The 8th edition of Miss Grand International, i.e., Miss Grand International 2020 will be held on the 27th March 2021 at Show DC Hall, Bangkok, Thailand. Miss Grand International 2019 Valentina Figuera of Venezuela will crown her successor at the end of the event finale.
Miss Grand United States of America 2020 Abena Appiah is in quarantine at Golden Tulip Sovereign Hotel, Bangkok along with rest of the divas and was recently announced as one of the winners for the Thai food tasting challenge. She loves to be on-stage as she feels that she is confident and empowered when she is on-stage. She describes herself as an entertainer who loves to be entertained as well. Recently, she took to her social media to share a hard-hitting message related to the beauty standards and bullying and shared a video with her own composed song, “No More Hate”.
The video starts with Abena flaunting her natural hair and a comment, “Your hair is too big and ugly. You’d look better if you tie it up.” Then she changes and ties her hair into a bun and the next comment comes, “OMG!! You have a humongous forehead. Cover it.” Abena covers a side of her forehead with her hair while keeping rest of the hair in a bun and the next comment that comes is, “What is that on your face?? Straight short hair is much better.” One can see Abena breaking but she changed her hair to a short straight hair look and then next comment she receives is, “What is the world is that? Your face is too long, you need long Straight hair and you will fit in just fine.”
At this point, it is very well understood that satisfying everyone with a look is not easy. Abena accepts the comment and change her hair into long straight hair and the comment comes, “OMG! You look perfect but there is still something missing.” The next thing the beauty queen points out is when some people ask an individual (here beauty queens) to get a specific part of their body to get fixed and they’ll fit in. There were marks on her body with a comment, “Fix these marked parts and you will finally look beautiful.” The video beauty queen posted was questioning the set standard notions of beauty in society and why is there a need to look a certain way to fit in. The video also questions the people who comment such things and make the beauty queens or anyone as a matter of fact question their own selves.
Lastly, she added, “Never change who you are for anybody. What’s important is that you love just the way you are. We are all made perfectly. It’s about time we put a stop to bullying.” Abena’s song, “No more hate” blends in perfectly with the message she was trying to give with her video. Abena’s attempt to question the beauty standards along with putting an end to the bullying one must face because of the validation is hard hitting and the beauty queen has been appreciated for her attempt. She has been signing, acting, writing, and performing her own music since a long time now. She has released five singles and is working on her first album to be released in 2015. Abena is strong, confident, and dedicated woman who aspires to win the title for her country and believes, "Strive hard to achieve your goals no matter the circumstances.” The diva who also belongs to Ghana wants to work and use her platform to raise awareness about opportunities for the young girls in her country and believes that she has the skills and abilities to do so.