Janelle Commissiong

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Janelle Commissiong (2014)

Janelle "Penny" Commissiong-Bowen-Chow TC (born June 15, 1953 in Port of Spain ) is a former model and today's entrepreneur from Trinidad and Tobago . She was the first black woman to be named Miss Universe .

Life

At the age of 13, Janelle Commissiong moved to New York with her parents . She graduated from high school and then attended the Fashion Institute of Technology. In 1976 she returned to Trinidad and took part in the Miss Universe competition in Santo Domingo ( Dominican Republic ). On July 16, 1977, she was named the "most beautiful woman in the world", the Miss Universe. She was the first Miss Universe from Trinidad and Tobago.

Janelle Commissiong married Brian Bowen who founded Bowen Marine, a company that manufactures boats and sells them in the Caribbean. Brian Bowen died in an accident in November 1989. After his death she married Alwin Chow, with whom she has a daughter. She continued to run the company until she sold it in 2004.

From 2012 to 2015 she was chairwoman of the Tourism Development Company (TDC) in her home country. In 2017 she became CEO of the newly founded, government-subordinate TDC successor organization Trinidad Tourism. In 2019, as part of a scandal involving the dismissal of the then Trinidad Tourism managing director Camille Campbell, the government and the other board members dismissed her from her position.

Awards

In 1977 she was awarded the Trinity Cross , Trinidad's highest honor at the time. The then state post of Trinidad issued three stamps with Janelle Commissiong as a motif.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ On The Black Hand Side (blog): Trinidadian Trailblazer: Janelle "Penny" Commissiong. Retrieved May 25, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Janelle Penny Commissiong-Chow . In: Trinidad Express . 20th September 2012.
  3. ↑ LoopTT.com: Penny Commissiong heads new tourism agency. Retrieved July 27, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Jensen La Vende: Penny Dropped . In: Trinidad Newsday . July 24, 2019.
predecessor Office Successor
Rina Mor-Goder Miss Universe
1977 		Margarett Gardiner
personal data
SURNAME Commissiong, Janelle
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Commissiong-Bowen-Chow, Janelle (full name); Commissiong-Bowen-Chow, Penny (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Trinidad and Tobago entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH June 15, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Port of Spain , Trinidad and Tobago