Trinidadian Christin Coeppicus wins Miss Global International

A year ago, Christin Coeppicus was crowned Miss Supranational Trinidad and Tobago, and last Saturday, she differentiated herself from another group of beauties and walked away with the 2023 Miss Global International title.

The 25-year-old Trinidadian,who started painting and drawing at age four, is self-taught, and was selling her artwork internationally from as early as age 13. A violinist, who picked up the instrument and played the strings to create sweet music without a tutor, outpaced 16 other women for the coveted crown in front of an audience of pageant lovers at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.

Mexico’s Julieta Contreras, who was named first runner-up; Venezuela’s Antoneita Garcia, second runner-up and Guyana’s Lateefa Forde, who placed in the top five and could easily have been one of the three queens had she not fumbled on her question, were Coeppicus’ biggest contenders.

But the ‘Trini’, who specialises in painting Caribbean landscapes, seascapes and historical architecture, and appeared on the stage in a swimsuit, followed by her national costume and evening wear and made it to the final segment of the question and answer segment, was a joy to behold. In fact, the crowd selected her as their winner long before they knew the judges’ decision.

“I have a slogan that I use to describe myself, ‘a small-town girl with big dreams’. I came from a very small rural area called New Grand which is close to Princess Town in Trinidad. It’s not very populated. It’s not fully developed, but it’s an amazing community of people who care about each other and support each other and I grew up with our support system,” she told The Gleaner.

Coeppicus who is managing director of CJ Arts and Designs added that she was encouraged that no matter what she wanted to do, she was to put her best foot forward and make it happen.

It was three weeks ago that she received a call to enter the competition and she concretised that teaching. In the past two weeks, she said it had been a lot of hard work to get to the stage of winning the pageant. “To be honest, I am just so positively overwhelmed with this result. And it really shows that with consistency and dedication and hard work, what is possible.”

Winning Miss Global International is just one in a list of achievements pencilled out by the beauty queen, who is currently enrolled in Harvard Business School, studying business development Coeppicus said her aim is to pursue a degree in unmanned aerial vehicles to develop futuristic technology to help different industries and sectors.

Now in its 19th year, the Miss Global International, founded by Montego Bay businessman, Lachu Ramchandani, who has literally turned over the management of the competition to his daughter, Neelam, was created mainly to promote and sell brand Jamaica.

“We had our challenges this year, however, the pageant is getting to where we want it to be. We received better support from the Jamaica Tourist Board and the Tourism Enhancement Fund this year,” Neelam shared.

For her the big deal was western Jamaica’s Ascend Innovation’s help in providing lighting, screens, and sound, taking the competition to a standard that is expected at international pageants.

The countries represented this year included Cuba, the Cayman Islands, Haiti, USA, India, Hong Kong (a region of China), Jamaica, Pakistan, Portugal, Puerto Rico and San Andres.

Mexico’s Contreras won the Best Costume and Evening Gown sectional prizes for making her mark, while Venezuela’s Garcia showcased her talent in dance and copped Best Talent; Miss Guyana had the Best Figure, and was rewarded for that, while Miss Portugal Esmerelda Almeida Moreira was recognised for her winning smile; Emiliana Hawkins Lannini, Miss San Andres was Most Congenial and Pakistan’s Sabeen Baledina was Most Aware.

When it came to People’s Choice, Cayman Islands’ Mili Almaguer took the title.

Miss Global Jamaica Kimone Carty made it to the top 10.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com