29-year-old Carine Utamuliza Rusaro is famous for her numerous beauty pageant titles. The former Miss National University of Rwanda and Miss Tourism Queen International was also the first runner up of Miss Rwanda 2009, among others. She is now a regular on the panel of judges of the Miss Rwanda Beauty pageant. With the 15 Miss Rwanda 2017 finalists away at boot camp, Rusaro had a chat with Women Today’s Sharon Kantengwa about her experience as a judge and the significance of the Miss Rwanda crown.

You were once a Miss Rwanda contestant. How does it feel like currently being on the panel of judges?

The experience as a contestant has helped me in making the right decisions as a judge, because I know what the whole process entails. This being my third time, I’m used to it, although I was a bit nervous the first time, because most of the time I realise that all the girls are beautiful and they deserve to win. It’s a competition anyway, and we have to give them marks and there has to be a winner.

From your point of view, can you say that there has been any improvement in the beauty pageant these past few years?

There has been improvement especially because back then, girls were beautiful but their responses to the questions were not really up to standard. But now, girls can express their ideas and I find them more confident and intelligent. On the other hand, I noticed that the criterion regarding weight of the pageants has changed over the years. Some of the ones today do not have the ‘estimated size’ one would expect of a beauty queen. That is fine though since we appreciate ‘African’ beauty.

What about their age? Don’t you think that the pageant is only considering young girls, and leaving out the important factor of maturity?

We have young girls because they are the ones that turn up for the concert. Even though we need mature girls to sign up and compete for the pageant, we cannot chase away the young and passionate teenagers that turn up. I think older girls need motivation to be able to compete, and this is where society comes in handy.

What major qualities do you look out for in this beauty contest?

To ease our work, we give marks to three important qualities: beauty, where we consider the height and weight, the quality of the answers and how the contestant presents herself in public and that includes self-confidence.

What is the biggest concern you have noticed in the girls that you feel they should know about?

Not understanding why they participated in the competition, thus coming unprepared to present themselves before the judges and Rwandans. Being well prepared helps one gain self-confidence, but what I realised is that people consider just one part of it, the benefits and the fame. But if you prepare yourself well, you are able to meet all the requirements and aptly compete with all the girls.

I think also being young, they tend to become over excited about the competition and end up missing the important issues because they are focused on just the money, car and fame. I think that this is why they need support from their parents and Rwandans. They need to be able to attract the judges’ attention and prove to them that they are the right candidate. I hope that the boot camp will help them improve on this.

With your experience in beauty pageants, what can you say is the secret to winning all those titles?

I was always determined to take the crown home and I always wanted to maximise my chances of winning. I always had in mind that it is not always about me only but my family and my country, and that always gave me the determination to win and embrace any opportunity that would bring pride to my country. When thousands of people vote for you out of the fifteen contestants, you need to look for ways to thank them.

How important were these titles to you?

Before I was in the competition, I was shy but I had to make a contribution to my country through this platform. When I emerged first runner up, that is when I decided to make good use of my crown which certainly opened doors for me. I was able to become a youth UN delegate for Rwanda, which I never dreamed of before I got the title. Two years later, I was also confident enough to apply for a job that even a girl older than me couldn’t get, because my CV was ‘impressive’ enough.

Girls can make good use of their titles even after their reign, for bigger things. Working together can also help them achieve bigger things if they put their mind beyond the crown.

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