Miss Jamaica finalist – A ‘Real Housewife of Dubai’
“Hi, I’m Lesa Milan, I was made in Kingston, packaged in Miami and exported to Dubai. I grew up as the only girl in my family, so I’m used to being the princess and now I’m the queen.”
That introduction is attributed to Jamaican Lesa Milan Hall, one of six married women selected to exhibit style, fashion and candid commentary in the first international outing of Bravo TVs, hit American reality series dubbed “Real Housewives of Dubai.”
Revealed via social media and TV promotional, the candid auto-biographical comment identifies the beauty contestant who vied for coronation in the Miss Jamaica Universe pageant in 2009.
She did not win the title that would have taken her to the Donald Trump produced Miss Universe pageant held in the Bahamas.
That year Venezuelans yielded back to back crowns.
But that did not deter the ambitious, self-professed ‘princess’ who allegedly grew up in Miami, Florida.
Instead of retiring as a shrinking violet, she returned to the sandy shores of the American south and from there explored television options.
For a year she received national attention on Black Entertainment Television’s “Cobble Hill.”
One might consider Milan’s biography, a fairytale.
Reportedly, she dated Olympian Usain Bolt. Another report detailed her partying at a Miami nightclub when she met Richard Hall, the man who made her a housewife. As the story goes, the hook-up revealed an inevitable coupling. Together they instantly found compatibility that heightened when Hall picked her ‘up in a Rolls Royce Phantom car.’ Apparently the vehicle transported them through a romantic ride that culminated with a trip to the Bahamas – the location she missed out being crowned Jamaican royalty and perhaps queen of the universe.
Hall was no ordinary guy, in fact he was a millionaire, property developer and British financier.
In reality, he seemed a prince of a gentleman,
From then the pair embarked on a whirlwind adventure enabling travels to locations denied by her unsuccessful bid for the Miss Jamaica Universe title.
Five months after the Miami club meeting, the Britisher proposed marriage and January1, 2014 Hall added an official title to the former beauty contestant.
The couple settled in the tax-free, Muslim city of Dubai.
Indeed, Milan was “exported” from the sandy beach port of Miami to the sandy desert Muslim luxury city of Dubai.
June 27 that same year the lovebirds welcomed their first son, Maximillian. Two years later, on June 2 Sebastian was born. And her youngest Kristian debuted June 9, 2019.
Remote as some might believe, the destination reputed for promoting lavish lifestyle, opulence and enviable nightlife is also home to a diverse immigrant population.
It was widely reported that Jamaican pilots sought refuge there choosing to fly United Arab Emirates Airlines after Air Jamaica ceased operation.
The Arab federated city seemed a new frontier Jamaicans relished and nationals migrated there in droves.
It was not surprising that Paul Salmon opened his Miss Lily’s franchise there to offer rice and peas, dumplings, curried goat, ackee and saltfish and other Jamaican dishes he sells in two Manhattan restaurants.
The enterprising venture seemed more like an alluring provision to tourists and immigrants, in fact it was a bankable investment.
For Jamaica’s Milan Hall, Dubai is home.
She is a fashion designer who launched Mina Roe luxury maternity wear. From a web portal she regularly shares opinions with how-to pointers on fitness, diet, motherhood and advises solutions for skincare.
Likely she will espouse the wonders of her brand on the 11th version of the franchise by highlighting herself as personification of ‘The Real Housewives of Dubai.’
Guaranteed are the catty conversations viewers seem enamored with from the first airings of “Real Housewives of Atlanta,” New York, Beverley Hills, Salt Lake City and other places of interest.
The latest of the Andy Cohen cable series aims at showcasing rich housewives residing overseas in a mystical desert setting. Contrasted by environs alien to those of American cities and states already featured, Dubai might offer more than peek into malls and nightclubs.
The series will also indulge a view of fashion-focused women who might not represent an authentic perspective of day-to-day reality of a majority of residents there but like the previous iterations reflect the camera view of a privileged sector.
Other cast members include Kenya-born Chanel Ayan, Lebanese Nina Ali, two-time married and now bride of a retired football player, Caroline Stanbury, Massachusetts immigrant Caroline Brooks who describes herself as Afro-Latin and Sara Al Madani, the only authentic Arab Federated Emirati.
Lesa Milan Hall regularly posts messages of inspiration to her social media contacts.
One of the most recent said: “Family is where life begins and love never ends.”
Clearly the Jamaican was ‘made,’ ‘packaged’ and ‘exported’ to promote that poignant perspective.
Catch You On The Inside!
