fascinated with the whole experience. Even though they called a mistrial, the case was reopened a year later and the perpetrator got convicted," she recalled.

Confidence a necessity

In the coming weeks, her focus will be on getting physically and mentally ready for the Miss World pageant, which takes places in early October. Chantal believes she has the ability to do well.

"I believe my chances are very good. What I'll have to do in the next month is not only get physically, but mentally prepared. You can do a lot of things if you believe in yourself. Yendi did very well internationally, but she's very confident and she believes a lot and that's why she was so successful."

The Miss World pageant returns to Sanya China, the same place Phillipps competed in 2007, placing 6th overall.

"I have no idea; it's not that I don't know. I plan everything in my life down to a 'T'. I knew I wanted to go to Law school from the time I was 11. It's just that I've become really open to the possibilities and I don't want to limit myself."

sean.bennett@gleanerjm.com