Success stories abound of persons, who had wanted something all their lives, committed themselves to working for its achievement and deeply relished the moment of accomplishment or victory.

There are stories too however of people who undertook something on a whim, with a natural untaught instinct towards it and achieved instant success and even fame.

Vivian Burkhardt seems to have been born to grace a stage and to warm people’s hearts with her charm and gentility.

When the Barnacle Newspaper first contacted Miss Burkhardt for an interview she was down with a cold but gave the assurance that as soon as she was better she would make herself available, and she most certainly did.

This writer was admittedly a bit uncertain as to what to expect. After all the exceptional beauty and natural grace and talent of the Miss Grenada were well known and someone with all these attributes was bound to have a flaw, no? An attitude maybe, a bit of nose-in-the-air arrogance most likely.

When we met at the agreed upon venue for the interview, the warmth and sincerity of Miss Burkhardt’s personality preceded her physical presence by yards and yours truly was immediately set at ease.

It was instantly obvious why Vivian was ably to capture the Miss Grenada title and represent Grenada so credibly at the Miss World Pageant in China.

She is strikingly beautiful, she is unpretentious keenly intelligent and articulate, and relates to others with a natural and sincere ease that humbles even the person she is conversing with.

In fact if I were harboring any pretentious attitudes of my own for whatever reason I would have been forced by that encounter to readjust my attitude and seek humility.

Asked what she cherishes most about the trip to China, Vivian did not say the crowds or the attention or the spotlight or even the trip to a distant part of the world but the human relationships formed, the life’s lessons learned, the joy of meeting people of different cultures and lifestyles.

These experiences she said will stay with her for the rest of her life.

Add to that the lady’s uncontrollable excitement when she learned that Grenadians who were following the Miss World Pageant on television were cheering for her when she entered the stage in China.

To her participation in the pageant was worth nothing if she was not seen as making a contribution to her country.

Vivian said that her participation in the Miss Grenada Pageant in 2007 was her first such endeavor and that she had never even paid attention to beauty pageant on television until she decided to participate in the Miss Grenada.

Then she looked at the Miss USA Pageant and others to see what it was like and maybe learn something from them.

Vivian admits that it took some doing to convince her to sign up for the Miss Grenada pageant. She said certain relatives were constantly calling her and pushing her to sign up and she eventually did.

Even so, when she went to the very first meeting she confided in Mrs. Jennifer Hosten, (former Miss World), that she was planning to change her mind. Hosten was not even prepared to entertain the idea but these feelings of uncertainty continued up to the last day before the event but in the end she was glad she had not dropped out of the contest.

Vivian said it turned out to be a great experience; the other participants were all very nice and they had lots of fun together going on an island tour and doing lots of other fun things.

Reality didn’t hit the young beauty queen until the crown had been placed on her head at which point she said with a laugh she asked herself, “what did you get yourself into?”
“Hey this is reality check. I am going to China and I have to compete against 105 ladies from different countries and I have no idea what to expect”.

Even then the virus of uncertainty continued to work and Vivian considered giving up the whole idea and just going back to school but she gave in to the encouragement of those around her and her commitment to those who had supported and encouraged her all along.

The lady now has absolutely no regrets that she decided to face the challenge head-on.
Having survived and won her very first pageant, the Miss Grenada, she was more relaxed for Miss World although it was a much bigger event.

Vivian worked very hard preparing for the Miss World Pageant including making a trip to Canada to train. She said she reached a point where she was convinced she had given everything she had and could do no more.

To the young beauty just being in the pageant was a great accomplishment. Getting to meet so many different people, cultures and learning the valuable lessons of being in such an event.

“At the end of the day it all about people and love, I have become a much more well-rounded person, my self confidence has increased and I have gained so much.”
   
Vivian said there are no words to describe the feeling of representing one’s country at that level. She feels so honored to have been the person to represent the Grenadian people and Grenada.

It was so overwhelming that in the interview when participants were instructed not to speak about their country but about themselves she couldn’t help inserting one sentence about Grenada.

Young Vivian admits that she couldn’t have done this on her own and is full of thanks and appreciation for every one of the persons who helped her along and made her trip and participation in the pageant a success.

Will we be hearing more of Vivian Burkhardt in the future? Very likely. She has set her sights on the Miss Universe which she said she may not tackle this year but likely next year.

With her looks and poise it is obvious she would harbor thoughts of going to the United States and become a model but while that is an attractive prospect, Vivian has decided that school is more important at this point in her life.

She said although a modeling career will be very rewarding financially and “will be cool for Grenada too”, the ambitious young lady will return to her pre-med studies (she is in her third year and intends to at least complete her Bachelors before she thinks about any serious modeling).

Vivian’s intention is to become a medical doctor (as her father).

However she will not stay completely inactive on the modeling scene as she will continue to do some work regionally.

The requests are already pouring in. Our beauty queen will appear in an event in Trinidad soon, as well as the Caribbean Fashion Week in Jamaica and on the Grenada Board of Tourism brochure, which is being prepared.

With Vivian’s physical and intellectual gifts, along with her focus and ambition, let’s keep our eyes on the covers of magazines like Vogue and Cover Girl. We can bet a year’s wage she will appear there before too long.