Sadé Greenwood takes her first walk as Siyatha Miss World Sri Lanka 2021

The freshly crowned Miss World Sri Lanka 2021, Sadé Greenwood will represent Sri Lanka at the 70th edition of the Miss World pageant to be held in at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico this December. The COVID-19 pandemic restricted gatherings and as a result, pageant organisers were left with the option of head-hunting a potential beauty to represent Sri Lanka sans the regular selection process. However, ModelShop and the rest of the Siyatha Miss World Sri Lanka team is impressed by her talents and potential and is confident that wwwGreenwood would make Sri Lanka proud.

Livewires behind 
the pageant 

Sangeetha Weeraratne, one of the directors of ModelShop said that this time due to COVID restrictions they had to head hunt a beauty to represent Sri Lanka at the main pageant. “Miss World is something we know since 2012 and as Model Shop we had the freedom given to us by franchise owners to select a potential candidate. With COVID restrictions we couldn’t organise a pageant but at the same time we didn’t want to bring down the standards. Hence the best thing was to head hunt. I first saw Sadé in a hoarding but she had already sent in an application for auditions. We put a post out at the beginning of the year calling for applications but we decided to select her. So we went through the application and auditioned her for everything and realised that she was a very good candidate to represent Sri Lanka. She is well versed about Sri Lanka and international relations and is proud of her country. She filled all criteria perfectly and thereafter we informed Ceylon Tours, the franchise organisation.”
Having contributed his expertise in communication skills and etiquette training at successive Miss World Sri Lanka pageants, Kumar De Silva is confident about the newly crowned beauty queen. “Sadé has a lot of potential and good material. She’s intelligent, extremely persevering and sharp. I’m very happy to work with her and she has a very good chance at the world stage. She’s reading for a degree in international relations and she knows what she’s talking about. The team is quite confident about her chances of winning.”

Veteran choreographer and fashion designer Senaka De Silva has been part of the team over the past few years, fine tuning every step and every move the finalists take when they walk the ramp. “It was much easier than other years where we take 15 finalists and train all of them. This year because of the pandemic and health restrictions we decided to nominate one girl and train her. But even with one girl it was not easy as she hadn’t been professionally trained before. We had around two weeks but she made it on stage and there’s another one and a half weeks of training to ensure more finesse.”

The Channa Upuli Dance Foundation has been in the forefront in projecting Sri Lankan culture on the global stage. Over the years, veteran dance choreographer Channa Wijewardena along with his daughter Aseka Wijewardena has been part of the Miss World Sri Lanka team bringing in their expertise in the field of traditional dancing. In his comments, Channa Wijewardena said that Sri Lanka has a rich culture and when we go overseas we have something to offer them. “She has rhythm and performing abilities and it was easy to train her to do the dance steps.” 

Apart from them, veteran photographer Athula Mahawalage has been extending his expertise and support as the official photography partner over the past few years, while Ramani Fernando Salons and Dhananjaya Bandara have been the hair and beauty partners respectively.

Senaka De Silva

 “ It was much easier than other years where we take 15 finalists and train all of them. This year because of the pandemic and health restrictions we decided to nominate one girl and train.”

Sangeetha Weeraratne

“ Miss World is something we know since 2012 and as Model Shop we had the freedom given to us by franchise owners to select a potential candidate. With COVID restrictions we couldn’t organize a pageant but at the same time we didn’t want to bring down the standards.”

Channa Wijewardena

“ She has rhythm and performing abilities and it was easy to train her to do the dance steps.”

 Believe in yourself and you can do wonders ”
- Greenwood- 

A product of Asian International School, Sadé Greenwood has a passion for singing, reading and poetry. She also has a passion for environmental conservation and she believes this crowning is an opportunity to carry this message forward. Speaking to the Daily Mirror Life the newly crowned beauty queen shared her experiences and what she plans to do at the upcoming pageant. 

Q What is your ‘Beauty with a Purpose’ project?

Pix by Pradeep Dilrukshana