Miss SVG Pageant, Zada Stephens, zeroes in on traditional costume building

Zada Stephens, contestant number six in this year’s Miss SVG pageant appearing as Miss KCCU, is using her creative spark to preserve the building traditional Mas costumes and inspire youths.

This is part of her focus for the Miss SVG pageant community project, which is sponsored by the General Employees Cooperative Credit Union (GECCU), and this year is titled ‘She leads’. Stephens and the six other contestants competing for Miss SVG 2024 title, have been assigned leadership roles in specific ministries and carry out their community projects on different dates.

On Saturday, August 17, 2024, Stephens conducted a workshop themed ‘Mas Must Play’, geared at cultural preservation as Stephen leads the Ministry of Tourism.

The workshop participants were engaged in making headpieces which started with cardboard being covered with tricot fabric and cutting out small pieces from the cardboard template.

“We then cut out the foam, covered that, and stuck it; then we finished with the feathers to decorate it and make it look pretty.”

Twelve young persons participated in this workshop. Stephens said from her observations, the field is mainly dominated by seniors which is her reason for targeting youth.

“What happens when the persons who are older are no longer here?” she questioned, “then we don’t have anybody who is involved in traditional mas building. That’s a very important part of our culture that we’ll lose if we don’t get them involved,” said Miss KCCU.

During a conversation with the participants, Stephens noted their keen interest in perfecting the art of costume-making. She is hopeful that by next year there can be summer workshops tailored for them to make costumes and be a part of Vincymas 2025.

“Maybe next year some of them can go to the different mas bands and start building; maybe— I don’t know if they would allow them though because they are kids, but I think that it is something that we can do.”

Another activity during her week, August 12-18, 2024, was ‘Boardwalk Bites,’ where Stephens visited different restaurants to sample various foods, with some establishments even featuring a special menu item named after her.

“It’s supposed to promote culinary tourism and community tourism, so we go to different restaurants and they offer special menu items which are local cuisines but with a twist.”

Stephens identified her main challenge for the week as managing her schedule to reach different locations, which she acknowledged could be tiring yet rewarding due to the opportunities to meet and interact with new people.

“When I was at Ada, I met some people even from St Lucia, and they tried stuff from my menu, so that was really cool.”

As with any journey, Stephens has faced challenges on her path to the Miss SVG 2024 competition, but she is dedicated to working hard to overcome them, “and just keeping my eyes on the prize.”