“Every Body is a Carnival Body” – But Do They Really Mean It?

You have heard it before. The banners say it. The captions say it. The emcees at band launch say it with full conviction into the microphone: EVERY BODY IS A CARNIVAL BODY.

And then the season unfolds, and you watch. You watch who gets featured in the promo reels. You watch whose face ends up on the flyers. You watch which influencers get the ambassador tags and the costume gifting and the front-of-band placement. And quietly, without anyone saying a word about it, the message becomes clear. Not every 'body' was what they had in mind.

I am not writing this to drag anyone, I am writing this because the contrast matters, and because something happened this season that I want to talk about honestly.

Euphoria Mas made me their ambassador for Guyana Carnival 2026. Now that sentence carries more weight than it might appear to on the surface.

I am not a fitness influencer. I do not have a six-pack or a thigh gap or the hour-glass figure or whatever the current carnival-body standard is supposed to be. I am a full-figured woman, and I have been one my entire adult life. I have spent years on pageant stages, not because I thought I looked the part by conventional standards, but because I believed that someone needed to be standing up there who looked like me. That beauty has range. That representation is not a trend, it is a responsibility. I showed up in gowns and heels and swimwear in front of judges and audiences because I wanted some girl in the back of the room to see herself reflected and think, if she can, maybe I can too.

So when Euphoria Mas came to me about this partnership, it was not lost on me what they were really saying with that decision. They were not choosing me despite my body, they were choosing me, fully, because of who I am, my passion for Guyanese culture, my voice in this space, my genuine love for carnival, and the community I have built around that love. They chose conviction over aesthetics. That is rare, and I will not pretend otherwise.

What made it even more meaningful was looking at how Euphoria approaches their band as a whole. Their costume designs are not built for one body type. The cuts, the coverage options, the range... they are thinking about the women who will actually be wearing these pieces, not just what photographs best on a promotional model. That is where the real commitment to inclusivity lives. Not in a caption. In the decisions you make before anyone is even watching.

I want to be transparent with you... I AM NERVOUS. Standing in a crowd in a carnival costume and saying this is me and I am here is not a small thing when you have spent years being made to feel like certain spaces were not designed for you. But that nervousness is exactly why I said yes. Because if I, someone who has spent years advocating for this, still hesitate, imagine what the girl who has never had that platform must feel when she scrolls through carnival content and never sees herself.

To that girl: I see you love!! And Euphoria sees you too.

Carnival is not a reward you earn by looking a certain way. It is not a privilege reserved for a specific size. It is a cultural experience that belongs to all of us! Every woman who wants to feel the music move through her, who wants to mas with her friends, who wants to wear something beautiful and walk through those streets knowing she earned her place there just by showing up.

You do not need to shrink yourself into this experience. Come as you are.

I will be on that road in my Euphoria costume, fully present, and I would love nothing more than to see you there with me.

PS: GROW (Global Rising of Women) Foundation is offering $100 off all female costumes. Order yours here and use the promo code GROW100. 

SEE YOU ON THE ROAD!