SO often the path we take in life is not determined by our own design. A chance encounter, a gifted opportunity, or the hand of a guardian angel, does it matter really the manner in which history taps one on the shoulder for greatness?

While members of Lisa Hanna’s class of 1993 were feverishly registering for college after The Queen’s School, fate was writing a completely different script for her, a feature presentation in which she would rise from humble Retreat, St Mary, to the dazzling heights of the beauty world.

It was an unlikely journey for someone who had never considered herself “a girly girl” and moreover had been a teen activist for serious issues such as child rights and literacy. The closest she came to parading her female side was when she modelled clothes made by her mother, Dorothy Hanna, at fashion shows, remembering that her own clothes were so neat and well-fitted that people generally were unaware that all her clothes were made by her mother.

“I had no interest in beauty pageants and I didn’t even know how to tweeze my eyebrows,” recalls Hanna.

Manor Park, St Andrew, was the chosen locale for the unfolding of the next phase of the Lisa Hanna journey. Laurel Williams, a former beauty contestant who worked closely with the famed Mickey Haughton-James in staging the annual Miss Jamaica World contest, saw Hanna in a chance encounter in the upscale business district. She had seen Hanna on TV as a student co-host of Rappin’, recognised her natural confidence and her ability to articulate well.

But, on this otherwise uneventful day, she saw Hanna in the flesh and it all came together. This indeed was the real McKoy, a genuine beauty queen, if only she knew it. She found her gaze following the young girl who was completely unaware of her presence and the life-changing decision she was about to have her make.

‘Miss Dumbo’s’ takes the stage

Williams went over to Hanna and, once she got her attention, talked to her about beauty contests and the coming September 1993 Miss Jamaica World pageant. She implored her to enter.

“I didn’t think I was a girly girl. In fact, I was a tomboy. But I thought it was a good opportunity to talk about the things that interested me and a nice summer project in which I would be travelling across the island, interacting with people. So I decided I’d do it,” Hanna recounts. “I was a summer intern at the Jamaica Tourist Board and the CPTC and it all worked well together.”

What Hanna innocently thought was going to be a nice summer project would become a life project, only she didn’t know it then, how could she?

First up was the elimination round that would reduce 60 lovely Jamaican girls on the cusp of womanhood to an impossible top 10. The elimination shows could be frightening. The Miss Jamaica connoisseurs were never afraid to tell the girls whether they should have entered the contest or not. Some did not bridle their tongues or mince words.

“The experience was harrowing. It was then that I understood that Jamaican people like you or they don’t like you. And they will tell you whether you are fit to be in a situation or not,” Hanna reflects. “There was no filter between what they think and what they utter. Those elimination shows were not for the faint-hearted.”

Beauty contests in Jamaica had suffered a setback in the political environment of the 1970s when progressive people accused them of being an occasion for “parading women like cattle” and bad for their dignity and self-esteem. By the 1990s, the pageants had staged a spectacular comeback.

“It was a big thing in those pre-cable, pre-Internet, pre-smartphone days of data technology. What people looked forward to were events like this. You had to have a lot of courage to walk the stage not knowing whether you would be a finalist,” Hanna said, noting that she would be the last of the pre-Internet Miss Jamaica World queens.

Twenty girls made it past the sashing stage, with Hanna emerging as “Miss Dumbo’s Fast Food”. She chuckles as she recalls the wry humour it generated as she stepped out on stage as “Lisa Hanna, Miss Dumbo”. “But it turned out to be a good sponsor, because they gave me everything that I needed. They were very supportive.”

Miss Jamaica World

The ladies were rigorously prepared for the finals in speech, etiquette, grooming, and appearances at poolside shows in Kingston; Ocho Rios, St Ann; Montego Bay, St James; and May Pen, Clarendon. Her batch was filmed at the then Sandals Ocho Rios, now Sandals Ochi Beach Resort.

Hanna recalls getting good reception at the elimination shows. Even then, she did not see herself as the queen. There were two others — Mickey Baxter and Sheree Moonasingh — who were also standouts. They would eventually place second and third respectively.

Days before the final Hanna turned 18. On the night, the National Arena was packed to capacity. The butterflies were flitting all over her stomach. The judges then looked like stern schoolmasters. They included well- known names such as Cliff Hughes; Francois St Juste and Chris Dehring.

“I thought at the time that I was smart and aware but I did not feel I was going to win,” Hanna says. “Being physically attractive was one thing, but you had to come with an ‘X’ factor. Some of the other girls seemed to have that.

She had been worrying needlessly. When she took five of the sectional prizes — best figure; best smile; most aware, best stage presence, and best stage personality — it was all over, bar the shouting.

When her name was announced, the crowd went wild. Hanna was in a daze, but she quickly gathered herself and accepted the crown as if she had been born for it. She finally went to bed following the after-party, the inevitable celebrations and the congratulatory calls.

The next morning she awoke with a start and sat up in bed abruptly. She suddenly had a severe sense that she had not fully assimilated the events of the night before, nor their enormous significance. She was Miss Jamaica World!

Hanna did not have much time to indulge her excitement over winning the Miss Jamaica World title. She would now have to turn her attention immediately now to the Miss World pageant that was coming up in a couple of months in South Africa.

Beauty queens in nighties

She spent many hours in the gym and with the protocol guru Merrick Needham to ensure she could represent Jamaica well and be worthy of the confidence placed in her by the Miss Jamaica organisation. This one was not going to be as easy as she was vying with the most beautiful girls on the planet. And she only had a month to prepare.

Getting into the beauty pageant culture did not come easily to Hanna. One day she nearly gave her handlers a coronary when they took her downtown Kingston to select material for her gown for the Miss World final. After a few minutes, Miss Jamaica was missing from the store.

Acutely aware of the reputation of downtown, they concluded they had a security nightmare on their hands. Their frantic search ended when they found her eating a patty in the company of some women on Princess Street. Whew!

“I was having fun. That was me,” Hanna confesses. “I ended up with a beautiful off-white, French-laced strapless gown from Francis Keane. I loved it.”

The first stop en route to South Africa was London, travelling first class. She arrived in the British capital with Miss Colombia and Miss Puerto Rico.

“I remember how flawless they looked, as if they were coming out of Vogue magazine. I saw that they had several suitcases. I had only two. Their nails were done. Mine were not.”

It was her first time in London and it would be memorable especially for a fire alarm that someone had tripped at the Hilton Hotel where they stayed. The girls were grouped by regions and Hanna was, of course, with the Caribbean group.

“Just imagine the girls running down Piccadilly Square within five to 10 minutes after the alarm went off. I had my passport and was dressed in a jacket. Everyone else was in their nighties. I also got the Caribbean girls together to calm them,” she recounts.

“I have always been very calm under pressure, In fact, I perform best under pressure. I tend to pull all my experiences together and I don’t fall apart. It’s a natural part of who I am.”

Nelson Mandela, my hero

She remembers, too, that the photographers paid the Caribbean contestants scant attention, preferring to train their cameras on those with fairer skins and the taller Europeans. But by then she was dying to get to South Africa, not, interestingly, for the pageant, as she was to meet Nelson Mandela, the anti-Apartheid icon who would be the country’s first black president and one of her political heroes. Mandela had come to Jamaica after he was freed. Democracy was coming to South Africa and she would see it unfold. In the hotel she chatted with South Africans about Mandela: “I cannot express the adulation, the jubilation and the pride among the black South Africans, and the whites too whom I encountered.”

She recalls getting on very well with the girls. In some cases she found herself counselling some of the girls who had left home for the first time and were having a hard time coping in the highly competitive environment of Miss World. She would also mediate between girls who were not getting along. Of course, there were the girls who had come to win and were making sure that they were seen. But it came as no surprise that Hanna would be declared Miss Congeniality.

“From that experience, I tell beauty contestants to be yourself. There is a big difference between the girl who is seeking attention and the one who magnetises attention. When you enter, the pageant room should feel your aura and magnetism,” she advises.

Going into the final, she thought Jacqui Mafokeng, the first black Miss South Africa, was going to win. She eventually came second and Miss Philippines third.

Lisa Hanna, Miss World 1993… and Jamaica goes wild

On the night of the crowning of Miss World, November 27, 1993 in Sun City, South Africa, the presenter was superstar Pierce Brosnan, and the judges included actor Jackie Chan; Vanessa Williams, the former Miss America; actor Louis Gossett Jr and, importantly, Jamaica’s Grace Jones, actor and singer. Hanna would serendipitously choose Jones in the judges question section. “If you won the Miss World crown, is there anyone else whom you think could have won?”

“I said I did not think I was the most beautiful, and many of the girls could have won and I would have been very happy for them. They picked up the sincerity in my response.

“When they announced Miss Jamaica Lisa Hanna as the winner I just could not believe it. I remember just holding my head and saying ‘this can’t be possible!’ There were seven Jamaicans there and they were cheering madly. I had really won!”

The Jamaican entourage included Hanna’s mother; older sister Ella Hanna, now Smith; Mickey Haugton-James; three childhood friends Christine Wilkin, Ivorine and Mickey Stewart; and a neighbour, Mrs Chin.

And cheered they did, deliriously, none more than her sister, whom Hanna says was extremely supportive through the whole thing. “She is a jewellery person. I was not. So she made sure, and even insisted, that I wear her jewellery, telling me that ‘this is Miss World, you can’t dress so ordinary’.”

Hanna was happy for the moments when she could see her family and friends — on family nights and talent nights only, according to the strict rules of the Miss World pageant. But tonight everyone was here. Hanna was told by her group that the news had hit Jamaica and the country was going crazy.

Miss World 1993 was afterwards whisked off to a posh suite to begin her reign. An 18-year-old Jamaican from Retreat, St Mary, had soared to the dizzying heights and crowned beauty queen of the world. She would be only the third Jamaican after Carol Crawford in 1963 and Cindy Breakespeare in 1976.

Beckoning to her was an unimaginable future of whirlwind travel across the globe, rubbing shoulders with stars and celebrities, front page appearances in newspapers and magazines, notoriety that few women in life will ever know.

But waiting to pounce too would be a dark side to all this glitter and glamour and fairy tale. The storm that was brewing on the horizon would not all be of her making. But Hanna would know true pain and suffering that would test all her resolve. We will see next what this girl from Retreat, St Mary is made truly made of.

Friday, the conclusion: Becoming a woman is hard, painful work