“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously let others shine theirs. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
With this borrowed quote from author Marianne Williamson, Miss Dominica 2013, Leslassa Armour Shillingford, ended her presentation, at a private function, to a small group of people to whom she was saying thank you for assisting her, in one way or another, during her amazing journey in the world of pageantry.
Leslassa can easily be described as one of Dominica’s most successful Carnival Queens to date. After capturing the Miss Dominica title in 2013, she went on to win three out of four regional pageants in which she participated and to crown it all, represented Dominica at the prestigious Miss World pageant in Indonesia in September of the same year. She made it to the talent final in the dance category.
In addition to her busy pageantry schedule, Leslassa was active during her reign attending several speaking engagements. In the year that followed, she worked with a number of causes which included being the spokesperson for The Innocent Project that focuses on breaking the silence on child abuse, The Home at Heart Initiative, which allows Dominicans here and abroad to impact Dominica’s development, The International Institute for Peace, The Dominica Cancer Society and significantly, her own Dream (Dominica Realistic Education and Arts) Foundation which focuses on holistic education. She revealed that the foundation has been able to attract funds from three institutions and has established and furnished a dance studio.
The 20 year-old beauty has now entered another interesting chapter of her young life. She is currently a student at the University of Waterloo in Canada.
Below are some photos taken at the function which also featured a mini display of of Leslassa’s pageant trophies, crowns, jewelry and gowns, among other items.
All photos courtesy of The Anchorage Hotel.
