Jennifer Hosten
*Jennifer Hosten was born on this date in 1947. She is a retired Black fashion model and author.
She was born in St. George’s, Grenada. She studied in London and then worked for the BBC’s Caribbean radio service before becoming a flight attendant. She was 23 when she won the Miss World contest in November 1970.
Held during apartheid, it began with a row because the organizers had allowed two entries from South Africa, one black and one white. Then, during the evening, there were protests by women’s liberation activists. The comedian Bob Hope was also heckled. Hosten joined Bob Hope on his annual tour to U.S. forces overseas and made numerous other personal appearances globally with quiet dignity despite the controversy surrounding her victory.
In 1971, a 15-cent postage stamp for Grenada was issued to commemorate her achievement. Hosten then worked with Air Canada in customer relations and married David Craig, an IT Manager with IBM. They lived in Bermuda until 1973, when they moved to Ontario, Canada. She has two children: a daughter, Sophia Craig, and a son, Beau Craig. Hosten Craig was High Commissioner to Canada from Grenada from 1978 to 1981. In 1998, she served as Technical Adviser on Trade to the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) while living on the island of Saint Lucia.
More recently, Hosten worked as a Canadian diplomat (Aid Division) at the Canadian High Commission in Dhaka, Bangladesh, before returning to the Caribbean. In 1992, she published an academic paper, The Effect of a North American Free Trade Agreement on the Commonwealth Caribbean. Hosten opened Jenny’s Place, beachfront studio apartments on Grand Anse Beach in Grenada, in August 2005. 2006 Hosten was appointed National Director of the Miss Grenada World Contest. Her autobiography, Beyond Miss World, was published in 2008. In 2011, Hosten graduated from Yorkville University, New Brunswick, Canada, with a master’s degree in counseling (Psychology). She currently works as a registered psychotherapist in Oakville, Ontario. She has five young grandchildren.
