Aishah Akorede is not letting being in the dance-off for the past two weeks affect her confidence.
When VIP Magazine catches up with her she’s as bubbly and positive as ever.
With just a handful of weeks left on Dancing with the Stars, Aishah is proud of how far she’s come in the competition.
“Honestly, I’m so proud of myself. I thought I’d be out first week. I do tell people I’m not a popular person, even me winning Miss Ireland was against the odds. I’ve always been fighting for my place. I’m so proud to have made it this far, obviously I’d like to make it further to the quarter-finals, to the semi-finals to the finals,” she enthuses.
She adds that she is delighted to be inspiring other people to get out of their shell, saying: “I’m genuinely happy to have made it this far. I have had a lot of young people reach out to me who are struggling to find comfort in their identities telling me that they are comfortable to follow their dreams after seeing how much I’ve pushed myself on Dancing with the Stars.
“One thing I always say is that as long as I’m impacting one person in this life, I’m happy. I feel like I’ve done what I’m supposed to do. I’m very grateful to just be in this competition.”
So how does she feel about being a role model?
“Growing up I never saw a lot of people who looked like me in the places that I wanted to be. I’m glad to be someone people look up and see that they can do it too. I want to make sure that I’m a good role model and I don’t want to let people down,” she admits.
“I have a lot of young Black people contacting me thanking me for opening doors. But there were so many people before me. I am so glad I get to open these doors that people like Katja Mia, Erica Cody and Jordan Conroy have opened as well.”
Dancing with the Stars continues on Sunday at 6:30pm on RTÉ One
