Pamela Uba, broke through a 74 year old barrier to be crowned Miss Ireland, becoming the first black woman to be crowned since the start of the pageant.
The 26-year-old, born to Nigerian parents, moved to Ireland from South Africa with her family as asylum seekers.
Uba lived as a direct provision resident, when her family moved to Ireland.
The competition had always crowned contestants that had one thing in common; their skin colour and Pamela says it’s “crazy to imagine that 74 years went by before anyone different won this.”
The new Miss Ireland used sports to fight the stigma of being an asylum seeker, as she was constantly bullied.
Uba went on to obtain a master’s degree from Trinity College Dublin in clinical chemistry and now works in Galway University Hospital.
Miss Ireland says the whole experience is still hard to let in.
“It feels surreal, like I haven’t come back down to Earth, it’s just a whirlwind of thrills and excitement and I’m so, so, so grateful.”
Uba hopes she can be an example that anything is possible, “I spent the majority of my time growing up in direct provision at the time, to go from that, to becoming a medical scientist, winning Ladies Day in 2019, winning Miss Galway and now Miss Ireland it’s such an achievement.”
Her road to Miss Ireland started in March 2020, she revealed in a post on Instagram.
Uba was named Miss Galway in March 2020 before the pandemic lockdown began. That honor, she said, came with some racist trolling.
Uba is the first Black woman to win the Miss World Ireland Organization pageant and the 2nd Black woman to represent Ireland in an international pageant.
In 2019, Miss Universe Ireland crowned the 1st Black representative from Ireland, Fionnghuala O’Reilly.
Uba is set to represent Ireland in the upcoming Miss World Pageant held in Puerto Rico in December. Miss Ireland is excited, as she says, “I can’t wait.”