US-BASED RWANDAN beauty queen Jolie Bwiza is still celebrating her ‘incredible’ journey to becoming the second runner-up at Miss Washington for America beauty contest that concluded about a fortnight ago.

Bwiza, 22, was one of 13 contestants who were vying for the crown at the annual beauty contest.

She, however, managed to take home the second runner-up crown, a milestone she proudly celebrates since the grand finale unfolded on August 14.

During the contest, she said shared that she was so focused on talking to those who previously won the crown so she could learn from their experience.

"I had a friend of mine who told me ‘see you need five people to help you do this’ and I was like ‘No, I don’t need all that’. But the truth is that she was discouraging me because she wanted me to do her pageant [that she was organising],” recalls Bwiza, in an interview with The New Times.

‘Focus’ was Bwiza’s only key to making it on the podium despite all the distractions she faced throughout the beauty contest campaign.

"I had faith in myself and did my own things. I watched videos, practiced interviews with people who understand interviews. I was, in the end, like ‘whatever happens, I worked for it. I need to do my best, whatever it takes to do,” she added.

The scary thing, Bwiza said, was facing the judges alongside two other finalists and doing interviews in rotation and she could hear each contestant providing a different answer to the judges’ question.  

"But, the longer I faced the judges. The less I felt distracted. I received positive feedback from the judges,” she said.

Bwiza would have been happier to become the first Rwandan to win the Miss Washington for America and couldn’t believe how she lost in the last minute.

 But, as a contestant who had no idea where to begin with for me to arrive this far in the contest, she still has reason to be proud of the milestone she achieved.

"One of the judges told me ‘I have no idea how others judged you but I really believed you would win the crown. To me, you’re still a winner,” she said.

"But I am proud of what I achieved. I am just looking for the way forward and exploring ways to make good use of this crown,” she said.

Using the crown in fashion

 Bwiza, commonly known as Jolie African, is currently an independent model who has done commercial work, with Ricardo Beverly Hills, a California-based company that inspires travelers, Undenied Boutique-An African store clothes, among other companies.

It’s no surprise she won the Miss Photogenic prize besides the second runner-up title during the coronation grand finale.

Together with with fashion guru John Bunyeshuri, she is organizing a fashion event dubbed ‘Unstoppable’ slated for October in Washington.

"I named my event ‘Unstoppable’ because I don’t want to stop though I wasn’t able to win the crown,” Bwiza explained.  

Bwiza is confident that her title will help her event gain a boost as she looks to use the best out of her crown to inspire more young people.

"With my title, I want to show the fashion community here why I won it and I am excited for this,” she said.

"This is exactly how I want to start. I am a passionate model and I love fashion and when you want to do something, you have to do something you are passionate about, something you see yourself doing. I see myself doing fashion in the long run and fashion that can inspire young people,” she added.