Dee-Ann Kentish Rogers represented Great Britain at Miss Universe 2018 on 17th December 2018 at IMPACT Arena, Muang Thong Thani in Nonthaburi Province, northern suburb of Bangkok, Thailand. She is the first black woman who represented Great Britain at a Miss Universe pageant. She was placed at the Top 20 at the end of the event finale.
Dee is 27-years-old and is a graduate of Law from the University of Birmingham, as well as being a beauty queen and a barrister, Kentish-Rogers is also an accomplished athlete, having competed in the 2014 Commonwealth Games. She was a heptathlete and ran in the 400 meters in India in 2010 and competed in the heptathlon in Scotland in 2014. She was a pentathlon bronze medalist at the 2012 CARIFTA Games in Hamilton, Bermuda.
On 29th June 2020, Dee defeated the incumbent Premier Victor Banks for the Valley South seat and was elected to the Anguilla House of Assembly. Rogers is a member of Anguilla Progressive Movement, which won a majority in the House of Assembly.
Dee stated, “My focus is to find alternatives to rehabilitate and reintegrate young offenders. As a government we want to prohibit certain conduct without unnecessarily criminalizing young first-time offenders. The Anguilla Progressive Movement wants to introduce Alternative Dispute Resolution to the Criminal Justice System.”
The Anguilla Progressive Movement, led by medical doctor Ellis Webster, is an amalgamation of the former ruling Anguilla United Movement of former chief minister Hubert Hughes, and a coalition of young activists such as Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers. During her campaigning, Dee addressed skeptics who suggested that she might be too young, by alluding to people like American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, former Grenadian leader Maurice Bishop and the students of Soweto who rose up against apartheid, declaring: “The greatest revolutions; the greatest political movements have been inspired by young people. At this moment; in this place; in this environment; this generation of Anguillan youth shall resurrect the dreams of our forefathers. They say that to whom much is given, much is expected. I embrace those expectations – and I have returned early – to give back. We shall salute the past on our way to a better future.”
During her stint at Miss Universe 2018, her National Costume was inspired by the suffragettes in the UK who fought for the right to vote. She celebrated the 100th anniversary of women being granted the right to vote in the UK in 1918, and she proudly carried a ballot box and a sign that read: 'Let's Finish What They Started'
The beauty queen who has represented the Great Britain at Miss Universe 2018 stage has not only made the people of Anguilla proud but also everyone who knew her. She shows immense determination to change the society and she feels extremely blessed that she has been chosen to do that first hand. She stands by the statement, “We are too loud a voice to be silenced."
Congratulations!