On September 11, reigning Ms Tobago Heritage Personality, Karicia Morrison, will hand over her crown to one of eight contestants.
Morrison, 20, said her experience was bittersweet because she won the crown which gave her a platform to help others, but the pandemic restricted some of her activities. She therefore rarely made physical appearances and when she did, she had to go through a lot of red tape beforehand.
However, she still enjoyed being Ms Tobago Heritage Personality 2020 and would not change anything, because she achieved many of her goals. She said before she won the crown she wanted to “create something” that would engage young people in Tobago’s heritage.
“I created an NGO called SASH – Successfully Attaining Smiling Hearts. Two weeks after, I received my prize money so I purchased tablets which I distributed to those who didn’t have at my former primary school, Lambeau Anglican Primary School, as well as to some children in the area I reside in – Lambeau.”
She went to the principal who gave her a list of those who needed devices. She recalled one mother who had four children – a baby, one in Standard One and two in Standard Five. The two older siblings had to share the tablet while the younger used the mother’s cellphone. The mother’s gratitude made her feel good and made winning the crown and being able to help worth it.
In addition, for Christmas she asked people to donate items which she distributed at a children’s home in Crown Point. Morrison, a nail technician and a barber also visited the home where she did the girls’ make-up, the technician did their nails and the barber cut the boys’ hair.
“The only thing about that process is we had to be really cautious because, even though the place had kind of opened back, covid was still an issue, so we had to be careful with sanitisation and mask wearing because we did not want to be the problem in the home.
[caption id="attachment_908894" align="alignnone" width="905"] Karicia Morrison - Tobago Festivals Facebook[/caption]
“I also made other donations of children’s clothes and shoes to two homes and did other things but did not post it on social media. That’s why I said not going to the events didn’t really bother me, because I had stuff planned and that gave me the time to do it.”
Morrison is also an active member of Delecia’s Dance Agency which will be taking part in the folk fiesta virtual competition. And, in September, she will be starting the last year of her accounting degree at the University of the West Indies.
She also has two Instagram-based businesses – Kay’s Artistry where she does make-up, and Stylish Soles where she sells shoes. She does her own personal and business accounting with the help of a friend who has her own accounting firm.
Morrison told Newsday she got to know this year’s contestants while attending a few of their virtual pageant workshops so, now that she knew them, passing the crown felt more like passing the baton. She was a bit sad her
