20-year-old Emilia Williams from Gaerwen recently competed in the Miss Teen British Isles finals

Emilia Williams from Gaerwen created history in 2017 by becoming the first Romany Gypsy girl to be crowned Miss Anglesey and Gwynedd.

The 20-year-old's latest feat saw her compete at the Miss Teen British Isles finals on behalf of the island, where she was one of just 30 out of 3000 girls who applied to have been chosen to take part.

Emilia, who had competed in the competition's teen division before turning 20 on Monday, says the pageants she has taken part in are about "so much more than just looks".

"Whenever somebody talks about modelling or pageants, they tend to think that people involved are arrogant, but I have always tried not to come across like that," she said.

"People don’t really understand what it involves and think it’s just a looks contest but it’s really not like that at all.

"They’re not so popular around here so it’s not really talked about but taking part in them has made me feel confident in myself.

"Modelling has a lot of negative stereotypes attached to it so it’s nice to be able to break them along the way.

Emilia says her inspiration for becoming a beauty queen was her mum who was previously a model.

She says her greatest achievement to date is winning the regional title at Miss Wales (below) and being featured on the Miss World website with the rest of the finalists in 2017.

In the past, she has said she wants to “break the typical stereotypes surrounding gypsies and travellers" in today’s society and "encourage" other young girls to empower each other.

At the Miss Teen British Isles finals, she secured a paid for sponsorship which will see her go on to compete in the Miss Swimsuit British Isles competition and placed in the top 20 overall.

"I felt like I had a good walk and I knew what to do on stage thanks to previous experience," she said.

"I really enjoyed the night. A lot of the girls at the finals had never done a pageant before, so it felt nice to reassure them and give them advice to help them carry on doing pageants in the future."

Emilia has just recently Coleg Menai in Bangor after studying a course in Uniformed Public Service. She has previously raised money for charity during her modelling competitions and also volunteers within her local community and the Royal Voluntary Service in Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor.

She says she is now looking forward to carrying on with her journey over the coming months.

"I will definitely enter another pageant this year," she said.

"I also want to start doing ring girl work at boxing and MMA matches as a lot of girls in pageantry do this on the side as well.

"Promo modelling also looks very laidback and fun, which is perfect for me."