{"id":836,"date":"2010-10-05T18:03:46","date_gmt":"2010-10-05T18:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/missjamaicaworld.com\/?p=836"},"modified":"2011-07-15T16:10:45","modified_gmt":"2011-07-15T16:10:45","slug":"last-word-with-chantal-raymond-miss-jamaica-world-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/missjamaicaworld.com\/2010\/last-word-with-chantal-raymond-miss-jamaica-world-2010\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Word with Chantal Raymond, Miss Jamaica World 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Since winning the Miss Jamaica World 2010 pageant Chantal Raymond has entered a firestorm. I was curious to hear from the Harvard Law School graduate who had won the competition after entering a second time. I thought she would have been self-aggrandizing having traveled the world and educated at an Ivy League school. However, I was impressed that Chantal Raymond was quite the opposite-very sincere, frank, intelligent and has that ease to make you smile. Do I think she\u2019ll represent us well in China? Do I think she was the best girl on the night in the competition? Yes, Yes and she\u2019s a royal Jamaican woman we can call beautiful with a purpose. Here is the interview with Chantal Raymond and she\u2019ll have the <strong>Last Word<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD<\/strong>: <strong>You entered Miss Jamaica World in 2006 and was placed 5<\/strong><sup><strong>th<\/strong><\/sup><strong> overall. Were you pressured this time around to do better?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Chantal Raymond<\/strong>: No, actually entering in 2006 helped me this time around because I really knew what to expect first of all and secondly if I placed fifth and I didn\u2019t really put the effort in I mean I was just having fun, honestly I was 20 years old. So now I knew that I had to get better than fifth because I\u2019m giving it 100 per cent so it was not a safety net, I know I\u2019d have to do better but this time I came to win.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: Was the pageant experience any different this time?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: It was a lot more competitive. I\u2019m not sure if I\u2019m gauging it right, I\u2019m not sure of I was more competitive because I was going after the crown and not just having the experience like last time or the girls were competitive and it could be a mixture of both but this year it was a lot more competitive than the last time I did it which we\u2019re all just friends because we were having fun.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: Could you mention some of the girls you thought were really after the crown?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: I know that, the first name that comes to mind is, do I have to give names? (<em>laughter<\/em>) You\u2019re going to make me have enemies, do I have to? (<em>laughter<\/em>) Really.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD<\/strong>: <strong>Not that, they are being furiously competitive in their attitude but more that they were competition for you, they\u2019re the one you thought could win.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: Well, Simone Poot, she\u2019s a sweetheart, she\u2019s the nicest girl I\u2019ve met. We got very close in the competition because we were roommates when we went to Hanover for a week. But just her personality, she\u2019s so sweet, she\u2019s beautiful and so she was strong competition. Alexia McLean she\u2019s fun bubbly energetic or whatever but if you look at her she\u2019s drop dead gorgeous \u2013 if you see her in person I mean people often compare her to Lisa Hanna because she\u2019s so beautiful. So these girls definitely stood out for me in the pageant.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD<\/strong><strong>: What was it like losing the 2006 pageant and what did you learn from that experience to prepare you for 2010?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: You say that I lost, I never ever felt that I lost that pageant I mean I was 4<sup>th<\/sup> runner-up that for me at the time since my goal was never to win, that was exciting, I was very excited. I did not know directly what I got from, that pageant but afterwards just from speaking with other people I saw the benefits. My mother told me that I developed an awareness of myself that I never had before. I\u2019ve always been confident and just learning about myself and who I am that came from the pageant. And of course you know I developed and got better and better at it over the years. I\u2019m queen of networking. I can walk into any room and relate to anybody and everything. My career advisors at Harvard told me all the time but I know those are skills that I\u2019ve picked up from my pageants over the years.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: What was it like being an ethnic minority at an Ivy League school?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: So Harvard Law is a little different I think because outside of the historically black universities they have the highest number of black students, so there\u2019s 150 of us which is a lot for a non-historically black school\u2026.and so it was great. Of course you are closer to all the black people because we\u2019re in the Black Law Students\u2019 Association together so it was a fantastic experience. I never felt that there was anything missing in any way and in my class there were 50 or 60 other black people, so that was good. Further than that we had a lot of students of Asian decent and Hispanics and others. Because of the different organisations we sort of all have our own little friendships going, and we got closer through student organisations. And so, one thing that I missed while I was there is I never felt the Caribbean influence that I\u2019ve had all my life growing up. Growing up here, then I went to the University of Florida where we had a Jamaican Students\u2019 Association, separate from our Caribbean Students\u2019 Association separate from our Black Students\u2019 Association, there were so many people you could branch off but into groups but at Harvard they had nothing and I don\u2019t know if you saw from my bio I developed a Caribbean Law Association for Caribbean students.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: What prompted that?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: Well my thing was I just missed having people around me like I\u2019ll have a conversation with someone and then you find out wow they were born I dunno St. Vincent or something or they have parents from St. Thomas but I would only know in casual conversations because we never had anything set in place to bring us together. So I missed having some sort of Caribbean influence and then I also realized that my Co-President and I, we were both realized that we were at this fantastic institution. This is right after Obama had won the election both he and his wife are alumni of Harvard Law School. So we\u2019re like, these people are going on to be senators and they\u2019re going to run the world one day. There was a Kennedy in the class before mine and a Princess. They\u2019re very influential people at our school and we just wanted to make sure that when they\u2019re making all the big deals they don\u2019t forget our little islands, because Harvard had no\u2026\u00a0I\u2019m sorry I talk a lot. You can feel free to paraphrase. [<em>laughter<\/em>]<\/p>\n<p>But before Harvard had <em>no<\/em> kind of focus at all like it was hard for us to get a Faculty Sponsor, you need that to be a student organisation and because there\u2019s nobody that focuses on the Caribbean but luckily you know we formed the organisation. I think our faculty sponsor has now met someone to get married to a Jamaican that\u2019s the closest we could get to an actual Caribbean influence. Next year we are going to send some students to Cuba. We\u2019ve done so much. We raised a lot of money to donate to Haiti after the tragedy. So much\u2026They are 40 of us I didn\u2019t know that there were 40 Caribbean people. That was my Co-Presidents concerned, she was like \u2018so we\u2019re going to have a Caribbean organisation and it will be the three of us?\u2019 \u2018No there are more out there trust me, trust me. We just need to form it and they will come.\u201d So they came and it was fantastic.<\/p>\n<p>I have to keep the rest of the answers short. [<em>laughter]. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: 18 years ago did you ever dream about being a beauty queen?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: How old was I 18 years ago? Hmmm, I\u2019m getting old; I can\u2019t do the math [<em>laughter<\/em>].<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: 6 [laughter]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: Well when I was six; I don\u2019t think I was thinking that far ahead but there was a stage of my life I went through when I was a chubby girl and so [<em>chuckles<\/em>] I don\u2019t think that being a beauty queen was ever the goal but for my mother it was because, apparently, she named me after someone that competed in the Miss Jamaica World pageant the year I was born, which is very interesting so that\u2019s how I got my name but\u2026 no, \u00a0I think it\u2019s something I just fell into. I started modelling when I was 16; I went to a modelling school. You know when something interested me or the opportunity presented itself I went after it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: You mentioned you battled weight issues, how was that?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: People say issue but I kinda like when I have more weight on me, I\u2019m \u00a0rounder [<em>laughter<\/em>] and look nice. So I don\u2019t think I have an issue. I like myself no matter the size. I have different advantages.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: What was your heaviest weight?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: Oh gosh, I think I went up to 170 lbs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: Which is not heavy for someone your height?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: Yeah, its not heavy, exactly but I definitely had 40 lbs more than I am now. But yeah, I feel so far I look good. When I was growing up before I had my growth spurt, when I had the weight on it did show because I had the extra baby fat but I was always happy. I don\u2019t think I lost the weight at that point I think I just grew and it sort of<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: Redistribute<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR: <\/strong>Exactly\u00a0(<em>laughter<\/em>)<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: Are you into fashion? Who is your favourite designer?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR: <\/strong>No, not that much, I mean I don\u2019t study it or study designers. I am not into brands so to speak. I just like stuff that look good.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: How would you describe your style?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: I like things that look good. \u00a0I think I like bright things and things that stand out. I like reds and gold. Definitely into bright colours as you can see red is my favourite colour but I am the type of person that I don\u2019t go after one particular style but I\u2019ll try on a million things and wear what looks good on me, that\u2019s what I\u2019ll wear.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: What\u2019s your favourite comfort food?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: [whisper) Chocolate [laughter]. I love, love, love chocolate! Love \u00a0ice cream. Cookie-dough ice cream. I love sweet things. You know what? Since I can\u2019t have chocolate, to get my sugar, I\u2019ll go to bulla and bun. I\u2019ll eat so much bulla.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: You\u2019ll get your sugar rush on.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: Yeah! I just love the taste of it and it\u2019s bad because I live with my grandparents and I tell them don\u2019t buy it and they do and then I\u2019ll eat the whole thing in one night. It\u2019s very bad, it\u2019s very bad, but I love sweet things but chocolate is my main thing, but ow I\u2019m off it, \u2019cause I\u2019ll eat too much of it. So, now I\u2019m on bulla and bun. [laughter]<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: What do you do to stay in shape and do you have a diet?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: Right now not so much during the pageant I was doing high protein, low carbs for the most part, and lots of exercise. <em>Lots<\/em> of exercise. Now I\u2019m very toned I think sometimes I\u2019m too toned so I\u2019d like to back off a little bit. See my 6 pack abs [gestures like a rapper then chuckles. So you, I&#8217;m trying to come down a little bit. I love exercising, its fun.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: What&#8217;s your most embarrassing moment?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: In life?<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: Yeah! A <\/strong><em><strong>real<\/strong><\/em><strong> one!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: Let me think&#8230;.I know. So I love to travel. That&#8217;s my favorite thing to do in the world and, two years ago, I did a Europe trip. I went to London, Venice and Paris. So anyway we went to Paris and we found this really nice hip-hop club. I was with my friends from school from Harvard, and so we were there looking very nice. I had on my red dress [I told you red was my favourite colour) and red heels. Actually it was <em>these<\/em> heels [gestures to her feet laughing]. Okay. So I had them on and I walked into the club, we both look nice and walking in the front door we checked our coats \u2019cause it was winter in Paris and we are going down the stairs and I get to the second last step and trip and fell, fell\u2026 like tumbled over the last two steps and fell flat on my foot and I\u2019m in these heels which are like 5-6 inches so I twisted my ankle and I was in <em>soooo<\/em> much pain. Oh my gosh! But mind you these stairs are at the beginning of the club so everybody saw and I was <em>so<\/em> embarrassed. I just got up and try to fake it and sat down then I danced the whole night. Whatever! But for the rest of the trip my ankle was messed up but I was <em>so<\/em> embarrassed. Honestly, so embarrassed. In Paris, of all places, where people care what you look like! [laughter].<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: Are you single?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: Yes, I am.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: What tip would you give to a guy if he wants to approach a girl; to approach even you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: To approach me? Well, I like men with personality. I feel that honesty is the first thing. If you win me over with your personality, then it will go a long way. Persistence. Persistence always wins me over. Be persistent, not stalkerish. Persistent\u2026Just show your personality and you\u2019ll be good to go.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: What will you look forward to most in the next year?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: I don\u2019t know. I\u2019ve been really open to the possibilities. I don\u2019t want to make too many expectations for myself because I just feel like there\u2019s just so much that can come from this that I couldn\u2019t even plan. So, I\u2019m just very open to the possibilities and very excited to be in the position where I can do the things that I always wanted to do; like I\u2019ve always wanted to start a scholarship programme. And so, I\u2019d love to use the year of my reign to fun other students\u2019 education. My education was primarily funded through scholarships. So, I don\u2019t know\u2026 I\u2019m just excited at all the possibilities.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: Did you watch the Miss Universe pageant this year?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: What did you think about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: She did very well. She did very, very well. I was very proud of her! The first thing I was thinking was, man, all these people gave her such a hard time for entering, but now everybody\u2019s her best friend [chuckles] which is kind of weird.\u00a0 But I was so proud of her and so proud to see that she did that for Jamaica and I think it\u2019s just given me more motivation. Now I really want to go to Miss World and just bang it out [laughter] to do Jamaica proud.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: You are a young, intelligent and attractive. Do you think you intimidate people.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: I think so [said with short pauses between each word].\u00a0 I don\u2019t think I intentionally intimidate people, but I think some people are intimidated by me for whatever reason;\u00a0 because of my credentials or the reasons you mentioned. But, when people meet me, they\u2019ll find that I\u2019m one of the most approachable people ever. I\u2019m probably too friendly. So, I think people just need to come up to me and get to know me and realise that there\u2019s no reason at all to be intimidated. I\u2019m friendly and personable.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: What would people be surprised to know about you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: Let me think\u2026 I think people would be surprised to know that I\u2019m not just one of those people who\u2019re naturally good test-takers. When people find out that I\u2019ve been to Harvard and everything, they automatically assume that I\u2019m like brilliant and a success. But I work <em>really<\/em> hard. For example, the exam you need to take to get into law school in the states; I studied for that for the whole year in order to get in.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: The LSAT?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: Yeah.\u00a0 SO, I\u2019ve never been one of those people to sit down and get it like that. But I make my goals and if I want to do something, I\u2019ll work hard at it. If it takes me a year; if it takes me two years\u2026 I\u2019ll work at it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: A career in corporate law is very hectic. Do you foresee motherhood?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: Yeah! Hopefully I\u2019ll be in a position to balance both. I don\u2019t just see myself being a corporate lawyer. My family is very important to me. I want to be a mother, but I want to have my career. I want to be established in my career first.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: Babies and travel don\u2019t really mix.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: Yeah\u2026 I know!\u00a0 I definitely want to live my life\u2026 You know? Be young and enjoy it. But I definitely want to work on my career. But I definitely have to have my own life and my own family.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD<\/strong>:<strong> Feminists and others have strongly criticised the existence of beauty pageantry, claiming that it degrades women by having them assessed on their aesthetic value, rather than their character and substance; things that cannot be determined in a show. How do you respond to that?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: I believe that that might have been the case years ago, but I think beauty pageants have changed a lot.. maybe partly because of the feminist movement. But although there is a little bit of that\u2026 it\u2019s a beauty pageant, you have to look good\u00a0 and they assess your beauty of face and and beauty of.. what do they call it again\u2026 beauty of figure, the reason why I chose to enter the Miss Jamaica World pageant as opposed to any other pageant is because there\u2019s definitely a focus on the whole package. So, I thought it was a pageant that would definitely appreciate the contestants not only for being beautiful but also for being very intelligent. You also have to have a good heart and a good spirit. You have to be personable. That\u2019s why I particularly love this pageant, and on an international scale, the Miss World pageant, because it emphasises the complete woman.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: The use of hair straightener and hair extensions is considered by some as a vestige of racial discrimination or slavery in the black community. What is your point of view on this issue?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: I really can\u2019t see that because everybody uses hair extensions and straighteners. I mean there hair extensions for kinky hair, for everything. Britney Spears uses hair extensions, Beyonce spends tonnes of money on hair extensions so I don\u2019t think its so I don\u2019t think so at all. It\u2019s not something that\u2019s not forced on you at all because we had girls here with natural hair and if they wanted to keep their hair natural people actually encouraged them I remember there was a contestant Simone Barrett and she wanted to straighten her hair. We were like \u2018No\u2019 but I remember she wanted to do it for a show before that and we were saying \u2018No, Are you crazy?\u2019 because her natural hair looks nice. Actually, the differences is everybody hair is straight, everyone\u2019s hair is long and you come with short hair and it looks fabulous, or you come with fabulous afro or fabulous curly hair you stand out. So I think it were something forced or other women than I could see that point but since its an option you can chose to do it or chose not. In fact, if you don\u2019t do it you could stand a better chance than everybody else, the 30 other people with long straight hair that straightened or curly, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s an issue if you have an option not to.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: \u00a0But if you took that same question from the point of view that, fair enough, Britney Spears and other celebrities use hair extensions, you\u2019d still have to recognise that that question has been an on-going one in the Black community for years now. Tyra Banks, you know, just stopped wearing weaves, then she changed her position and said, \u201cOne day, maybe again\u201d. I think it\u2019s obviously more pervasive in African-American culture partly because we\u2019re the ones with this kind of hair texture that\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong><strong>:<\/strong> I don\u2019t think its more pervasive\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: I mean, on an everyday street. I don\u2019t mean performance. I mean everyday girls in their neighbourhoods. You don\u2019t see that many white girls running to the salon to get hair extenstions. So, I think that substance behind the question is why? Because it\u2019s not exactly cheap either? And right now in Jamaica we have a lot of girls who are bleaching for example. That\u2019s an ongoing debate right now and nobody forced them. But there\u2019 s something inherently around them that makes them feel that they ought to? I think the question is posed from that point of view; just to give you some context.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: Yeah. I understand that. I think it\u2019s more than societal\u2019s perceptions; definitely because we were a European colony and the influence from the US that that\u2019s the certain standard that people try to portray of \u2018beautiful\u2019. Eeven I\u2019m getting it now being Miss Jamaica World. You know\u2026 My runners-up were lighter than me and I get some criticism because of that, so I don\u2019t understand. But\u2026 it\u2019s a problem. It\u2019s a problem with what you mentioned \u2013 the bleaching of the skin to try to be lighter, \u00a0but I don\u2019t that it is something unique to Jamaica. I think especially in the the western world, those are the images and that\u2019s what the media especially portrays as beautiful \u2013 to be light skinned, with long hair or whatever the standards are and so women try to live up to that. But, I personally feel that there\u2019s nothing more attractive than a very dark-skinned, beautiful woman. I was in the pageant with Sara Lawrence. Sara is <em>very<\/em> attractive. So when\u00a0you have a dark skinned girl that stands out, especially when you go to Miss World and everyone is very fair skinned and you have this beautiful dark-skinned person I just think its so beautiful and I think a lot of people would agree. I see the pressures to change and to have the long hair and do whatever but sometimes when you already have it you appreciate who you are and you accentuate your positive attributes, you\u2019ll stand out and you won\u2019t have to conform to ideals.<\/p>\n<p>CD<strong>: Many believe Yendi Phillipps lost because of the dress, will you in your preparation for the competition be managing how you look and what you wear for the pageant in China?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: I think I do have some say in what I wear but I\u2019m not sure about the control I will have over the dress. Someone\u2019s providing all of that for me. One thing I\u2019ve done in Miss Jamaica World is just been more insistent. I try to do it in a nice way. For example, the first day I put on the dress I did not like it because it didn\u2019t fit properly. But, you know, you try to work with the designers in the best way possible even though it might be difficult to say, maybe if you did this, and make your own suggestions to try to make it as nice and then at the end of the day whatever you get if you have to go out in a gown you hate you just have to try and rock it like you loved it. [<em>laughter<\/em>].\u00a0But unfortunately people do judge you based on how you dress as well even though it\u2019s not under your control but I\u2019ll definitely try to put more of my input its not just about what you think looks good but how you feel in a dress and so forth and it helps the way you carry it. So, I\u2019ll definitely try to put my input but I can\u2019t tell you how much control because I\u2019m not buying the dress myself . I\u2019m at somebody else\u2019s mercy. [laughter]<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: The series is called the Last Word and you have the last word. What is the one thing you would want to say to the world if you could<\/strong>?<\/p>\n<p><strong>CR<\/strong>: I would like to thank everyone that supported me. I\u2019ve gotten so much support. I definitely feel that I was meant to win this year because it all the people around me just came together. Even people that weren\u2019t happy with me entering at the beginning came around to support me. So many people voted for me, I won Public Vote\u2026 My friends were like \u2018you need to stop\u2019, \u2018you need to hurry up and win because I\u2019m tired of voting\u2019 because they were voting for me constantly. \u00a0I want to say thank you to everyone that supported me. Please continue to support me as I go on to the international competition.\u00a0And if we can fit this in, I\u2019d like to definitely thank my sponsor because they were supportive and I was happy to have them. They took out a full page ad today and they did it in the competition\u2026 And they have the entire staff at Geddes Refrigeration\u00a0voting for me and I just really appreciate them. Thanks to everyone for the support.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD: Thank you. I really enjoyed the interview and I think people will enjoy reading it as well<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_838\" style=\"width: 235px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/missjamaicaworld.com\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/chantal-last-word-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-838\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-838\" title=\"chantal last word 2\" src=\"http:\/\/missjamaicaworld.com\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/chantal-last-word-2-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/missjamaicaworld.com\/2010\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/chantal-last-word-2-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/missjamaicaworld.com\/2010\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/chantal-last-word-2.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-838\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chantal Raymond, Miss Jamaica World 2010 and Corve DaCosta, blogger <\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_841\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/missjamaicaworld.com\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/chantal-last-word2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-841\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-841\" title=\"chantal last word\" src=\"http:\/\/missjamaicaworld.com\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/chantal-last-word2-300x234.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"234\" srcset=\"https:\/\/missjamaicaworld.com\/2010\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/chantal-last-word2-300x234.jpg 300w, https:\/\/missjamaicaworld.com\/2010\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/chantal-last-word2.jpg 611w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-841\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chantal Raymond, Miss Jamaica World 2010 and Corve DaCosta, blogger <\/p><\/div>\n<p>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since winning the Miss Jamaica World 2010 pageant Chantal Raymond has entered a firestorm. I was curious to hear from the Harvard Law School graduate who had won the competition after entering a second time. I thought she would have been self-aggrandizing having traveled the world and educated at an Ivy League school. However, I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-releases","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/missjamaicaworld.com\/2010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/missjamaicaworld.com\/2010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/missjamaicaworld.com\/2010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missjamaicaworld.com\/2010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missjamaicaworld.com\/2010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/missjamaicaworld.com\/2010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/missjamaicaworld.com\/2010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missjamaicaworld.com\/2010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missjamaicaworld.com\/2010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}