Anguilla’s 2018 reigning Miss Universe Great Britain, Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers, now back home, was welcomed at the Social Security Board’s Strategic Plan Presentation and Employee Recognition and Awards ceremony on Friday, January 18.
Ms. Kentish-Rogers, who was sponsored by Social Security in 2017, won the Miss Anguilla title in that year’s Anguilla Summer Festival. Competing against 40 women, she went on to win the Miss Universe Great Britain pageantry in London in July 2018. She also competed in the 2018 Miss Universe Competition in Bangkok, Thailand, in December in which the winner was Catriona Gray of the Philippines.
Miss Kentish-Rogers was welcomed by Director of Social Security, Mr. Timothy Hodge. He later spoke to The Anguillian newspaper about her: “Dee-Ann was Miss Anguilla in 2017 which was the 50th Anniversary of the Anguilla Revolution, and it was also our 35th year. So we sponsored a contestant for that year and we chose Miss Kentish-Rogers – and we are very, very proud of our choice. She won, of course, and went on to be Miss Universe Great Britain.
“We were so proud of her that the Chairman of Social Security [Mr. Sean Richard] and I followed her to Bangkok to watch the show, and Miss Kentish-Rogers made us proud. She was awesome on the stage. It was incredible that here was an Anguillian on the stage. Never mind that they said she was Miss Great Britain. She was Miss Anguilla for us, and I have received lots of commendations from friends all over the world who said they were very proud of her.”
Mr. Hodge recalled that Social Security, in recognition of its 25th Anniversary, had sponsored Miss Kafi Gumbs for the Miss Anguilla Competition – and that she had won.
Miss Kentish-Rogers, who is now in the spotlight, told The Anguillian newspaper: “I will begin by saying that my journey thus far has been amazing, but it has been made more special because I have had Anguilla supporting me all the way. I knew that when I got up on the [Miss Universe] stage I wasn’t simply representing myself. I was representing all the black girls who wanted to see themselves on that stage – and all the young Anguillians who wanted to believe that there is something out there that they can achieve, that no one has ever done before.”
Asked to comment on the Miss Great Britain competition, which she won, the 25-year-old lawyer/pageantry queen said: “Miss Universe GB is a great title. I only have six months left on that particular title as I will be giving up the crown this coming July to my successor.
“It has been a great opportunity and I am really hoping that other young Anguillians would try something new, bigger and exciting – even if it is not pageantry – and we all can rally around them.”
Questioned as to what she was now doing, Miss Kentish Rogers replied: “I was called to the Bar in the UK last year so I am now focusing on my legal career. But, also, I have to return to the United Kingdom in February to chase some opportunities that have come to me since Miss Universe [Great Britain] – and also to give up my crown, and then I will be back to Anguilla to settle this coming July.” She hopes to begin her legal career at the end of the year by joining her renowned family of lawyers and solicitors.
She graduated as a lawyer from the University of Birmingham in 2016 and was called to the Bar 2018 at Middle Temple Inn, London. She is now planning to be called to the Anguilla Bar in the near future.
Miss Kentish-Rogers spoke to The Anguillian newspaper while in the company of two former Miss Anguilla winners: Shereena Richardson (sponsored by LIME in 2014) and Carencia Rouse (sponsored by LIME/FLOW in 2016). They were later joined by Mr. Timothy Hodge.
