Dr. Matilda Kerry was the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria in year 2000. During her reign, her main concern was ‘Raising Awareness for the Leprosy Victims’ along Lagos-Benin Expressway. That became one of the high points in her kitty because her reign afforded her the opportunity to tackle what has been on her mind. She raised awareness to Edo State Governemet, they took note of it and with time, she informed that “Edo State Government was building a home for the Leprosy
victims.
You want to know her other achievement as a beauty
queen? Yes, Kerry who was a medical student then
attracted a lot international attention. “I featured
prominnetly on National Televisions of Cyprus and
United Kingdom.” A medical doctor turned beauty
queen was almost unimaginable. Therefore foreign
Television stations did not play down on her
photographs. “Again, I was acting as an Ambassador
to my country contesting the Miss Universe and Miss
World.
Nigeria got a lot of positive publicity.
The Delta born Kerry did not plan to become a beauty
queen afterall, rather God on her side, positive instinct,
goodluck and wisdom paved way for her. It came like a
joke and she wore the exalted crown. In her words “My
victory was circumstantial and it was God’s plan for me
at that particular time.” Truly life takes another toll when
you are planning other things.The whole scenario was just me and my sisters fooling around and they heard about the pageant ‘Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria.’
“It all started like a joke. we were having fun with the whole thing and one of my sisters picked the form and said who was going for the pageant and I said let me do it. And that was how it happened. I didn’t dream of it that I must be a beauty queen. Some ladies include beauty contests on their agenda, I am not not one of such people,” she informs. It was something that happened and I am glad it happened.”
Kerry who attended Federal Government Girl’s College Benin and University of Lagos where she studied Medicine and surgery is presently the Director of Corporate Communications, National Cervical Cancer Prevention Programme. She went down memory lane to compare pageantry in their days and now she also informed us how interesting her reign was 9 years ago.
“Comparing beauty pageant in my days to what is happening now, there have been a lot of improvement. Awareness has increased. Gone are the days when beauty queens are looked down on especially since Agbani Darego won the coveted’ Miss World’ crown. It became an eye opener to Nigerians and the reality has dawn on them that Beauty pageant is not all about putting ladies on stage, having fun, and some silly rumours about imoral and indecent acts.”
With Agbani’s success, people started to realise it was a serious project to put a beauty queen on stage, get her to represent the country nationally and then go further to win the “Miss World”. So, Agbani really did a lot to take a step further from the way beauty pageants are perceived in Nigeria. Kudos to Silver Bird, the organizers of Most beautiful Girl contest who has updated their records by including other regions making the contest a national issue. “There has been a lot of improvement since my time.”
Surprisingly Publicity is one of her challenges. You ask her why? “Yes, because you are a beauty queen, you have no private life, everyone wants to know what is ha
ppening around you. You are exposed to all sorts of people with different characters and believes.You will then learn how to be tolerant, how to accommodate people, how to work with them. Being a celebrity,and the focus is on you, It might be difficult to know who your friend is at that time.”
For her, it was a lot easier because her elders were there for her. “It was easier for me because I have elder sisters and a good chaperon, Mrs Joan Ibuzor, who was a guide.” Combining her reign as a beauty queen with her studies was not easy at all. There were class work, assignmants, tests and examinations to be written, then the office of the most beautiful Girl need you to travel, you also come from a family that needs you. They are all challenges.
Fourth in a family of seven (Six girls and a boy), the former beauty queen recounted that like every other person, she also has her high and low points. According to her “there has been a lot and I can’t just talk about one high and one low. I work on different projects and I can’t sit still for one minute. Sometimes you go out there and you try to do something and things don’t work out as planned and you feel bad. But the thing is you should always know when to get up and forge ahead”.
On why she is still single, the medical doctor, says she’s not waiting for anything. “I guess when you are ready, you are ready and when you are not, you are not. So I haven’t reached that point where I am comfortable enough with the other person to say I want to spend the rest of my life with you. It is going to be a very tough decision for me. It is not that I have not seen the right man but I can’t comment on that right now because I am dating someone. If I say I have not meet the right man, I may get into trouble”. You wonder if the man has not declared his interest to walk down the aisle “I don’t think he is ready to take that step right now”.
Kerry’s role model is Oprah Winfrey who she thinks is the most powerful black African- American woman on the surface of the earth who has a humble beginning yet made it to the top.
Not really a dieting person becase she eats according to her mood. “What I eat depends on my mood. Sometimes I go on eating loads of cakes and at other times prefer our traditional “Banga Soup” and pounded yam with fresh fish. Sometimes, I go about feeding on Chinese and India foods.”
Even with her present status, you noticed that her dress sense still evolves around wearing a pair of jeans. She revealed her fashion weakness is jeans and she can’t do without jeans because it’s comfortable could match almost anything. “I love the new Skinny Jeans. They can be casual or you dress them up and go out with them. You can also put them on a nice shirt and take them to work. They always have a way of flowing from one situation to another. I do love my jeans”. Traditional outfits are not for her at all.
Asking her about beauty queens and sex scandals, she opined: “I don’t think this age-long question would ever fade away. It did not happen during my reign. She therefore has advised upcoming queens to know that winning a contest is just a stepping stone.”
