December 11, 2020

From Enduring Racism to Being Crowned Miss Universe Iceland 2019

55 minutes

I had the absolute pleasure of chatting with Birta Abiba Þórhallsdóttir, who was crowned Miss Universe Iceland in 2019. Normally, I don’t follow beauty pageants, regardless of if it is in the US or Iceland, but Birta’s story really stuck out to me.

I read an article about her experience with racism in Iceland. She’s an Icelander that has mixed heritage. She was born and raised in the town that I live in, Mosfellsbær. I was surprised to hear that she experienced physical and verbal abuse as a kid just because of her skin color. She will go into more detail during the interview, but it breaks my heart to know that she did many things to try to change her appearance, such as her skin color and hair, because she wanted to fit in.

Her journey to self-love was a tough one but she preserved. I think it is absolutely amazing that she ended up becoming Miss Universe Iceland because she is able to show the world that Icelanders can also be People of Color with beautiful curly afros.

Here is the link to the novel “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, which I referenced in the interview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTXWM98D_7c

Questions I Asked Birta Abiba Þórhallsdóttir

You were born and raised in Mósfellsbær. What was it like for you growing up here? Did you encounter any issues because you looked different than the other kids?

You’ve talked about how learning to love yourself took a long time. What kind of things did you do to help you get to a place of loving who you are and what you look like even though you are surrounded by images and people that don’t look like you?

Were you doing pageants as a child? If not, what made you decide to get involved in competing for the Miss Iceland title?

Was the Miss Iceland competition like? Did you feel accepted into that world, even though this was your first time competing?

I think it is amazing that you won Miss Iceland on your 20th birthday! How did your life change after winning?

What was the reaction in the country when you won Miss Iceland?

It’s amazing that you went from being bullied for being different as a child to representing Iceland on the world stage in Miss Universe. What was the experience like of competing in that pageant with all of these other women from around the world?

I’ve read that you have already written a full length novel and that you want to be an international author. What kind of things do you like to write about? Do you have a book in the works?

What is your favorite Icelandic word or phrase?

Join the All Things Iceland Patreon Community

Some of you might be aware that one of my goals for the podcast is to travel around Iceland more to interview different people in each region. In July, I set up the All Things Iceland community on Patreon. Patreon is a membership platform that was founded in 2013. It allows for creators like me to provide exclusive content to listeners like you in exchange for a monthly subscription.

Each month I am doing Ask Me Anything videos, Live Chats, and Folklore Friday each week. Sometimes I do updates about my life in Iceland. I do not share this content on any other channel. The support from my patrons on the All Things Iceland community on Patreon will help to evolve All Things Iceland. There are several membership tiers to choose from and each tier has a variety of benefits.

If you would like to join the community, go to patreon.com/allthingsiceland. I look forward to having you join.

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Þakka þér kærlega fyrir að hlusta (og að lesa) og sjáumst fljótlega

Thank you kindly for listening (and reading) and see you soon!

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By Jewells Chambers

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