Hamilton singer selected for global singing competition finals
Whitney Maynard entered The Voice of McDonalds to have a go but was shocked to find out she was picked for the area finals in Hong Kong.
The last thing Whitney Maynard expected to hear at work was that she would be flying to
Hong Kong as a finalist for her singing.
The 24-year-old Hamiltonian Chartwell McDonald’s worker has beaten more than 55,000 competitors from around the world to make it to the top 11 in the world finals of a company competition.
Whitney was told recently she had been picked to travel to Hong Kong for the APMEA (Asia Pacific/Middle East/Africa) Voice of McDonald’s finals.
She entered the competition in May after seeing posters at work, but never expected to get through to the world finals.
“I was like, are you serious? It still hasn’t sunk in yet.”
Maynard was one of the three employees from New Zealand whose performance videos were sent as part of the APMEA entries where the top 11 were picked out from more than 55,000 entries.
The top 11 will compete for four spots to travel to Orlando in America for the Global Finals at the Worldwide Convention in April 2014 to win $25,000, among other prizes.
Erin Roberts, communications executive of McDonald’s New Zealand, was part of the team to send through the final New Zealand entries and is excited for Maynard..
Her rendition of Alicia Keys’, ‘If I ain’t got you’, have the judges eager to see her perform.
“The team in APMEA are really excited to see Whitney perform,” she said.
Roberts said the competition engages the McDonald’s crew and is a good opportunity as a lot of the contestants have not travelled overseas before.
“It really is life changing,” she said.
Although Maynard has set her sights on a prize, she said the exposure will be an important aspect of the competition.
Maynard has been working at McDonald’s for six years in her hometown Gisborne and one year in Hamilton as first assistant.
Zac Taylor from New Zealand boy-band, Titanium, entered in 2011 and made it to the 2012 finals in America.
The competition is only for McDonald’s employees and this is their fifth contest.
