- Chaos photoSelena caught by surprise during the interview.
Chaos, Freelance Writer
Here is the next in our series on former Miss Jamaica Worlds
SELENA DELEON has one of the largest pairs of eyes you are ever likely to see on an human being. Eyes that seem almost vulnerable. As she sits with her beautiful 8-month-old daughter Hannah, one is hard pressed to tell, just looking at them, just who is the more innocent.
Selena Deleon, nee Delgado, is Miss Jamaica World 1996. She never made that much of an impact on the Jamaican public at large, perhaps due in part to the fact that she never really was into the whole beauty queen scene. Considering that she placed second in the Miss Universe pageant two years earlier, this factoid is more than a little confusing.
"I entered the 'Miss Universe' competition when I was 18 and it was a bit of a disaster. I wasn't mature enough and I seized up, I was paralysed with nerves, standing on stage before thousands of people, I had never done anything like that before and it was nerve-wracking. I ended placing second and I was very determined to come back and win. " Selena said.
So she did. Two years later, she entered the Miss Jamaica World competition and won and then embarked on a year doing the things that beauty queens do.
We have not answered the question as to exactly why Selena Deleon, nee Delgado, would enter not one but two beauty contests but we will get to that a little bit later. Selena says, exemplifying what has surely gained the status of an urban myth by now, that she was somewhat fat in prep school and throughout high school.
Look at the pictures (and keep in mind that this is a woman who had a child eight months ago) and you can see how difficult this is to visualise. I have rarely come across a woman, beauty queen or not, who is this 'toned'.
"I was very fat as a child and through prep school. I started to lose weight in high school but I struggled throughout. I was very shy and unsure like most teenagers," Mrs. Deleon explained.
This little tidbit goes a long way in explaining the beauty contests. Think about it you are tired of being shy and unsure, you want to boost your self-esteem, people around you keep telling you should be a model, so you take a walk down to Pulse and the next thing you know you're in a beauty contest. Nothing will boost or destroy your self-confidence faster than being in front of thousands of screaming Jamaicans while in a swimsuit. It's a sink or swim situation and Selena decided to jump in and damned be the consequences.
Selena is somewhat a study in contrasts a beauty queen who does not really like beauty contests, an extremely fit woman who used to be fat, a woman who once lacked a sense of direction but is now incredibly focused.
"I entered because I was at a crossroads in my life and did not know what I wanted to do. After the Miss Universe competition, I was determined to win. I treated it like a job and gave it my best shot. I learnt from it like everything, I had fun and it gave me a lot of confidence." she reminisced.
About the Miss World competition, she had this to say "It was a bit of a nightmare. I like to look nice and dress up, but not all the time. We had to wear high heels to breakfast and spent all day applying and taking off make-up. It was a timetable of hair spray, high heels and mascara for 30 days and that's really not my thing. I'm more practical some girls just relished it and loved to be in the spotlight but it was not the highlight of my life."
In addition, 1996 saw what were probably the most virulent anti-Miss World protests ever. There were death threats, bomb threats, the women could not wear their swimsuits in public and in what or may or may not have been related to the protests, one man actually burnt himself alive.
Looking for the path
Between the two competitions, Selena spent a year in Canada (where she had spent her early years, although she was born here) working, while trying to find some direction. She had learned French after spending a year in Belgium on the AFS exchange programme, so language was not a problem. However, life there was far from a bed of roses and eventually, in her own words, "It was cold, I didn't have many friends I don't want to put Canada down but I found it difficult to integrate. As a foreigner, if you hadn't gone to school and made friends there, it is difficult...
"One day, I decided I was coming back to Jamaica. I sold all my clothes, shoes, CDs and I bought a one-way ticket back to Jamaica. I arrived with no plan, I had no direction, no clue 'I said to myself I'm here, so what am I going to do?' but as soon as I arrived I met my husband, so I'm a big believer in destiny."
Matthew Deleon has been her husband for two and a half years, having popped the question casual-like to Selena after her stint as Miss Jamaica World 1996 and having spent a year with her in Miami.
"We were coming back to Jamaica and I looked at him and said 'Look, you can't just haul and pull me all over the world, yu haffi mek some kind of commitment." she smiled. They got engaged around Christmas of 1998, when he asked for her hand in marriage in the middle of a conversation.
A baby and
aerobics
Then Hannah came along, who apart from being a very cute baby, marks another step in Selena's journey towards finding herself.
"I always get to this point in my life where I am so scared, then I look back and say it was a good thing I did that whenever I have a project I get very nervous, I lose sleep at night, I was worried when I was pregnant I would stay up nights worrying if I was going to be a good mother, when what I should have done is relax and let destiny take its course. I look back and chide myself for wasting time and doubting my ability."
As is always the case, having a child changed her significantly. "The whole world revolves around my daughter. She's the best thing I've done in my life and she's changed me for the better in so many ways. I feel like I've become more human, more compassionate towards other people and I feel like I have so much to live for. It changes your perspectives and gives your life new meaning in terms of how I was before. I prioritise differently..."
Having done one year of a business management course while in Miami, and having worked at the French embassy for two years, Selena decided it was time once more to take her life in hand as it were. Last year, she applied in March to a US-based university but through a strange quirk of destiny, her application was 'lost' and she realised it was probably for the better. "It had to be a sign I thought, 'Do I really want a degree and after two years have a nine to five job that would keep me away from my daughter?' Is that what I really want? No."
One of the other things Selena did on her return from Canada was to become (pardon the phrase) an exercise nut. "When I came back to Jamaica, I started exercising. I really got into and ended up exercising five days a week." Conventional wisdom dictates that you should work at what you love and that is exactly what she intends.
Selena showed me a room which she is converting into a gym, and as she spoke her voice took on an intensity which had not been there before. In fact, she was veritably passionate as she told of her intentions to become a personal trainer once she is certified after finishing a programme she is currently enrolled in. The air was filled with words and phrases like 'aerobics', 'tailor-made/personalised fitness programmes' and 'reference diets based off standard food pyramids' that left one feeling distinctly unfit. As she proudly displayed her business cards, which she designed herself, one gets the sense that Selena Deleon, nee Delgado, has with her daughter, her husband and her plans to bring anyone interested to tip-top shape, has finally found her niche.
