Hello world!!!
I hope you and yours are doing well. I'm doing fantastic, and loving my time in Sierra Leone. On Friday, August 2nd, I was featured as a guest on Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) Kono's 90.2 FM and Eastern Radio Kono's 96.5 FM. As some of you may know from my previous blog posts, I am currently in Kono, Sierra Leone doing an internship with Koidu Limited (Part of Octea Mining); due to the fact that I am primarily here for this work experience, I have very little time to do extracurricular activities, but I am trying my best to perform some of my duties as Miss Sierra Leone USA. If you follow me on
facebook, you are aware that I've been documenting my life in Kono through pictures and sharing interesting facts and things about this wonderful district and the town of Koidu. View the many photos of my time so far on my
facebook page.
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| Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson |
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| Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson at Koidu Community Field during the training session for Diamond Stars Football Club of Kono |
On Friday morning, I was featured on SLBC Kono 90.2 FM's
Good Morning Kono, which comes on at 7am-8am. After my usual workout in Koidu Ltd's gym facility till 6am, I was very energetic and ready to head to the SLBC studio. This was the first radio interview I've ever done; performing on a live broadcast is nothing new to me anymore since my debut 3 months ago on SLBC TV during my Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013 Official Homecoming. I was very excited and eager to formally introduce myself to the people of Kono. This news program is hosted by the intelligent and beautiful, Ms. Mariama Suma, who co-hosted with other news presenters during the broadcast. The program is usually done in english, but I requested from Ms. Suma and the show's producer that I do my interview in Krio. I wanted to do so because I felt that I could reach to greater masses if I spoke in a Salone language and give respect to our elders and other members of society that may not understand and/or speak english. A link to an excerpt from my interview is provided below.
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| Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson featured on Good Morning Kono on SLBC Kono 90.2 FM |
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| Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson featured on Good Morning Kono on SLBC Kono 90.2FM |
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| Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson featured on Good Morning Kono on SLBC Kono 90.2FM |
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| Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson |
Topics discussed involved: my experience so far as Miss Sierra Leone USA; time and place the MSLUSA Pageant was held; my duties as an intern at Koidu Limited and working in the Mining department; my thoughts and experiences so far in the town of Koidu and the people of Kono; my decision to study Mining and Minerals Engineering and my coursework at Virginia Tech; my intentions for Sierra Leone in the near future as a working Mining Engineer; my reason of participating in the Miss Sierra Leone USA 2012 Pageant; my personal platforms which are
Advocating for SHERO and Advocating for the
recruitment and retention of girls and women in STEM fields; my worst experience so far during my time of service as Miss SLUSA; my advice for girls that aspire to be models or get into pageantry in Sierra Leone; breaking stereotypes about pageantry and roles of women in society; and many more. Special thanks to the SLBC Kono 90.2 FM crew and production team. They were such wonderful hosts! Hope to see you all in the near future, especially Ms. Suma. I'm also thankful to the amazing people I get to work with at Koidu Ltd., who tuned in to listen to the show while on their way to work that morning. They gave me so much positive feedback and thought I was a great representative for the company!
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| Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson |
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| Ms. Mariama Suma (Host of Good Morning Kono) and Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson |
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Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson with Hosts and Production Members of SLBC Kono 90.2 FM
Left-Right:Mr. Abu B. Sillah, Mr. Francis Gbendeque, Miss Sierra Leone USA 2012-2014, Mr. Abass Foday Kallon (Producer), Mr. Sylvester Aruna, and Ms. Stanley Jimmy. |
Later in the evening after getting off work at 5pm, I had some errands to do in town, and then headed to Eastern Radio Kono's 96.5 FM's studio for my interview on
The Bundle at 6pm. For the entirety of this 1-hour program, I was the featured guest and was asked a range of questions. On this show, I talked about: my internship at Koidu Limited and responsibilities as an intern; my vision for girls and women in Kono ad Sierra Leone as a whole; the history of the Miss Sierra Leone in DC organization (MSLDC Inc.) and its vision for its contestants and titleholders; requirements of Miss SLUSA contestants and the final night presentation, my adventures so far as Miss SLUSA so far; my purpose of founding
When You Believe Foundation, Inc. and its programs so far; my advocacy for autism research and raising awareness; and many more!
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| Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson featured on Eastern Radio Kono 96.5FM's The Bundle |
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| Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson featured on Eastern Radio Kono 96.5FM's The Bundle |
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| Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson featured on Eastern Radio Kono 96.5FM's The Bundle |
Besides getting to speak lengthily about various topics with Mr. Mbayoh, I received text messages and calls from the community during the broadcast. I love that the show creates an opportunity for their guests and listeners to interact with each other during the live shows. It was such a humbling and gratifying feeling to receive a multitude of warm and welcoming messages via text messages and phone calls. There were a couple of questions involving criticism about mining practices and company conflicts regarding Octea Mining and the mining industry in Sierra Leone, however, I thought I handled those hot-button questions accordingly. Rather than reacting negatively, it made me realize that being in a public position makes me an individual of praise, but also an individual vulnerable to criticism. While preparing for the Miss SLUSA 2012 Pageant I focused a lot on the Question-and-Answer segment and practiced with my family and friends, and one thing I learned to do was to always listen to and understand the question, do not hastily give a response, and give the accurate response to the question and nothing less. Now that I've won the title/crown/sash, I continue to practice this segment in my daily life while representing the MSLDC Inc. organization and myself in moments such as this interview.
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| Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson featured on Eastern Radio Kono 96.5FM's The Bundle |
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| Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson featured on Eastern Radio 96.5FM's The Bundle |
One of the highlights of my time of service as Miss Sierra Leone USA is getting feedback from the people I represent and serve, and the moments I received these awesome comments fits exactly into that highlight. Hearing statements such as: "you're an inspiration to our girls;" "we're proud of you;" "keep it up;" "you're a patriotic Sierra Leonean;" "thank you for not forgetting your home and coming back;" "we need more girls and women doing what you do;" "continue to proudly wave the green, white, and blue flag;" and many more made me very proud to be a Sierra Leonean woman and to have the blessings of wearing the Miss Sierra Leone USA 2012-2014 sash in that studio. I am grateful for the people of Kono to have taken their time to not only tune in to the show, listen to what I had to say, but also share their opinion in form of text messages and phone calls. Very grateful.
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| Mr. Samuel Mbayoh (Host of The Bundle) and Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson |
Watch my interview on Good Morning Kono on my
youtube channel.
Fambul den, this is Salone!!!
Ruby B. Johnson,
Your Miss Sierra Leone USA.
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