Destiny Ayo Vaughan was just five years old when she was trafficked into Ireland. She was forced into domestic servitude at just seven years old.

And while she’s lived here for many years, her life began thousands of miles away in Nigeria. Speaking about the poverty she grew up in, the activist told You magazine: ‘We had no toilet, no beds, no doors on the rooms, no showers.

‘We wore the same clothes every day. When you see third-world poverty on television, that was me, that was my life.’

Destiny’s parents had already travelled to Ireland after securing political asylum, but left their daughter behind.

At five years old, under the care of extended family, it was arranged for her to be married off to a much older man.

The 27-year-old spoke of how ‘marrying a man with a business or some way to support you is seen as the only way out’, adding that she believes she only went back to school so that she was able to count to be able to work in this man’s shop.

Her escape to Ireland wasn’t a planned one; ‘it was purely coincidence’. Destiny’s parents arranged for a stranger to bring her and another child over here.

At the time, when she was much younger, she believed the girl she travelled with to be her sister. In actuality, it was her cousin.

She felt the brief release of freedom, but all it was was brief. ‘I thought that was going to be the happy ending,’ she said.

Destiny was brought to Waterford, and between the ages of five and 11, she explained that hunger was constant. ‘Sometimes I’d scrape out the plaster off the walls and eat it,’ she described.

Destiny and her sister worked gruelling jobs for such young girls, and oftentimes wouldn’t get to bed until the wee hours.

It wasn’t until the teachers at Glór Na Mara Primary School in Waterford picked up that something was wrong that multiple home visits ensued, which led to legal proceedings.

There was no trial given Destiny’s age, but her parents lost all parental rights. She was then placed in foster care with Syl and Stella Coote, who already had three children.

‘I had never had anyone take care of me before,’ she reflected.

The Cootes introduced stability and routine. Destiny believes she developed an interest in advocacy through Stella, who, when diagnosed with cancer, set up a charity and raised thousands for other cancer patients.

Though her home life was a happy one, Destiny found herself the target of racial abuse as a teenager in Carlow.

She recounted that once, she arrived at school and found a photo of herself on the wall with her face cut out. Another time, a student circulated a photo of a random black girl in a compromising position online and claimed it was Destiny.

She leaned on pageantry as a reprieve, but found it to be more brutal than she believed it would be. She first entered Miss Ireland in 2016 when she was 17.

She didn’t qualify as Miss Carlow that year, but the following year, she returned and reached the top ten. In 2018, she reached the top four and progressed to the Miss Ireland semi-finals.

Destiny had no financial backing and did her own make-up and nails for the pageant. ‘Hardly anyone knew, but at 18 I was actually homeless for a while.’

The 27-year-old recalled couch-surfing after leaving her foster home, but Miss Ireland gave her a ‘future to look towards’.

She was the subject of bullying online, which didn’t phase her, but what held her back was her insecurities, and thus, she stopped applying after her third attempt.

Fast forward to her early 20s. It became a time of rebuilding for Destiny, and it’s when her advocacy brain kicked in.

One book, Changing The World From The Inside Out by Michael Meegan ‘changed my life’. When she was 19 years old, she enrolled in a PLC course in Early Childhood Education.

From there, she scored a BA in Social Science in Waterford, and a master’s degree in psychological studies at the University of Aberdeen. And she’s not stopping there; today, she’s studying clinical health psychology at Queen’s University Belfast with plans to begin a doctorate next year.

‘I went from being introduced to my future husband at five to becoming the most educated person in my family,’ she proudly stated.

Alongside all of this, Destiny founded Mind the Gap Ireland, an anonymous platform on which survivors of sexual violence can share their stories.

A lot of her scholarship funding went directly towards helping survivors access therapy. ‘I just wanted to help others,’ she said of the unconventional financial contribution.

Earlier this year, Destiny delivered her first TEDx talk on trauma in children, which she describes as a ‘real milestone’.

Destiny has also served as a UN delegate. And while she was ticking off professional and personal items on her bucket list left, right, and centre, Miss Ireland still beckoned her.

In September, Destiny is returning for her fourth attempt at Miss Ireland at 27 years old.

Over the years, she’s blossomed into an outspoken, determined young woman, miles away from the teenager who first stepped onto a stage in Carlow ten years ago.

‘I just never want to be the person who gives up,’ Destiny said.