Today, twenty-five teenagers gathered for a powerful encouragement session with Miss Universe Belize Isabella Zabaneh and special guest, Miss Universe Africa and Oceana 2025 Olivia Yace. The session was aimed at building confidence and self-acceptance in young girls. Jaleeza Roberts attended and filed this report:
This morning, a session in the Belize City Hall Caucus room brought together 25 1bright eyed, eager, and aspiring young women in a space designed to uplift them. The event, called The Confidence Room, was hosted by Miss Universe Belize Isabella Zabaneh and visiting Miss Universe Cote d'Ivoire Olivia Yace. Through open conversation and personal stories, the two pageant titleholders addressed the challenges many young girls face in a society that often erodes their sense of self worth. We spoke with Zabaneh who explained the event hosted under her non profit "Project Royalty:
Isabella Zabaneh, Miss Universe Belize
"So one of the things that I absolutely love about my nonprofit, Project Royalty, is that it looks at issues that every person experiences at some point in their life. And that was one of the things that me and Olivia connected on because loving the skin you're in can very often be hard. Everybody at some point experiences struggling with their identity and their security. And so that's what we want to tackle. That's what we want to face today. So I'm really excited for the young women to be able to experience this session. It's going to be absolutely wonderful and it's really special for me to be able to share this with Olivia. It's more than just us talking to a bunch of girls really and truly. This is what our heart and our mission and our purpose is and so it's really bringing that message of hope and inspiration to young women and inspiration is only inspiration until it's applied. So this session is going to be the application of everything we learned."
The two women connected at the Miss Universe pageant in 2025, with Yace being the fourth runner up - with many pageant supporters arguing that she deserved the top spot based on her responses. But with that pageant behind her, Yace gave the girls some inspiration by amplifying the importance of identity:
Olivia Yace, Miss Universe Cote d'Ivoire
"Well, I have a slogan called "Assume Your Identity" and it is about loving yourself, loving your skin, loving your background, who you are, and it's something that I think everybody faces at some point in their lives because people don't usually love who they are or they have, you know, insecurities. So, assuming your identity is about being able to accept who you are despite your background, despite what you've been going through in life and making sure you use that as your advantage and bring that light to other people."
This is a first of its kind for any Miss Universe Belize but Zabaneh says this is their purpose:
Isabella Zabaneh, Miss Universe Belize
"Well I think for me advocacy and passion for people has always been the most important part of pageantry and so through this initiative, like I said, this is one of the things we connected on because it is our passion for people, it is our purpose and I think to the combination of our organizations My nonprofit, Her Foundation, it's definitely been something that we're able to do a lot of through the work that we do with a big impact in each place."
For the young participants, the session offered not just inspiration, but practical lessons on navigating criticism and building confidence.
Abishai Staine, Participant
"Right now I feel a bit better because I've always struggled because people always tell me things and I've received different kinds of comments since I was smaller but now I feel a bit more confident and a bit more open minded and I know now know a little bit more on how to deal with certain situations and it made me feel a little but better about myself."
"One lesson that I can apply to my life is now that I've heard this, I know that I don't have to listen to the opinions that people share because their opinions don't matter it's what I think about myself and that's what's important."
Yace will be traveling around Belize for the remainder of her trip - but the seeds of self realization she planted here will surely take root in Belize. Jaleeza Roberts, 7 News.
Project Royalty will host its annual "dress drive" in the coming weeks.
