Ms UN hopes to be ambassador one day

IN February 2002, then Attorney General and Minister of Justice AJ Nicholson received a courtesy call from Mini Miss Jamaica (2001-2002) Yanique DaCosta at his offices in New Kingston.

Fast-forward to August 27, 2015, and Nicholson, now Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, was again receiving DaCosta, this time as Ms United Nations 2015, a title she gained during the week of July 12-19 when she competed with 30 contestants from countries worldwide.

Back in 2001, DaCosta was a bubbly child in a frilly dress from Wolmer’s Preparatory. This time around, the still bubbly and extremely confident 22-year-old, complete with her crown, warmly commended Nicholson for his leadership of the Jamaican foreign service.

“Thank you for leading Jamaica’s charge on the international front,” DaCosta said.

For his part, Nicholson was also proud of DaCosta, a graduate of the University of the West Indies (UWI) with a first degree in Spanish with an international relations minor. Having learnt from DaCosta that she begins her master’s programme at UWI this month, Nicholson encouraged her to “go on to the doctorate.”

Although DaCosta’s skill set is varied, including singing, public speaking and language translation, it was the energy with which she approaches public outreach and charity programmes that contributed greatly to her victory as Ms UN.

“Our project included a facelift of the Robert Lightbourne primary school,” she explained.

Her social awareness and interest in community outreach and individual development are reflected in the type of TV programming to which she gravitates.

DaCosta, who now hosts the weekly segment called On the Road to Success on CVM at Sunrise, intends to continue on this path of presenting socially conscious media programmes. Other past CVM hosting duties include co-host of CVM at Sunrise on Thursdays and Teen Talk.

The high achiever, who is also a Prime Minister’s youth awardee, is co-chairman of the executive board of Chevannes Basic School, a position she has held since 2002.

DaCosta’s ultimate ambition is to serve Jamaica in the foreign service, hopefully rising to the level of ambassador one day.