Pamela Uba is a Nigerian-Irish scientist, model and beauty pageant titleholder. She grew up in

Ballyhaunis Ballyhaunis () is a town in County Mayo, Ireland. It is at the crossroads of the N60 and N83 National secondary roads and on the railway line linking Dublin to Westport and Ballina. Ballyhaunis is within both the Roman Catholic and civil pa ...

, County Mayo. As

Miss Ireland Miss World Ireland is a national Beauty pageant in Ireland. Winners of the competition represent Ireland at Miss World. Among the winners are Rosanna Davison, who went on to win Miss World 2003, and Pamela Uba, who in 2021 became the first ...

2021, she was selected to represent Ireland in the

Miss World 2022 Miss World 2021 was the 70th edition of the Miss World pageant, held at the Coca-Cola Music Hall in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on 16 March 2022. The coronation was originally scheduled to be held on 16 December 2021 at the José Miguel Agrelot Co ...

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition in which the contestants are judged and ranked based on various physical and mental attributes. Per its name, beauty pageants traditionally focus on judging the contestants' physical attractiveness, sometimes sol ...

. Uba is the first black woman to win the Miss Ireland competition and represent Ireland for the Miss World competition.

Background

Pamela Uba was born in 1995 in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

to Nigerian parents. She moved from

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

to Ireland with her family as an

asylum seeker An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country, and makes in that other country a formal application for the right of asylum according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 14. A per ...

when she was 8 years old. Uba spent 10 years in

direct provision Direct provision () is a system of asylum seeker accommodation used in the Republic of Ireland. It has been criticised by human rights organisations as illegal, inhuman and degrading. Operated by the International Protection Accommodation Servic ...

. She has since raised money for educational support for children in direct provision. Uba played

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

as a centre back. She is a

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...

fan, supporting her home county of Mayo. Singing is one of her passions and Uba has sung in numerous competitions including teen idol Dublin while recently recording two cover songs as part of her talent pieces for Miss World.

Career

Uba earned her undergraduate degree in medical science at

Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology The Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT; ) was an institute of technology, located in Galway, Ireland. In April 2022, it was formally dissolved, and its functions were transferred to Atlantic Technological University (ATU). Now a con ...

, before graduating with a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in clinical chemistry from

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

. She works as a medical scientist at

University Hospital Galway University Hospital Galway () is a major acute hospital in Galway, Ireland. It is managed by Saolta University Health Care Group. UHG and Merlin Park University Hospital (in the east of Galway city) comprise Galway University Hospitals. Histor ...

Modelling and pageant title

In 2019, Uba won the ''Ladies Day'' prize at the

Galway Races The Galway Races (Irish language, Irish: ''Rásaí na Gaillimhe'') is an Ireland, Irish horse-racing festival that starts on the last Monday of July every year. Held at Ballybrit Racecourse in Galway, Ireland over seven days, it is one of the ...

. In 2021, Uba won the ''

'' title. The 26 year old Miss Galway claimed the national title ahead of 29 other contestants at the Miss Ireland final, which took place in Cavan. She was crowned by three former titleholders. Uba is the first black woman to represent Ireland for the Miss World competition. After winning the Miss Ireland title Uba was "trollled and bullied online", but was also "overwhelmed with the support" of most people. Having herself grown up in direct provision, in October 2021 she became an ambassador for Dídean, "a social enterprise which provides alternative housing for residents in Direct Provision". Uba works as a part-time model (as well as working as a medical scientist at University Hospital Galway). Uba finished in the top 40 of the Miss World 2021 competition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uba, Pamela 1996 births 21st-century Irish women scientists Alumni of Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Beauty pageant contestants from Ireland Black Irish people Irish female models Irish people of Nigerian descent Living people Miss Ireland winners Miss World 2021 delegates People from Ballyhaunis Scientists from County Mayo South African emigrants to Ireland