Miss South Florida Juneteenth Marie Guychar Nicaisse embodies the spirit of resilience
MIAMI - More than just a celebration to mark the emancipation of enslaved Black people, Juneteenth is also a commemoration of resilience against all odds.
This year no one embodies that more than this year's Miss South Florida Juneteenth, 16-year-old Marie Guychar Nicaisse, who gets excited talking about the day she won earlier this year.
"I did a poem as my talent because there was a talent," she said.
Nicaisse said she felt beautiful that day and felt the support of her family, friends, and the community.
"It meant a lot to me. It felt like I was important in the world. I was just getting love, a lot of love," she said.
Nicaisse, a junior at the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial High School in Miami, was born in Haiti. At three years old, while her mother was at work, her world changed forever.
"The roof of the house kind of fell on me and they had to, my cousin had to drag me out," she said.
She survived the devastating earthquake in 2010 but was left without the use of her legs. Her mother carried her around for two years before they moved to the United States and got a wheelchair.
Nicaisse said she owes it all to her mom.
"Having to come to this country and fight just to bring me up and show me that, you know, you are in a wheelchair but that doesn't matter," she said.
That drive pushed her to compete and that was part of the reason the pageant director said she is the perfect person to wear the crown.
"I was getting ready to do it and she said 'Can I be in it?' And I said yes, you can be in it. You're beautiful. You have a beautiful spirit," said pageant director Constance Robinson.
A beautiful spirit and the passion to represent different minority communities and teach young women just like her that anything is possible.
"This is what I should be doing. I should have out doing this a long time ago," she said.
Nicaisse said she wants to spend the next year teaching her peers about the meaning of Juneteenth and also advocating
for more ramps for those in wheelchairs. She said one day she hopes to be a lawyer.