Wendy Fitzwilliam

I was scanning a collection from Trinidad & Tobago tonight, and this set came up, one which I have wondered about for a while now. I have only seen the set a few times since it came out in 1998, but I always wondered if there was a story here. It is Scott #593-596, showing Wendy Fitzwilliam, Miss Universe from 1998.

One can argue these days that beauty pageants are just exploitative.  But sometimes, careers are made and the women go on to have great success.  Judging from wikipedia, it looks like Wendy has done well.  She was "honored by the United Nations and bestowed the title of UNAIDS and UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador for her work in HIV/AIDS education and awareness," and went on to champion AIDS awareness in the Caribbean.  She was Red Cross Ambassador of Youth for the Caribbean, regularly hosts and judges other competitions to give more women visibility in the world, and has had many other honors.

She has become a lawyer, entrepreneur and jazz singer.  In our modern age, we have the resources to find videos for almost every event, and let people speak for themselves.  Here is an interview from 2021 reminiscing about an appearance from 1999.  Interestingly, she calls herself a Trinbagonian (so I learned a new word today), and speaks about national identity.

I find it so much more refreshing when stamps portray people we can identify with.  When so many stamps show only royalty and presidents and army generals, it's nice to meet some "real people" this way.

Here is one called "How to be unapologetically yourself."  That's a message we could all use in this crazy world.  So as I finishing describing all the stamps scanned in this collection, I will have her voice telling stories in the background. 

I love this quote: "I always wanted to be a fashionable attorney."  Plenty more can be found on her YouTube channel, including A TedX talk at the University of the West Indies on achieving your goals.

And since I was supposed to be doing some creative writing this weekend, I see the irony that she has written at least one book: see her Amazon page.

Be yourself.  

It's so easy to be overwhelmed by the thousands of little bits in our collections -- sometimes we need to slow down and find the stories behind them.

"When life throws you a lemon, do you gripe or do you whip up a margarita?"