A LONDON-born fitness instructor has become the first black plus sized woman to ever be crowned Ms Great Britain. 

Kat Henry, 38, from Croydon, now living in Surrey, was crowned Ms Great Britain, which is a new branch of the Miss Great Britain pageant, for women aged 28-39, on 17 September. 

Speaking to The Voice, Ms Henry says she feels so happy to have made history and hopes her achievement will encourage other women from black communities to enter in the future.

She said: “I feel really proud to have won and I hope it starts a shift change and we see more people who look like me entering pageants and being represented in mainstream media.”  

Miss Great Britain was established in 1945 and is the UK’s oldest and most prestigious national pageant. 

The new title of Ms Great Britain, was launched in 2020, and is still in its infancy, but Ms Henry is the first black and plus sized woman to win this title. 

She is also the first plus sized woman to win any of the titles within the brand of Miss Great Britain. 

I’m proud to be part of the evolution that is making history and opening doors for others to walk through

Kat Henry

Ms Henry has both African and Indian ancestry and is proud of her South African and Mauritian heritage. 

“I’m proud to be part of the evolution that is making history and opening doors for others to walk through,” she added.

Ms Henry is also a Zumba fitness instructor, local radio DJ, social media influencer and has an online lifestyle blog –which is a safe space for women to get fashion and beauty tips. 

This win means a lot to the mother-of-one, who was once bullied during her early teens. 

At 16, she got pregnant and was told by her teachers she “wouldn’t amount to much” and wouldn’t pass her GCSEs. 

During her pregnancy, her weight spiralled out of control and she went from a UK dress size 12, to a size 28, which resulted in her suffering from severe depression.

She was also born with a calcium deficiency and her teeth would break whenever she ate even soft foods, and this knocked her confidence and she feared going to the dentist.

In 2014, her life took a dramatic turn, while she was eating out, her front tooth broke and she finally plucked up the courage to face her biggest fear.

“I conquered my biggest fear and went to the dentist and rebuilt my smile, this is when everything changed for me, it wasn’t when I lost all my pregnancy weight, but when I could smile without having to hide my teeth behind my hands,” she explained. 

With her new smile, tons of confidence and a new lease of life, Ms Henry decided to pursue a career as a plus sized model and found very early on that she was natural. 

“I studied musical theatre at college and that definitely helped me with my performance and stage presence,” she added. 

Ms Henry says her win is not just for her, but for other people and she hopes to inspire other plus sized women to appreciate and embrace their curves.

Her future is as bright as her smile and she has no plans of slowing down.  

Ms Henry vows to continue raising awareness about the lack of positive media representation for women from diverse backgrounds. 

She added: “I want to inspire other women to pursue their dreams, but to also use their voice and advocate for issues that matter to them, I know we fear being labelled ‘the angry black woman’ but we must use our voice – so that we can be the change we want to see.”

The Ms Great Britain title is one of three pageant titles under the brand’s umbrella. They also have Miss Great Britain –which is open to ladies aged 18-27 years and Ms Great Britain Classic –which is open to ladies 40+ with no upper age limit. 

This year’s glamourous ceremony took place at the Athena in Leicester, with over 58 women taking to the stage. 

A spokesperson from Miss Great Britain told The Voice, Ms Henry is a very deserving winner and is “is everything we look for in a positive role model” and is “a modern beauty queen.”

The spokesperson added: “Miss GB as a whole has only had a few winners of colour across the past 76 years, which is of course an issue in itself.  We have only been organising the competition since 2013 so can’t comment on the whole 76-year history but can say that there is an obvious lack of diversity when it comes to the ladies who enter the competition.

“This is something we really want to change and hope that ambassadors like Kat can help us achieve this.  Our competition is open to all women and we celebrate all women! We want to be a part of the positive change in our society and promote total inclusion. 

“I believe there is a stigma still attached to pageants whereby ladies of colour think they will be overlooked, so why bother?  This may have been the case in years gone by but not any more and we want these ladies to take a chance and try something different, we hope to change their minds and help to champion the message that pageants are for all women!”

For more information on Ms Henry, please visit: www.kathenry.co.uk