00:09The first runner-up is Ms. Austria, Ms. Trinidad and Tobago is Ms. Universe.
00:19Congratulations, NL.
00:21On July 16, 1977, history was made.
00:25Not just for Trinidad and Tobago, but for black women across the world.
00:30Janelle Kimisiung shattered barriers when she became the first black woman to be crowned Ms. Universe.
00:36And while the world's watching awe, many have always wondered, what did that final moment feel like?
00:42And I don't know, I just felt confident, I don't know why, at that stage.
00:47When we were three, I started to get cold feet out of taking third, you know.
00:50Trinidad had never gotten this far.
00:52But when it was just the two of us, I just felt as if you're like that or you're like
00:56that.
00:56And I was very, I was very positive.
00:59But before she took the crown as Ms. Universe, she took another win three days earlier, as Ms. Photogenic.
01:06But surprisingly, her reaction to that win was far from excitement.
01:11So when I won Ms. Photogenic, I thought it was charity.
01:14I thought, okay, this is to just keep things quiet.
01:17Because at the time, global beauty standards through the media largely centered around Caucasian women,
01:24leaving women of color feeling unseen and unheard.
01:28But Kimisiung says change began when women like Ms. Bermuda started challenging those norms,
01:34something she remains grateful for to this day.
01:37We weren't being seen.
01:40We weren't being seen.
01:41Back in the day, no technology, no Facebook, no anything.
01:46So it was newspapers.
01:47And every day on the newspapers, you're seeing all of the contestants.
01:50You were not seeing the contestants of color at all.
01:53So she started to, she made some noise about that.
01:57They did take notice of it.
01:59And then we started seeing ourselves in the newspapers.
02:04So then when they announced Ms. Photogenic, and I won Ms. Photogenic,
02:08I was kind of a little, yeah, all right.
02:10They had to give it to someone, you see.
02:12So I still thought that it was just part of, you know, trying to make things look better.
02:18So you're probably wondering, was it the love of fashion or the love of modeling
02:22that led young Janelle to patentry?
02:24Well, not quite.
02:26It was actually her love for business.
02:29I was never a pageant person, never grew up thinking, you know, never, ever.
02:33I was more into career and business.
02:36And I had just kind of come back to Trinidad for a little while.
02:39I wanted to open a business.
02:41And I thought that if I got into the local pageant,
02:44that people would know who I was for the business.
02:46No other reason.
02:48Following her Ms. Universe victory,
02:50Kim Isiong considered a career in television.
02:52But she says the lack of representation at the time
02:55discouraged her from pursuing it further.
02:58I really wanted a career in television, but more news anchoring,
03:03because that's what, you know.
03:05But there weren't many black, there weren't.
03:09I remember one, because you're looking at outside the U.S.
03:13And I only remember one, Melvin Tolliver.
03:16And I think between that and between the movie scene,
03:19the Hollywood movie scene,
03:21where it was difficult for black women,
03:24I kind of shut that down.
03:26Yeah, I shut it down, yeah.
03:28Winning Ms. Universe opened doors to incredible experiences,
03:31from traveling the world,
03:33to meeting some of the most iconic figures of the time.
03:36And of course, I had to ask about one of those unforgettable encounters.
03:42You rubbed shoulders with some of the biggest stars in the world,
03:45one of them being Michael Jackson.
03:47And you know, with his movie, now in cinemas,
03:50there's a lot of things resurfacing on social media.
03:53And one of them is your encounter with the legend.
03:56Can you tell us more about your encounter with him?
03:59I would have met him originally here in Trinidad,
04:01when he came for a concert here,
04:04so I would have met him here in Trinidad.
04:06He was nice, he was the Michael that you see publicly.
04:12He was kind of shyish, yeah, shyish.
04:15But yeah, no, just a very shy, you know, shy talent in young man.
04:20The rest, you will just have to find out about in her new book,
04:23that will also touch on her childhood to the Miss Universe stage,
04:27to life after the crown.
04:28But apart from her book, today, Penny has just taken things easy.
04:33Because, I mean, I'm 72, I am kind of, you know,
04:36time to stop all the work, work, work, and just, you know, do things.
04:40The book is very important for me,
04:42so that I hope to have that out for next day, which is the 50th.
04:46And I hope to have quite a few things happening around the 50th,
04:50because I think it's important.
04:5350 is quite a number,
04:55but it's important for the younger generations.
04:58That they see some of what went on.
05:00Nearly 50 years later,
05:02Khamisian reflects on how pageantry has evolved,
05:05and thankfully become more inclusive.
05:07Well, first of all,
05:09back then,
05:10you could not have eyelashes.
05:13You could not have false hair.
05:16You could not have false breasts.
05:19And false bottoms wasn't even around.
05:22So everything had to be natural.
05:24So that is what, that's a big difference.
05:26Now you also have a lot more different ethnicities entering the pageant.
05:30And her advice to young women who may feel insecure about their beauty in the world today.
05:35If you're just watching Instagram and all of that stuff,
05:37and you're judging and basing your beauty on that,
05:40yeah, it's going to give you hang-ups.
05:43It definitely will give you hang-ups.
05:44It's about yourself.
05:45It's about you.
05:47And beauty sometimes is not just that, you know.
05:50It's more than that.
05:51Sometimes people's personalities are far in front of the physical,
05:57you know, so it's not just that.
06:00Reflecting on all her accomplishments to this day,
06:03here's what she thinks young Penny would say.
06:06She wouldn't be surprised.
06:08She wouldn't be surprised because a lot of it also is family.
06:12Janelle gives credit to her aunts and the woman in her life
06:16for her confidence in becoming the woman she is today.
06:19I am Janelle Penny Comissio,
06:22and I do thank you for catching up.
06:25Rochelle Edwards, TV6 News.
06:31Fearless пppuccwen.
06:31Everyone can't break down.
06:32Hope to be there and be there.
06:32See my next episode.
06:34Bye.
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