BEFORE NADA YEARWOOD there was Michele Waithe.
In 1987, Michele blew everyone's minds with her classic beauty when she entered the Trade Confirmers Miss Barbados Pageant at age 19.
She won from a field of ten of the most beautiful women the country had to offer at the time, with curvaceous statistics of 34-25-37 set on a 5 feet 8 inch, 128 pound frame. Michele went on to represent Barbados in Singapore and Malta.
Tomorrow, Nada, who's the same height as Michele, represents Barbados at the Miss Universe pageant in Thailand.
Though both women are stunning in their own rights, they represent two different times in pageants and beauty standards in Barbados.
Interestingly, Michele didn't enter the pageant because it was something she was dreaming of since she was a little girl. Rather, it was because of a promise she made to her best friend.
"My best friend wanted to join and she had just found out she was leaving the island to go to study. So, she asked me if I would enter for her. I said 'No' at first, but then I decided 'Oh what the heck', not knowing all that goes into a beauty pageant," explained Michele, who was working as a receptionist at the time.
It would be the only pageant she would enter but it was one she would never forget. But, she almost missed out on the crown.
Michele, who was sponsored by Chubbie's Video, got cold feet on two occasions and dropped out when she realised all the publicity that went along with being a contestant.
However, she remembered her promise and stuck to it.
And it's a good thing she did, too. The audience in the Globe Cinema on March 28, 1987, went wild when they heard her name announced as the new Miss Barbados.
But Michele, who also won Best Evening Gown, didn't even hear her name.
"After I accepted my prize [for Best Evening Gown], I went back stage and took off my shoes. When it was announced I was the winner, it was like a mad scramble. People were like 'Michele, Michele, they're calling you.'
"I think the reality hit me after the crown was placed on my head. I was like 'Oh my God, I won a car.' It was a Suzuki Fronte that was the car at the time. I was more focused on that than anything else," she said.
She would be the only Miss Barbados to attend both a Miss Universe and Miss World pageant.
The Miss Universe pageant took her to Singapore that same year to compete against about 80 contestants from around the world.
Though she didn't place, she ranks it as one of the best experiences in her life.
However, Michele said her chances would have been better if she was more prepared.
"Barbados does not prepare delegates for what they have to go out there and meet. Here, you pick people, they go on stage, spin around, do what they have to do and you
send them.
"I think whoever is doing the Miss Barbados/Universe show now needs to start prepping whoever is going a whole year ahead."
According to her, other countries like Venezuela took international pageants seriously, training girls from the time they were six-years-old for the big event.
And being beautiful is a lot of hard work. Miss Universe contestants had to follow strict diet and exercise routines, be trained in proper etiquette, and watch what they wore and how they wore it, she said.
There were also rehearsals every day leading up to the pageant, sometimes as early as 4 a.m., and contestants were subjected to numerous photo shoots until they
got it right.
She believes her era was the last for "real" beauty in pageants.
"I think they have become too counterfeit, everybody is not real. Everyone is getting lifts and tummy tucks and hair extensions. Yes, we did have it then but it is more prominent now," said Michele.
After Miss Universe, she represented Barbados at Miss World in Malta. Unfortunately, she didn't place there either.
Her year-long reign as Miss Barbados concluded in 1988.
She did a few commercials after that, but preferred her privacy over all the lights and attention. The world of work beckoned and the former Alexandra School student got a job in the airline industry in sales.
Michele got married and had two beautiful children – Maya, 14, and Melissa, 12. However, her marriage ended after six years.
She currently works in sales but her teenage dreams of teaching someday and opening her own nursery school are still very much alive.
"I really want to teach. Being a teacher is still my dream, though I haven't fully pursued it. I've done some courses but after becoming a mum, I focused on working and the kids. But it is still my dream to either own or work within a pre-school," she said.
As for her girls, they've shown no interest in participating in pageants; to their mother's relief.
"Thank God," said Michele, adding: "But if they did, I wouldn't discourage them. I wouldn't encourage them either because once in the public eye, you're always in the public eye."
She would know. It has been 18 years since she was crowned and up to this day, people of all ages still approach her about her reign as Miss Barbados.
