Newly crowned Miss Bermuda Lillian Lightbourne has big plans to help others and promote Bermuda this year during her reign.

She plans on visiting Bermuda schools and talking to children about “being focused and knowing their self -worth”.

The 24-year-old professional model hopes to teach children to both follow their dreams and work towards a successful future no matter what their family or financial circumstances.

Miss Lightbourne, who was crowned Miss Bermuda 2014 at a glittering Fairmont Southampton pageant on Sunday, also plans to use her position to help those less fortunate overseas. Miss Lightbourne is especially interested in having Bermudians embrace the charity Free the Girls, an organisation which helps provide jobs to women who have escaped sex trafficking in developing countries.

She hopes to open a local donation centre for the charity so “Bermudians can find ways to get involved in countries that need help”.

During the Miss Bermuda Pageant Miss Lightbourne said she had learned to keep up a “certain look, certain attitude, and a certain demeanour” in order to reach her goals.

Miss Lightbourne, who was working in New York as a professional model before returning home to participate in the Miss Bermuda competition, wants to promote the Island by contacting magazines overseas and encouraging them to hold photo shoots here.

“I want to make them aware that Bermuda is a beautiful place to shoot,” she said.

Miss Bermuda believes such exposures will help tourism as well as improve the local fashion industry.

Miss Lightbourne is excited about representing the Island in the upcoming 2014 Miss World competition being held in London.

She dropped plans to move to London to model after signing with Trump Model Management, one of the top modelling agencies in New York.

Miss Bermuda plans to continue to model in New York in the coming months and “get amazing editorials and pictures” to add to her portfolio.

She hopes to use this new material to find modelling assignments in Europe following Miss World.

She added that her church believe this year to be “the Year of Jubilee,” a Biblical concept interpreted to mean a time of fruitfulness and twice the normal rewards.

Miss Lightbourne hopes to receive her own double portion of success in 2014 by now winning the Miss World title to go along with her Miss Bermuda crown.