The 21-year-old Vergenoe-gen beauty feels that she has a very good chance at placing in the top five, a first for Guyana. She just plans to be herself, "in the sense for the Miss World pageant you were taught to do certain things, but I think for the Miss Universe pageant they want you to express yourself... If I could be myself and just showcase that, what I have good going for me, you never know what can happen."

From her own account she has already done Region Three proud and has received several phone calls of congratulations.

"I have awakened from my dream now, at this point I realise that this has really and truly happened to me. I knew the competition would have been stiff and I knew I was competing against 22 other delegates and at no time at all did I take any one of them for granted... I was prepared for surprises because I knew those girls were very talented in their own way and they had good things going for them [in the pageant]," Phillips said during an interview with Stabroek News.

"Personally I am honoured to know that I have won both Miss Guyana's [World and Universe] and I can represent Guyana on both international stages and I am enjoying the experience."

Comparing her reign so far to when she was Miss Guyana/World, Phillips said she is, "more comfortable with expressing herself because you don't have to be cautious about what you are doing and how you are behaving and all of that. To me now I behave how I want to behave, I am what I want to be, how I want people to see me. I am not going to be putting on, just trying to paint this picture of what this queen should be or what you should do. If I want to have a bad hair day so be it. That's me. I am just going to be myself."

She says people are seeing her as someone quite normal, "someone who you can give the world to and I will still remain humble, I will still be the same normal Odessa and I think that is exactly what people want to see. People don't like somebody who is fake or somebody who is too perfect or somebody who is trying to put on. … I just [want to] be myself all the time."

She acknowledges that some persons may not agree with her approach. However, she has to realise that she is beautiful and she has to see that first for herself. According to her, the Miss Guyana/Universe organisation has a well-organised committee and people who are willing to work every step of the way. "They are treating you as a real queen. They are treating you as if you are royalty. They are treating you really well unlike the Miss Guyana/World committee; the franchise holder is in London and after the pageant there wasn't anyone there to really organise anything. You had to get up and get for yourself. As such I was eighteen, nineteen and I didn't know much about contacting the press if I am going to do something." She adds that she did lots of things during her reign unknown to the public.

Phillips says in the lead up to the big event in May she would be involved in "intense training" and is expected to leave the country for the USA soon. Oma Rosa Stalwart will train Phillips, the same woman who trained former Miss Guyana/Universe, Mia Rahaman, and they would be focusing on her walk, question and answer skills- "the entire package".

She will also be pursuing her platform, the management of solid waste, in Guyana, and plans on being involved in some activities here.

"But for now I think the committee [Miss Guyana/Universe Committee] wants me to focus on training and getting ready for May, but when I get back I will continue with the platform."

And regardless of what many might think, this queen will encourage young women to enter pageants because they can gain so much. In particular she encourages young women to enter the Miss Guyana Talented Teen and the Miss Guyana/Universe pageants. The Miss Guyana Talented Teen pageant is organised by Pam Dillon, who is a member of the Miss Guyana/Universe committee. Also young women are encouraged to enter the Miss Region Three pageant which is organised by the queen herself.

"Pageants on the whole they groom you, help you to be aware of your hidden qualities, reveal things to you that you never thought you could have done or that you were so bold or you are capable of doing certain things... Moral values these days to an extent seem to be [eroding] from our society because more women are involved in the commercial world and there are not mothers who instil values in children. Miss Pam's [Dillon] pageant and my pageant are all about grooming the young ladies into real women." And she does not feel there are too many pageants but feels there should be more educational rewards for winners.

She won $500,000 for Miss Guyana/Universe, which will go towards her education.

And while there have been unsavoury comments by some about Phillips since she won the crown, the queen is not really affected.

According to her it all comes with winning and one must be prepared for it since not everyone will like you. "When you are in a pageant you have to prepare that one person in that audience is going to cheer you and one is going to boo you and one is going to distract and one is going to laugh at you."

And she states that the press usually have a field day during pageants adding that people "just like juicy gossip, so I was told by one of your colleagues that it is only juicy gossip that sells, only dirty stories sell."

Her advice to young women who want wants to be in pageants?

"I would advise them to be yourself and if you believe that you are drop dead gorgeous, you have a good personality, you have beautiful hair [that's it]."

She advises to turn negativity into positivity and just enjoy who you are.

But she warns if you are not strong don't enter.

Speaking about her plans, Phillips says she hopes to attend Cave Hill University in Barbados to pursue her masters in corporate law. However, she is playing around with numerous ideas and might be studying some other aspect of the law.

She is not sure if she will be attending the university from September since she does not know what plans the committee has for her.

And for those of who might have forgotten about Phillip's background, she attended Stewartville Secondary School and graduated with nine subjects at CXC before studying law at the University of Guyana. "But besides the academic life, I have always been a very pleasant and jolly person, very outgoing and had lots of friends with lots and lots of outdoor activities. I love dancing."

She makes people laugh when they feel down, so much so that her grandfather labelled her the light of the family.

She had always wanted to enter Miss Universe and since she did not have a busy year during her last reign she got some sponsorship to attend the last Miss Universe to support Leanna Damond, who she knew from UG. "I got my ticket, my spending money everything and I contacted the Miss Guyana/Universe committee and I told them I was going up and they told me that they had a delegation going up and if I wanted I could have stayed with their team."