Miss Emma Awunyo, a final year student of the School of Performing Arts (University of Ghana), who made a huge impact on the 2011 Miss Malaika beauty pageant by winning Miss Catwalk, Miss Talent and making the Top 5 finalist cut, is about to make an even bigger impact on society by launching an environmental protections project.

Although, she couldn’t win the Miss Malaika contest, the young student and model is using the exposure from the show to take on a project that’s dear to her heart. Emma with her management is set to launch the much endorsed Save The Environment Project (STEP) in the first quarter of this year.

She comments: “I feel like a winner within and without. One does not actually have to wait until you wear the crown to be a winner. Emerging as the winner of an esteemed contest such as Miss Malaika is not all about the glamour, fame, being in the spotlight all the time or the prizes you win, to me it is actually about making a difference”.

She continues: “Many people actually win but where are they? They only wait until they have to pass on the crown to someone else. They do not actually use those platforms to help or make a difference. I joined those pageants not for self glorification but for the chance to make a difference and I believe I am already treading the path to doing that.”

Save The Environment Project (STEP) amongst other things seeks to complement the efforts of government and non-governmental agencies in the fight against environmental degradation; maximize key stakeholder and general public awareness on environmental issues; and encourage positive attitudes towards the environment amongst the general public.

The modest Emma says she is aware of the huge task ahead of STEP but she believes that although she may be a small individual to make such an impact on her own, she would call on the experience of great mentors, patrons and her management team.

Emma, who remains thankful to organizers of Miss Malaika and her fans from the show, is confident that the Save The Environment Project (STEP) would be an effective effort that would achieve its objectives, and asked the general public to be supportive of the initiative and the concept of environmental protection generally.

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