We continue Debra Edwards' conversation with Miss Jamaica Universe 2007, Zahra Redwood, the first Rastafarian to be chosen to represent Jamaica in an international pageant, which began in yesterday's Sunday Observer.

Zahra Redwood (Photo: Karl McLarty)

Do you think that a Jamaican, moreover a Rastafarian can win Miss Universe?
Yes I do, but I think anyone really having the necessary attributes can win. Jamaicans have been placing in the top 10 historically, which is really awesome. It is important to note that Bob Marley was appreciated worldwide, but it was not his hair that got him to where he was, it was his inner beauty. And that inner beauty is what will get me along in the competition.

Do you think the days of the light-skinned long straight-haired beauty queens are over, and that now is the time for more ethnic beauties to move to the forefront.

I wouldn't say that, but in the past it would have appeared that they (light-skinned beauties) were more prevalent in beauty pageants, but the result of something is really not the cause of it. So we have to look at the notion that, were we (ethnic girls) really interested in the pageants at the time? Maybe that is why we got the faces (light-skinned beauties) we did back then. I don't know of anybody being turned back from a beauty pageant because of skin colour, but I do believe that we will now continue to get an adequate mixture of females that enter, who are qualified to be a Miss Jamaica.

Do people touch your dreads a lot, and does this sometimes annoy you?
They do attempt to, but they do ask. Very few touch without asking. It does not annoy me because I know that people are curious, however I do think that there have been a few times and those are few and far between when I became annoyed.

For example, when someone just begins to play in your hair and you really don't know where their hands have been, and it's not that you don't want to trust people, but you know what happened to Samson. And I am not trying to go down that road, so I have to be aware about what is happening with my hair.

Who are your favourite artistes?
Favourite female artiste is Tanya Stephens. Favourite male is Junior Gong.

You have long legs. Do you like to dance?
(Laughs) I believe I try every now and again. But if there is too much attention by friends then I become more daunted. I think dancing is a language that I would like to be more fluent in.

Where do you see yourself in the future?
I see myself as a clinical psychologist. As a role model to individuals, I do envision myself having somewhat of a glass office where persons feel welcome to come to me and discuss any issue. I see myself having a very busy lifestyle, and one that is very enriching as well, because I do think that I will have children in the future.

Of course, they will be under wedlock, because I think that children should have a stable family, and while there is many a single parent out there, to have both parents present in the family, you do get the benefit of different sides of different issues, so you do come up with the nurturing of the mother, but the discipline of the father, and I dream of having such a family.

Trousers in Denim

Cream of the 'Crop'

Cheeky's World