Reilly Mboumba Makaya - Miss Gabon International 2013
Reilly says she is obsessed to beauty pageants since 2001, when she first saw Aicha Sidi, Miss Gabon 2001. "And it ended up becoming my passion, to the point that I know the name of all the beauty pageants titleholders of my country since 2001. The more I was watching those pageants the more I came to realize that the one feature that set a pageant girl apart is her open-mindedness"
She believes that the fact that Africans rarely win beauty pageants is not due to racism, but because they don't go prepared enough compared to Latinas, Europeans and Asians.
"Several people think that it is a form of racism, but personally I think that it is all about the preparation of the contestants. Africa does not involve itself enough in beauty pageants. You can see that from the naked eye"
It is time for Africa to wake up and Miss Gabon is very confident that she can overcome more than 50 years with no Miss International winner from her continent.
