Medical Millie is crowned Miss Wales 2023!
Millie-Mae Adams, a 20-year-old Welsh speaking medical student from Cardiff, has been crowned Miss Wales 2023.
Millie-Mae is in her first year of medicine in Exeter University and has created the first ever Street Doctors team for the South West.
Street Doctors is a national organisation which trains young people how to save a life. Their latest campaign called ‘8 Minutes to Save a Life’ gives young people training on how to act as a first responder if they come across a victim of a knife attack.
While only in her first year, Millie-Mae decided to bring together her circle of friends in Exeter to create Exeter Street Doctors which will educate young people in youth groups and schools across the South West on the dangers of knife crime and how to save a life.
During her time as Miss Wales, she also has plans to deliver ‘8 Minutes to Save a Life’ training in Cardiff in the Welsh language too,.
Millie-Mae’s passion for Welsh has led her to sign up as a ‘siarad volunteer’ for @llywodraeth which is a Welsh Government campaign aiming to increase the number of Welsh speakers to one million Welsh 2050.
She also posts videos in both English and Welsh on her social media platforms to help educate people on important medical issues like how to use and EpiPen and how to check your breasts for lumps in support of breast cancer awareness.
Around a year ago, Millie-Mae was diagnosed with Alopecia Areata –and while she describes it as one of her ‘lowest days to date’, Millie-Mae used her platform as a Miss Wales finalist to inspire other young girls that it’s ok to be different and that there is beauty in diversity.
Millie-Mae has also attended summer courses at one of the leading academic institutions in the world – Yale College in the USA – and is also an ambassador for Calan Domestic Violence Services working towards ending domestic violence in Wales.
The Miss Wales 2023 final took place on Saturday night at The Riverfront in Newport and celebrated the achievements of 28 young women from around Wales in front of a crowd of supporters.
The final involved three appearances on the stage including the patriotic Welsh wear opener; a red dress catwalk; and the traditional evening wear parade. All finalists also had one to one interviews with a panel of six judges.
As well as the catwalk event, the contestants took part in a Miss Wales Empowerment Day to help them in their personal development and leadership skills and attended a Miss Wales Charity Ball where Millie-Mae was also presented with the ‘Spirit of Miss Wales’ Award for her work with Street Doctors.
In the run up to the event, Millie-Mae and the other finalists had been tasked with fundraising for Beauty With A Purpose, the Miss World charity which helps disadvantaged children worldwide.
Millie- Mae said: “I am so excited to have this opportunity to support the Welsh language and educate on medical matters through my position as Miss Wales. More than anything though, I would like to tell young women and girls in Wales to believe in themselves because we all have a unique contribution we can make in the world.”
Now, Millie-Mae will combine her studies with a year of appearances as Miss Wales and will have the privilege of representing Wales at Miss World next year.
The runners-up on Saturday night were Zoe Scrimshaw from Chepstow, who came second, and Helena Hawke from Caerleon who came third.