CASAN­DRA THOMP­SON-FORBES

Kadisha Kent, 18, who rep­re­sent­ed the Bago House of Cul­tur­al Stars, was crowned Miss Her­itage Per­son­al­i­ty 2011 on Fri­day night at the Cyd Gray Sport­ing Com­plex, Rox­bor­ough, To­ba­go.Kadisha won the ti­tle from a field of nine con­tes­tants at the 23rd edi­tion of the com­pe­ti­tion. The com­pe­ti­tion was spon­sored by First Cit­i­zens in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the To­ba­go Fes­ti­vals Com­mit­tee.Kadisha pa­rad­ed in a gown named French Re­nais­sance de­signed by vet­er­an African wear de­sign­er and cul­tur­al icon Jessie Tay­lor. Tay­lor al­so wrote the mono­logue, Flight of the Fire Queen, which earned Kadisha the award for Best Tal­ent. It told of the hid­den life of an old woman who was the "vil­lage ma­co" by day and trans­formed in­to a soucouyant by night.In sec­ond place was Je­niece Jack of Char­lot­teville, while Aeisha Camp­bell, rep­re­sent­ing Rhyth­mic Vi­bra­tions, placed third. Aeisha Camp­bell al­so won the award for Best Gown.

Ki­no-Ann Pope of Pem­broke, who was al­so judged Most In­tel­li­gent, placed fourth. Kan­isha Kerr, rep­re­sent­ing the Spey­side Folk Per­form­ers placed fifth; Rayshawn Pierre, rep­re­sent­ing De Kul­ture Klub En­sem­ble, was vot­ed Miss Con­ge­nial­i­ty.In an in­ter­view af­ter the com­pe­ti­tion, Kadisha said she was very ex­cit­ed about her vic­to­ry but did not do it alone. She thanked her fa­ther Hutchin­son Kent, hair and make­up artist Aver­il Jer­ry, de­sign­er Jessie Tay­lor and all who sup­port­ed her in be­com­ing Miss Her­itage Per­son­al­i­ty.As the win­ner Kadisha re­ceived $10,000 and a sav­ings ac­count at First Cit­i­zens val­ued $1,000, along with an as­sis­tance grant to­wards ter­tiary ed­u­ca­tion.Dur­ing her one year reign she will be called up­on to rep­re­sent To­ba­go cul­tur­al­ly at home and abroad.