Twenty-one-year-old UTech student Kalea Roman was on Saturday crowned Miss Jamaica World East 2025 at a ceremony inside the Alfred Sangster Auditorium at her school in Papine, beating out 15 other contestants.

During her interview with Our Today, Kalea was quick to thank her supportive family, especially her parents. 

“I’m so happy for my support from my family, and for the opportunity from winning this competition. My boyfriend, my best friend, my friends, and my sponsor, Rituals Coffee House. My mom is a huge supporter in this process. She helps with every training, she helps to drop me off to school, she puts up a lot of herself to help me, and I’m so grateful for that. And I am also so grateful for my father and his support,” Roman said.

“There were also persons who couldn’t be able to be here, but through phone calls they were helping me through the process. Some persons helped me with my public speaking and so that really helped me to shine today,” she said.

Roman said normally she would have been anxious in situations when she was on stage waiting to hear who the winner is, but in this specific instance, she was surprisingly calm.

She said the extensive three-month preparation for the day was not an easy feat, given that she had to be a part of sessions for public speaking and much more, but she is happy she managed to pull through well.

For the national competition, Miss Jamaica World, she said it will include even harder work and dedication. Should she win, she said she will do a project focused on ending violence against women and girls.

“I’m advocating to end violence against women. That is a prevalent issue in Jamaica. And so, I’m encouraging more women to join self-defence classes so that they can be more safeguarded in their space if they should feel vulnerable in situations,” she said.

Roman is currently studying production and operations management with a minor in marketing at UTech, but she really aspires to be a professional singer and songwriter. As an aspiring singer, it was only fitting that her talent piece was that of a song, and for that, she performed the 1964 Broadway song Don’t Rain On My Parade by Barbra Streisand.

She said she chose the area of study she is now in her final year of pursuing because she likes the skills it will give her.

That support followed the university student even up until the last few moments before the big announcement, in the form of thoughtful text messages from her mother, Simone Ormsby. 

“I spoke with her right before the competition started, and we’ve been talking right through the process. I was just trying to encourage her by telling her she was doing well and that I’m so proud of her,” Ormsby explained.

For her father, Terry Roman, there was no doubt that Kalea would take home the crown. “I had no doubts that she would win. Kalea full a confidence from day one! This is what she’s always wanted to do; from she was a young girl coming up she always talk about Miss Jamaica. So, she dreamed about it, and now she is living it,” the excited Roman said.

Kalea advances to the nationals of the Miss Jamaica World, which will be held on November 2. The newly minted regional queen says she is looking forward to showcasing all she’s learnt. “It’s gonna be lots of hard work in that one-month period, and a lot of dedication. But I am really looking forward to going all out,” Roman said.