Lillian Lightbourn balances a modelling career and an opportunity to compete for Miss Bermuda 2014

By Nadia Arandjelovic

Already a budding model in New York, one might wonder what young beauty Lillian Lightbourn had to gain from signing up for the Miss Bermuda pageant.

She said she wasn’t motivated solely by the glittery crown or a fancy, new title. Instead it was a life-changing trip to South Africa that made her realise she might be able to use the platform to show God’s love to other people.

Miss Lightbourn said her heart really broke for the young people she met while on a two-month modelling trip to the African continent recently.

“Many of them have so little, it literally made me cry,” she said. “I know God was showing me things for a reason; these reasons others could walk away from, but I could not.

“It made me realise how important it is for young people to know their worth. [The key is to provide your friendship] without hurting or blaming them.

“This is the first time I have shared this, but I felt from God in that moment I would be able to help by taking part in Miss Bermuda.”

She said the pageant experience so far has been “interesting an exciting”, however, it’s quite different from what she does as a model.

With this contest she has the luxury of getting to know herself so she can represent herself to her best ability, whereas with modelling her job is to represent a brand.

She said the biggest challenge was not being in Bermuda for the first portion of pageant training.

She was therefore not able to get to know the other contestants and take part in practices and other activities.

But being in New York during that time had other advantages.

It allowed her to become an ambassador for the Island — while sharing about her participation in the pageant, Miss Lightbourn also had the chance to share about the wealth of exciting attractions and scenery that Bermuda has to offer.

One of the most exciting parts of the process is that if she wins she will be able to represent the Island as a model overseas.

She said it would be a highlight for her to get to call herself Miss Bermuda — and inspire others with her life and all that she stands for.

“I know this title is what you make it, so I plan to use this influence to do as much as I can in and for Bermuda,” she explained.

“My first priority would be to impact the youth. Every child should be able to look in the mirror and see that they are the glory of God — that they are vital to this world!

“Children are so precious and I think an issue we have in the world is that some children don’t even know how important they are.

“As adults and people of influence, we need to see the value in letting them express their talent.

“This would take away problems of violence and the high depression rates we see in the world.

“I’m certain that we can change this by making sure we have a long-lasting positive, loving and God-led impact on them,” she continued.

She said one of her biggest inspirations is actress and minister Yasha Jackson.

Ms Jackson has not only been an encouragement to the young model, she’s also an example of how you can pursue a career in the entertainment business and still be an active Christian.

“[Seeing Ms Jackson] has shattered the ‘religious’ mindset I have had of God, thinking Christians can only do so much in the world — like, just being in church preaching — but God has called us to be in every industry, all around the world,” Miss Lightbourn said.

“Ms Jackson has auditions, commercials and filming projects, just like every other actor in New York City, but she lives for God first.

“Seeing how blessed she is inspires everyone around her to put God first and follow their dreams.”

Miss Lightbourn admits she still has a host of goals she wants to accomplish during her life.

In addition to travelling to Europe later this year to model and becoming a creative director for a company one day, she also wants to become a leader in Bermuda, make an impact on the world and teach people more about her faith in God.

The Miss Bermuda 2014 Pageant will take place at the Fairmont Southampton Princess on July 6th. Tickets to the show are available at www.bdatix.bm.