Pamela Uba, a 26-year-old medical scientist, has made history by becoming the first black woman to be crowned Miss Ireland since the country started pageant in 1947.
“It means so much to me,” Uba says. “I am so grateful I can show girls that color is not something that holds you back and it doesn’t matter where you come from, the world is your oyster,” She told IrishTimes.
Uba is currently a part-time model and healthcare worker, she worked on the frontlines during the peak of the pandemic at Galway University Hospital.
She moved to Ireland when she was seven as a asylum seeker from Johannesburg, in South Africa. She hopes that this will inspire others to pursue what they love regardless of the skin of their color.
The eldest of six siblings, she grew up in the direct-provision system and is now a “very proud” Irish citizen. “I cried when I got my Irish passport.”
