27-year-old Kayshell Jennings, a final year medical student at the Georgetown American University, is inspiring young people through her ‘There is no box’ initiative.
She is the reigning Miss Emancipation Queen 2022 and hails from the Mining town of Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice).
Jennings participated in the Miss Emancipation Pageant, and her platform focused on creating legacies for small businesses through marketing and proper business documentation.
In August 2022 she was crowned the 2022 Miss Emancipation Queen.
Prior to COVID-19, she studied in Beijing, China, at the Peking University Health Science Center. Due to her public speaking and debating skills, she wanted to pursue a career in law, however, she’s now passionate about medicine.
Her skills, although innate, were developed by her participation in several leadership programs – The York University Emerging Global Leaders Program and the US Embassy Youth Ambassador Program 2013-2014.
Jennings is an adventurous person and embodies a principle she coined, called ‘There is no box’. As she believes that there are no limits to what she can achieve as an individual with all the skills and talents God has blessed her with.
In her family, she is the eldest granddaughter and that comes with the responsibility of being a role model to her siblings as well as her younger relatives.
“Although quite the shy introvert when I was younger, I have metamorphosed into a beautiful social butterfly. In my younger years I enjoyed volunteering, and I had the opportunity to travel to Kenya, West Africa in 2016 to volunteer on a mission trip – that was quite an out of the box experience for me as it provided an opportunity to do two of the many things that I love – travelling to new places and helping others,” said Jennings.
She usually takes up leadership roles, even ones she didn’t think she was capable of. She added, “I served as class prefect as well as the Vice president for the Peking University African Students association in Beijing China.”
Recently, she has been influencing youth through social media, as she aims to encourage and motivate others while being her authentic self.
She noted, “I hope that this inspires others to not be limited by our circumstances. Let go of the limits!”
She stays inspired by surrounding herself with family and friends that provide not only good advice but great spiritual, and financial support.
Further, she added, I am also quite the dreamer, as my mother would say. But I will continue to dream, no matter how crazy they might seem, because I have seen lots of these dreams come true for this Linden girl.”
When asked for advice, Kayshell stressed, “There is no box, no limit to what you can achieve as an individual.”
The general public is also invited to attend Kayshell Jennings’ hand over her crown to the new Miss Emancipation Queen on August 5, 2023, at The National Cultural Centre.
