Pamela Uba becomes the first black woman to win Miss Ireland title. The 26-year-old was crowned on Sunday night in an outdoor ceremony held in Cavan and changed the history of the award, spanning more than half a century.
“It means so much to me, I am so grateful I can show girls that colour is not something that holds you back and it doesn’t matter where you come from, the world is your oyster.” Uba said after the win.
Uba is a medical scientist and currently awaiting her results of her post-graduation in clinical chemistry from Trinity College Dublin.
She came to Ireland when she was seven years old under the direct provision asylum seeker scheme with her family. It was a whole new experience to live somewhere, where you can’t hear the terrifying noises of gunshots, Uba remembers. She was involved in football during school days and later she completed her graduation in medical science in Galway. She also holds Irish citizenship now.
Uba was a frontline healthcare worker in Galway University Hospital during the peak of pandemic where she analyzed the inflammatory process in patients who contracted Covid-19. And the work was the hardest after the cyber attack on HSE as everything was on paper, she says.
Uba had been crowned Miss Galway before the start of the first lockdown in Ireland. Even after showing good talent and hard work, Uba says she had faced a lot of racism in Ireland. She was brutally trolled after Miss Galway title winning and even said to go back to her country.
But today, she becomes the alluring beauty of Ireland by diminishing all of those abuses and trolls. She will be representing Ireland at the 70th Miss World festival to be held in Puerto Rico in December.