Miss Mayo hails ‘unreal’ support ahead of Miss Ireland

THE Castlebar woman representing Mayo in Miss Ireland has hailed the ‘unreal’ support she has received since becoming Miss Mayo.

Speaking to The Mayo News ahead of Saturday’s Miss Ireland competition, Cynthia Sakala said that she’s ‘having an absolute ball’ flying the flag for Mayo in the prestigious competition.

“I’ve gotten cards, I’ve gotten messages, just everything. The support here - I keep saying to people and it’s the truth - everyone’s just been so nice, so supportive, people are saying prayers for me, people are lighting candles, it’s so nice,” said Cynthia.

As part of this year’s competition, each Miss Ireland contestant must campaign and fundraise for the Julian Benson CF Foundation - a charity which provides services and advocates for people living with Cystic Fibrosis.

For Cynthia, this culminated in a coffee morning in An Sportlann which raised over €500 for the charity.

In recent weeks, Cynthia also visited her alma mater, St Joseph’s Secondary School Castlebar, where she spoke to students about being Miss Mayo.

“The whole experience has just actually been crazy - in a good way,” said Cynthia – who is studying to be a home economics teacher in St Angela’s College in Sligo.

“I’m having an absolute ball. The support at home, even just when I’m in work people are like ‘Oh my God it’s you!’ and I’m like ‘Yes it’s me’. ‘You’re Miss Mayo!’ ‘Yeah’ but the support is unreal. I still can’t get over it, everyone has honestly been so nice.”

The 20-year-old was born and reared in Castlebar after her mother moved to the county town from Zambia.

Cynthia has spoken proudly of her African heritage in the past and has cited 2021 Miss Ireland Pamela Uba – who hails from Ballyhaunis – as an inspiration for entering the contest.

“When you put yourself out doing these things, especially me - I’m obviously a black Irish woman - l was kind of like ‘there might be negativities’. But nobody has said anything negative to me, not to my face. Which is nice how people are really supportive.”

Voting at Saturday’s Miss Ireland, which takes place in the Crown Plaza Hotel in Dublin, will be determined both by judging and public vote.

She is up against 20 other women, but Cynthia cannot speak highly enough of her fellow contestants.

“I’m just going to go out on Saturday and whatever happen, happens and enjoy it, because I’ve made friends for life. I’ve met the nicest women ever, they are my sisters,” she said.

“They are my pageant sisters, they really are. I’m just going to have a ball on Saturday and if I win it, I win it. The main thing is I just want to do Mayo proud.”

Whether or not she wins on Saturday, Cynthia hopes to do more charity work and continue to inspire other people in future.

“If I can stand on that stage in front of hundreds of people you can do anything yourself. There’s no limits to what you can do and what you can achieve,” she said.

“I think what holds people back from putting themselves out from stuff like this, and every day stuff, I think you are your biggest judge. People, especially in this country, we’re always doubting ourselves. We’re always putting ourselves down and I would use my platform to encourage and inspire people that they can do anything they want and the sky is your limit.”

Cynthia had thanked all the business who sponsored raffle prizes for her coffee morning in aid of the Julian Bensons CF Foundation. 

You can vote for Cynthia to win Miss Ireland by downloading the Miss Ireland app on the App Store or Google Playstore.

App users can vote once a day up until the day of the competition on November 4.