It's been a decade since Stephanie Karikari walked the Miss Ghana runway and won the revered crown.
10 years later, the stunning beauty queen has a thriving cosmetic line, a very vocal voice which she expresses using her YouTube channel and a dashing little prince who turned one in February.
African Entertainment recently caught up with Karikari who opened up about what her life now looks like, ideals and all.
Seeing as the whole world is learning to adjust to the novel Coronavirus with economies facing a major recession, the beauty queen reveals it's now or never for Ghanaians especially within the entertainment industry to come up with dynamic strategies.
"We have all realized that coronavirus is here to stay so now is the time to create strategies on how to make the industries grow. Things have changed from here on forth. It is never going to be the same and social distancing is going to be here for a very long time as well. So, everyone needs to find strategies that will benefit them."
Without an iota of doubt, motherhood can be a challenging yet fulfilling journey for women desiring it and for the beauty queen, it hallmarked her very essence.
From discovering she was expecting, to welcoming her son in February 2019, Karikari opened up for the first time about the indescribable feeling.
"You know how I had always thought that winning Miss Ghana was the happiest thing that could happen to me, that was till I had my son. I have actually been a mom for almost two years now and I can say that having him remains one of the happiest moments of my life. It definitely felt better than winning Miss Ghana."
Despite being in the spotlight, the former Miss Ghana deserves an award for leading a private life which has led to various speculations about her private life. Her private life on one end, there are some fun facts we bet you didn't know about her.
"I am very compassionate, very strong, and I love to have fun. I have a lot of fun when I get the chance."
Till now, the former model's relationship status remains an out of zones topic but over the years, she has been quite vocal about marriage and gender roles.
"Marriage is also a part of the journey. The fact that you are married today doesn't mean that you have reached that highest point in life. I think that it is rather shallow-minded because there is so much you can do. I personally wouldn't use marriage to measure my success.
"My statement about not proposing to a man still stands. It is just my personal opinion. I believe in women empowerment and all that but at the same time I also believe that the man is the head."
In recent times, the Miss Ghana pageantry has been hit with major setbacks with contestants calling out organizers. Karikari was one of the show's participant's to share her hot take but that was about five years ago. With her personal experiences with the show's organizers, the beauty queen still maintains that young women should try out pageantry.
Away from being a beauty queen, Karikari is also a cosmetic guru. Her cosmetic line, Safari Cosmetics has done impressively well since its launch. Because it is made of natural products, she revealed that it is an easy sell.
Watch the full interview: