A file photo of Bianca Onoh ( as she then was), who celebrates today, the anniversary of her first ever beauty contest victory , MISS MARTINI which she won decades ago while in her late teens as a college student in England. Encouraged by her pals, She had entered this contest , not quite optimistic of success and was on her way out of the venue…almost at the door…when she was announced the winner.
The star prize was a year’s modeling contract in Japan, a modest cash prize and the chance to appear in a glitzy television commercial for the Martini Rossi Brand, a dream she had nursed through her teenage years. Finally it had come true.
However, Being a student , with her final exams just a few months away, she had to make the tough decision to forgo the Modeling contract in Tokyo, Japan and by extension, the television Ad as both were linked. She ended up with a token cash prize, deeply saddened by the thought that she had possibly missed the opportunity of a lifetime.
Several years later, in 1988, she was presented with another opportunity to take part in another pageant, the MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN NIGERIA Pageant. (MBGN), which she won. From then on, she went on to win Miss Africa ( In Banjul), Miss Drushbah (Russia ), and became the first African to win the Miss Intercontinental Beauty Pageant, as well as Nigeria’s Queen for Miss Universe and Miss World pageants. These wins also earned her several endorsements and numerous print and television ads for beauty and lifestyle brands.
The rest is history.
Bianca Onoh who graduated as a Lawyer later married the late Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and they had three children . She went on to become a businesswoman,Presidential Advisor, Ambassador to Ghana and later to Spain amongst other National and State assignments.
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