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Diamond Vale resident Dr Sihlé Letren will represent Trinidad and Tobago at the 74th Miss Universe pageant in Thailand in November having been crowned this country’s representative last Sunday.
The event took place on July 20 at Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s at 6 pm.
She took the top spot out of 14 candidates.
Dr Letren will succeed former Miss Universe TT Jenelle Thongs.
The medical doctor won Miss Top Model TT in 2022 and represented the country at the international leg of that pageant that same year.
Miss Universe TT national director and Crowns and Sashes CEO Stephen Jones said Sunday’s competition saw the 14 finalists compete for the title.
The season began in March and the finalists went through months of academy bootcamp training in various disciplines.
“Early in May we held our preliminary round of competition, where, at prelims, we crowned our Miss Supranational, Mr Supranational and the remaining candidates continued their training towards last night's show.”
Contestants were chosen by cumulative scores, he said.
“Your scores go all the way from the time we meet you at screening, down to final night. Then those scores are cleared again at the top seven.
“We use an entire term's work to help determine. Of course, inside of that, you have different groups of people assessing along the way.”
First runner-up Latifah Morris also competed with Letren at Miss Top Model World.
They both placed in the top five in Egypt in 2022, he said.
“They came into the competition with experience, nationally and internationally.”
He said it was wonderful to see, as national director, the transformation of some of the contestants, including Letren.
“She is known to be a runway model (Letren) and a very good one at that. Areas she thought she was not very versed in, which would have been the onstage interview, that is where she shone last evening, and, in particular, with her Voice for Change initiative.
“There were also some outstanding moments by other young women in the competition. We had Shalini Soochit-Roopnarine, who competed first at Miss World TT and then came over to us at Crowns and Sashes, competed in the same year group with Latifah and was in the top six that year at Miss Universe.
“And she came back again to chase the dream. Even though she did not make it into the top three, it does not devalue the fact that there was a tremendous amount of growth that we witnessed.”
Second runner-up  Yolandra John was also no stranger to the runway, pageantry and stage, he said.
“She, too, was a class act. There were some newcomers to the stage that were really impressive and we hope they return.”
The organisation was now focused on the upcoming competition.
[caption id="attachment_1168477" align="alignnone" width="819"] Dr Sihlé Letren will represent Trinidad and Tobago at the 74th Miss Universe pageant in Thailand in November.[/caption]
Jones said Letren’s academic background and grit were key things required for the international competition.
He described Letren as a solid candidate and said it was a good place to start the journey to Thailand.
Even though he had placed a call for renewed interest in pageantry in the public domain in January, he said while the organisation did not see that interest by number, it was seen by potential candidates referencing Thongs’ representation at the 2024 pageant.
“They felt encouraged to come forward and that is something worth celebrating in itself. In the face of all things, you can still hear a few say, ‘I have been thinking about it but I did not have the courage to come forward’ and some of them were on the stage last night.”
He thanked the national community for always putting the banner of TT first.
However, he cautioned some people about their online comments about the contestants.
He said those online comments did not always reflect the best of the country and encouraged people to make better decisions.
“These things do have a lasting impact on people’s lives. Our candidates, whether they’ve won or not, our young people are online, that is their world, that is where they live.
“Information is much more accessible and I really want to caution us to be mindful of what we say about our young women. In this age where mental health, depression and people suffering silently is a real, real thing.”
He asked people, if they had to disagree with a decision, to do so politely or to abstain.
Jones said the academy stood behind Letren.
 
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