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A 23-year-old beauty Andrea Nicola Haynes walked away with the 1988 Miss Jamaica World title on Saturday night at the National Arena. As Miss Jamaica World she will represent her nation in the Miss World pageant to be held in London in November.
The dramatic evening began as the lights lowered and the blue curtains were parted to reveal the 20 contestants dressed in turquoise blue swimsuit.
When Andrea told her sister – Michelle, Simone and Tammy – that she was going to enter the contest, they felt she was joking; they were unaware of her ‘new lean look’, since she was talking by telephone.
One of her sisters said she nearly ‘cracked up’ when she heard, but when Andrea arrived, and they saw ‘how great she looked’ they agreed that she had a chance. Andrea’s eldest sister Michelle Haynes of Meiling/Milan designed the 1988 Miss Jamaica’s winning wardrobe.
“Entering ‘Miss Jamaica’”, Andrea continued, is something I always wanted to do. I never thought I would ever win, but I always wanted to enter the contest.
Immediately after graduating from St. Andrew High, Andrea entered Concordia University, in Quebec.
Andrea is the second daughter of Dr. Compton Haynes and Dr. Grace Lindo-Haynes. Her main interest as a teenager was writing children’s stories. “As a youngster, I just enjoyed writing. I won a competition when the Daily News was still alive. They asked for an assay on who you thought was the most important person in the world and I said, ‘me’. I wrote it in the tone of a used-car salesman telling people to like themselves. I really said to each person, ‘you are the most important person to you ‘. However, I stopped writing in the middle of university,” she said ruefully.
“I always studied art. There was never a question of what I would do in this life: I always knew I wanted to do art. The thin was that it is extremely difficult to earn a living at being a painter, so I decided to compromise and to do Graphic Design which is a more commercial form of art but also creative,” said the graphic designer.
Her first two years at university were spent in studio art. Andrea did a minor in Fine Arts Painting but for her final years she specialised in Graphic Design. She thinks that it would be wise to start looking for a job after her reign as ‘Miss Jamaica.’ “I would like to join an international advertising firm that would give me the widest scope in the graphic field,” she said.
Coupled with eating well, exercising and having a positive outlook on life, Andrea seems like a perfect person. “I believe in god, fate and a higher purpose to life,” she said.
What, then, are her faults?
Without revealing too much, she admits that she gets stage fright but the moment she is not on stage, the “nerves evaporate. I enjoy being on stage. In January 1988 I was in a theatrical production of ‘Sweet Chariot’ in Montreal, which I enjoyed,” she said.
A talented, sophisticated beauty, Andrea Haynes said, “Entering the contest was not a matter of winning or losing, just doing your best. I do not want to reach the age of 90 and look back on my life and say, what if…I want to have tried everything and be able to say, I have won here and lost there but I did it.
“I do not want to be boxed into any particular corner, and be told, ‘we know what you are all about, you do this and only this. For a long time I was an academic, I got straight A’s and won academic awards, that was what I was always about. I decided, ‘you know something, there are other aspects of life’. You can’t box yourself in because you have done this all your life. I want to experience all these avenues that are open to me.”
Source: The Gleaner Company, Flair Magazine |
