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Model Gisele commits to promote Ghana

Gifty Owusu-Amoah Showbiz News May - 11 - 2015 , 09:17

When 28 year old Gisele Emefa Gagakuma participated in the Miss Queen Universe Beauty pageant which was held last December in Spain, her only mission at the time was to get a platform to boost her brand as a model.

But after days of participation in the competition where she earned the Miss Elegance title, Miss Gagakuma said she had a different view: to promote the culture of Ghana.

“It was a dream come true to have been part of the Miss Queen Universe Beauty pageant competition because I wanted to get a bigger platform for my profession but at the end of the day, I had to promote my country.

“I was surprised to know that in this 21st century, some people still held a primitive perception about Africans. I just couldn’t believe it and that in a way spurred me on to promote Africa and Ghana more than I had originally intended”, she said.

Her observation, Gisele told Showbiz, was that many countries use beauty pageants to promote their country and what they stand for but same cannot be said of Ghana. According to her, both present and past governments have relegated the cultural importance and tourism potentials these pageants bring to the country.

“Can you imagine the number of people all over the world who got to know the existence of Ghana when Naa Okailey won the second runner up at the Miss World in 2013? I guess we were all happy but how much do our leaders invest in pageants such as this. It is time for them to look at how they can use these pageants to sell the country and our culture to the outside world,” she said.

At the end of the competition, Giselle made Ghana proud when she won the Best National Costume, Best Talent and Miss Elegance titles.

A graduate of the University of Professional Studies where she studied Marketing, Giselle is a freelance model who has modelled for designers such as Peter Korsah, Afromods and Poqua Poku.