Tomacina "Tomii" Culmer was destined to wear the Miss Universe Bahamas crown. She believes her destiny was already written and that it was just for her to carry it out and make the people that she loves proud. If you go with that theory, then it was already in the cards for this Grand Bahama native to wear the Miss Universe Bahamas crown and she simply had to make it happen. And she certainly did when she won.
Tomii, 22, as she likes to be called earned the right to represent The Bahamas on the Miss Universe stage after winning the title the second time she entered the pageant. She entered in 2011, but withdrew after the contestants were revealed. After going through the sessions and seeing how much work went into being a queen and the requirements, she realized a lot would be required of the winner and that she had to be willing to do them if she wanted to make a difference. At the time she realized that the pageant world was not for her. Three years later, a more mature Tomii said she had grown into herself and realized that she wanted to leave a legacy behind. She wanted people to be inspired by her years after she's gone, and that she wanted people to talk about her (in a good way of course).
"From 2011, I've really been digging deep and trying to add another layer," said the five-foot, 11-inch stunning beauty. "For me, entering the pageant again was more of 'I need confirmation to know that I'm on the right path to be a better-known ambassador'," said Tomii who also models. "I travel a lot and when I meet people I'm automatically an ambassador, but I wanted the support of everything that comes with Miss Universe Bahamas -- the national support of being the ambassador. I got it and now I'm ready to work with it."
As she was declared Miss Universe Bahamas, Tomii buried her face into the shoulder of Rokara Hepburn who went on to become the first runner-up. The only thing she could recall going through her mind at the time was that she told herself not to have an ugly cry. Tommi said if she had heard Rokara's name called as the winner, that she would have been okay with the result because as far as she was concerned it was all destiny.
"We told each other right before we got on [stage] that what's supposed to happen is going to happen," she recalled. "I tell people all the time that destiny has been written a very long time ago, it's now playing it out, so you don't really have to stress about anything because it makes no sense," she said. "Either way it went I was going to be happy because I'd built a relationship with Rokara, and I told her to not give up until they call her name and that even after that she can't give up because so many opportunities are going to come because she's tall and beautiful."
Sinking in
It's still less than a week since she was crowned, but Tomii says the realization that she is now her country's beauty ambassador sinks in a little more daily. She thinks it will really hit home for her when she starts her training for Miss Universe and when she gets on the plane to fly to the as yet to be determined host country.
"I took a selfie with my sash and told my brother (Alfred Anderson-Lewis, who is not blood related) that I almost feel like this doesn't belong to me, like someone's playing a joke on me." And of course her friends aren't letting up. These days her day gets started by them saying "Good morning your highness" which Tomii finds "lame," but laughs off. Her focus she says is on being an inspiration, especially to little girls.
"My personal mission statement in life is to inspire, nurture and encourage inner peace and self-worth because I feel that's the base of any successful being, the base of anyone who wants to be positive in life," said Tomii. She said she was someone who once did not have inner peace and didn't feel she was worthy of a lot of things.
In July she shaved her head and started on a journey of really loving herself to contradict society's dictates that you have to look a certain way to be considered beautiful and you feel pressured by it. She wants to help as many girls as she can to not feel that pressure. She currently mentors a Brownie troop at Freeport Primary School and encourages the girls to love themselves.
"Some of them don't focus because people tease them about their hair, or their size, the way they look ... their skin color. I showed them a series of my modeling photos -- from by shaved head to wearing an Afro puff, and a Brazilian Remy, and they were all like, 'Miss Tomii, I can't wait for my hair to look like that' -- the long, straight hair, and I had to sit down and talk to them. They are girls that are seven, eight years old, and they understand and you take it so lightly. When they're that young, that's when you instill the values that affects their character and the way they feel about themselves and the way they pay attention."
Tomii has talked to the Brownie members about ladies being seen and not heard, and she says when she now goes into the classroom she meets the little girls with crossed ankles. She also said there is less teasing and bullying among the girls because she told them that as sisters, they should not subject each other to demeaning behavior.
Her one-year reign is just starting out, but Tomii knows how she wants to be remembered -- and that is as someone who set a standard for other people to emulate or strive to better.
"I want to be that queen that gets the prestigious Miss Universe Bahamas title back to that place where everyone wants to be behind it and everyone wants to support not only the queen, but the [Mis Bahamas] Organization. People just see the final night and the preliminaries, but they don't see the amount of work that goes into sessions and etiquette classes and presenting yourself," she said. She would also like to see pageantry supported, not just for her, but, for every queen in the future.
She said in the future all women entering the pageant should go into it with an open mind and wanting to leave with more than just a crown.
Take away
"I went into the pageant wanting to be more than just Tomii the model, I wanted to be Tomii the role model, but a lot of people didn't know that. And someone sent me a Facebook message and said 'I'm inspired by you. I don't look at you any longer as just Tomii the model, I look at you as Tomii the role model' and I just sat back and said if I win, I win. But for somebody that did not know my goal to just blatantly say it straight out, I felt like I won a long time ago, and not the crown."
Tomii says she came out of the recent pageant more refined with a clearer sense of her purpose and the journey she must take.
While she has yet to find out what fabulous country she will step onto the world stage for Miss Universe, she knows that she will start physical training next week at MacFit 360 and with pageant coach Grace Fontecha in October.
And whatever the outcome on the world stage, Tomii said it's just the beginning of her legacy and that she intends to further her personal mission statement.
"Destiny has already been written, it's just now for me to carry it out and make everyone proud. I've already made my mom, Jackie Frazer extremely proud. I have brothers and sisters who are blood and I love my family, but there are people who have been brought into my life who are like brothers and sisters to me because we're so close. We're all going down a similar path so we inspire each other. I've been blessed to have such great friends and such great energy around me for the past few years and it just adds to my family."
While she's been in New Providence since her crowning, she has friends and family that are eager for her to return to Grand Bahama to wish her well, before she moves to the capital for her reign.
Tomii may be Miss Universe Bahamas, but she wants you to know that she's approachable. She loves food. She enjoys carpentry and joinery -- actually she loves to work with her hands because she loves to be creative. She describes herself as more of a practical learner. And of course she likes hanging with her Brownies. Tomii also sings and was in a band called B12 in Freeport.
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