"I didn't think I would fit in as a woman of colour... now I'm Miss Greater Manchester"

A young woman who didn't think she would ever be able to fulfill her dream of competing in a pageant has been crowned Miss Greater Manchester 2023 and is now in the running to represent Great Britain.

Tana Njanina, 21, from Oldham, said that she never thought she was pretty enough growing up and had always doubted her chances of ever succeeding in a beauty pageant due to being a woman of colour.

But after a terrifying experience when her mum suddenly fainted at home, the nursing student wanted to use the Miss Great Britain pageant as a platform for change and spread awareness about the importance of first aid training.

Join our WhatsAp p Top Stories and Breaking News group by clicking this link.

The Miss Great Britain pageant was established back in 1945 and remains the UK's oldest and most prestigious national pageant.

"For quite some time, there has been a stereotype with pageants and we have seen it in movies. I've always grown up wanting to take part, but didn't think I'd ever meet the criteria," Tana said.

"I am a woman of colour and I come from an ethnic background that you don't really see much on stage. There were always more people who didn't look like me, and I didn't believe I would fit in."

However it was when her sister competed in Miss Northern Ireland she realised she wanted to take a step out of her comfort zone and compete.

"I thought, if she could do it, why can't I? I want to represent girls of colour who look like me and show that just because you look a certain way, doesn't mean you aren't beautiful.

"I grew up in a predominantly white area and had different hair texture and makeup shades to my friends. In high school I always had the belief that because I didn't look like them, I wasn't