Miss Liberia, Telena Cassell at Miss Tourism Queen International in China
Telena Cassell, returns from Miss Tourism Queen International, to the rigors of regular life. International Beauties arrived in Beijing and later took a ten-hour train ride to Henan Province. The pageant was a glitzy event held over three weeks in different tourism regions of Henan Province, China. The contestants toured Henan via bus and train, amidst much media fanfare. Paparazzi, reporters, and media cameras clogged the landscape. Some of the girls were overwhelmed by the excitement and their new found celebrity status well others with more experience shot the bevy of cameramen perfect smiles. The Chinese public were extremely excited to see beautiful contestants from all over the world. Traffic came to a stop still when the caravan of contestant busses and media vehicles escorted by motor patrol traveled through the streets and highways.
Several contestants were vetern pageant contestants that had participated in other international pageants. GlobalBeauties.com pageant website cites the following girls as alumni of other pageants or as current holders of other titles:
“There are a few crossovers from other pageants competing at Miss Tourism Queen International 2008. Sharon Persaud of Jamaica resides in Canada and will be competing at Miss Canada Universe next month; Amy Holbrook of the United States was Miss International's 1st runner-up in 2004; Chile's Marie-Ann Salas was a semi-finalist at Miss International 2007; Hungary's Ildiko Bona was at Miss Universe 2007; Puerto Rico's Cassandra Castro was a Miss World delegate back in 2004; Bolivia, Montenegro and Serbia will all compete at Miss Universe 2008, in Vietnam; Silvia Cornejo of Peru was at Miss World 2006 and was a finalist at Reina Sudamericana 2006; Miss Cyprus competed at Miss World last year, and Miss Belgium at Miss Earth 2007”
GlobalBeauties.com, a great pageant resource, but often claimed to be bias in some of its research failed to identify many other alumni or did not showcase them on their website. All of the African delegates of Miss TQI that had participated in previous international pageants were not highlighted on their website. Many pageant fans voiced that this is not unusual for GlobalBeauties.com coverage, however the site serves as a valuable source of international pageant information. Ecuador’s Veronica Ochoa was at Miss Earth 2007, Bahamas’s Camile Kenny, Estonia’s Raili Kala , Rep. of Congo’s Katissia Kouta , Rwanda’s Karine Utamuliza, were all at Miss Tourism of the Millennium 2007 in Addis Abba Ethiopia. Ethiopia’s Kidan Tesfahun and Tanzania’s Angel Kileo were both at Miss international 2007. Miss Bahamas, Camille Kenny, and Miss Ireland, Victoria Revans, both were at Miss Top Model of the World 2007 in Egypt.
Telena is no stranger to the world of pageants herself and has also represented Liberia in the Miss Earth pageant in Manila, Philippines as well as other international pageants. Her first pageant title was Miss Liberia California of the prestigious Miss Liberia in the US pageant in early 2005. Telena is a graduate of ivy league intstitution, Dartmouth College and a goodwill ambassador for the Republic of Gambia. She also actively works to promote aid to Liberia and educate different communities about Liberia. She says one of her goals is to facilitate the return of the Crossroads to Africa program back to Liberia. Her mother was involved with one of their missions in the early 80s. Telena Cassell also has a limited edition charity swimsuit calendar that is being released this year for the 2009 calendar year. Proceeds go to projects in Liberia and the Gambia.
Telena shone brightly in China, and pageant fans were disappointed that she did not make top 20. Other crowd favorites like Miss Hungary, who competed in Miss Universe last year was also expected to be included in the top 20. Several other exotic beauties like Miss Liberia, Miss Congo, Miss Brazil and Miss Singapore were missed in the finalist selection. Telena was still in a good mood when she returned and said that, “although a pageant is obviously a competition, the friendships I have gained from this experience are priceless.”
We asked Telena about her preparation for the international pageant:
How did you choose which pieces of wardrobe to take with you to China?
“I packed dresses that reflected my personal style and would show me at my best advantage. For casual and dressy attire I also brought many runway pieces from talented designer Danielle Kelly. Jeans were great protection against the cold weather. I exclusively wore jeans by Smooch Inc, a new and hip jean clothing company whose hottest item right now has to be there skinny corduroy jeans. Many girls commented on them because they were stylish and kept me warm.”
National Costume is considered one of the most important reflections of a contestant’s country in an International pageant. How did you choose what to wear?
“I had a general idea but I still needed inspiration. I worked alongside designer Danielle Kelly, and explained to her that I wanted an outfit that would be on par with other countries but still reflect my country's uniqueness. The designing process was really interesting and exciting.”
Telena's jeans were sponsored by Smooch Inc. Smooch Inc, is known for their innovative slant hip skinny jeans and their positive . Her competition bikini, talent outfit, national costume, and several other wardrobe pieces were designed by Danielle Kelly who has created pieces for celebrities like Kiesha Cole, the Pussy Cat Dolls, and Ciara. Her work has been featured in publications like GQ, Honey, Dapper, Esquire as well as numerous other magazines.
Telena Cassell's national costume was a stunning, two-piece outfit, designed by Danielle Kelly and was also co-designed by Telena, herself. Danielle described her inspiration for the design as having stemmed from the historical past of Liberia's roots. The outfits heavy skirt and train symbolized the burden of freedom, while the mosaic of embroidery highlights the meshing of cultures between the indigenous tribes, and descendents of slaves from the US and the Caribbean. The top, which is brown and hand embroidered, invokes a vision of grace and creates the illusion of barely being there. Threads of white embroidery and appliqué made her attempt to depict the natural beauty of Liberian women successful. This is not the first time Telena has worked with the fashion industry to create a costume for an international pageant. In 2005, Sterling Capricio designed a stunning champagne and mint green lace evening gown, which was used for her national costume in the Miss Africa International 2005 pageant.
The Miss Tourism Queen International 2008 took place from the 20th March to the 10th April. The final competition was held in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, China. It is being heralded as one of the most entertaining pageant spectacles because of its entertainment based format. Big names entertainers from all over the world performed during the pageant. Critics have criticized the pageant because most of its final judging was done during pre-judging and top twenty contestants did not receive on stage time like finalist do in the highly acclaimed Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss Earth and Miss International pageants. However the pageants' strong points were the unique stage design, mystical performance numbers, and large contestant count. 113 girls competed in this pageant. Miss Peru,Silvia Cornejo, was crowned Miss Tourism Queen International!
Links
Danielle Kelly www.dk75raw.com
Smooch Jeans www.smoochinc.com
Miss Tourism Queen International www.mtqi.org
More on Miss Tourism Queen International Liberia www.mtqiliberia.com
Liberian United Women In Progress (Co-sponsor of Liberian queens sent to International Pageants) www.luwip.com
(Co-sponsor Beauties of Africa)
http://beautiesofafricainc.blogspot.com/
