The second lockdown has put an end to live events and All African Colours, an international beauty and talent competition part of the official Miss England and Miss World competition was faced collapse with the lockdown.
But the MK based video production and livestreaming services company came up with an innovative solution mixing live and prerecorded rounds, live judging and entertainment to produce a spectacular 3 hour show that was livestream to an international pay-per-view audience. On February 13th 2021. Virtual Miss England heat winner ‘Rehema Muthamia’, Crowned Miss All African Colours by her Grandma on Zoom. Rehema Muthania, is a STEM University Graduate who speaks 4 languages.
Rehema (24) lives with her grandmother in Luton Bedfordshire and is proud of her Kenyan Heritage. She was crowned the winner by her grandmother who celebrated her win on Instagram on Saturday night. The 8 finalists had each been sent a tiara during 2020 as they were all campaigning for various charitable causes.
Rehema in her own words, said, I am incredibly proud and elated to have been crowned the first ever Miss All African Colours. It was a great experience to have been a part of this heat finals that is solely dedicated to celebrating and representing women of colour, this is such an honour. The past 6 months in the different phases of the competition have been amazing, and to have gone through it with my fellow sisters has made it all an experience that will ever live with me.
The live final and the events that followed just feels so surreal and I’m still in shock days later! This journey is like none other and I hope that I can represent Miss AAC well in the Miss England final and continue our mission to have more diversity and representation in the competition.
In September 2020 Rehema completed her 5 year course at the University of Sussex and graduated in Genetics.
“We collaborated with All African Colours, almost a year ago to celebrate & encourage more Diversity in to the Miss England contest and we are thrilled to welcome Rehema in to the national final”
said Miss England director Angie Beasley.
The Miss All African Colours event was originally planned as an exciting catwalk show at Nollywood Studios last December. But due to Lockdown restrictions, the event was postponed and finally held as a Virtual Livestream on Saturday 13th Feb at Milton Keynes company the Video News Factory hosted the Virtual event.
“This was our most technically advanced livestream yet and we were delighted to help All African Colours manage to safely overcome the lockdown”
said John Allard from the Video News Factory.
All African Colours is delighted to see how the collaboration with Miss England has transformed into the reality of promoting diversity and multi-culturalism. This platform that enhances the talent of women through their ‘Beauty With A Purpose’ cannot be over-emphasised.
The 8 Finalists competed in the various rounds by submitting Talent, catwalk and introduction videos they had filmed on their phones at home and talked about their Beauty With a Purpose projects close to their hearts including mental health, Domestic violence and refugee charities respectively.
Rehema’s Beauty with a Purpose project is “Womens Aid” who helps women with domestic violence situations in their homes. The rise of domestic violence has increased since Lockdown began. She will represent All African Colours the luxury handbag company in the FINAL of Miss England which is now due to be held in the summer of 2021.
First runner up was Paige Ashton from London whose Beauty with a Purpose project was MIND which highlights mental health issues surrounding Lockdown. Paige managed to raise over £1,000 for the Mind Charity by campaigning on social media and organizing virtual exercise events. Paige could not but praise all that had been deposited in her through all the rounds of the completion. I am really happy and grateful to be the first runner up and public vote winner for first Miss All African Colours heat finals, said Miss Ashton.
Aminata Sow the second runner up of the night said taking part in the Miss All African colours competition has been one of the best decisions I have made. Being part of this historical competition is a great honour that comes with growth. It’s also a great honour to be one of the top 3. Thank you for All African Colours management for their unwavering support and kindness. Aminata decided to partner with The Bolton Destitution Project, who provide a safe place for refugees and asylum seekers. She arranged collections for food banks and raised awareness sorting these difficult times calling her project “Beyond Trace, Beyond Borders” as she believes every human should have compassion for others.
The Miss All African Colours final featured Stacey Sobers, NWAC Calypso Queen 2018 from Trinidad & Tobago; DJ Deoba Authentic; MC Mark Comedian. Hosts on the night were the duo of Radio Presenter Martin Jay and Giulia Olayemi, Brand Ambassador, Miss All African Colours, and will soon be available to watch again on the Miss England App.
Rehema is now featured on the Miss England app in the finalists section where her entry videos can be seen.
For more info, visit All African Colours, Miss England and The Video News Factory.
