Miss Intercontinental 2018 karen Gallman: "Gwapa gyud ko"

CEBU, Philippines — It was history in the making as Karen Gallman finally won for the Philippines its first Miss Intercontinental crown.

The 25-year-old succeeded Veronica Salas Valleja of Mexico at the 47th Miss Intercontinental coronation night held Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Apart from the fact that no one from the Philippines has won the title prior despite having fielded strong candidates, a lot was riding on  Karen’s shoulders as hometown candidate since the competition was held in the Philippines, even if this year’s edition was hosted by Japan.

Karen was among the pageant’s early frontrunners, having won Darling of the Press and Miss Fiber Health Body Beautiful during the swimsuit competition and Philippine Designers Evening Gown Fashion Show.

Asked by coronation night host Billy Crawford during the final Q&A to define success, Karen replied: “For me, success is not just about winning in life but setting goals, smaller goals, and achieving your dreams and working hard for everything you want and always looking up to God and being thankful for everything. For me, that is success.”

Karen indeed knows that sentiment all too well having joined Binibining. Pilipinas twice: first in 2012 where the then 19-year-old finished in the Top 12 and witnessed Janine Tugonon win the Miss Universe Philippines crown. In 2018, Katarina Rodriguez crowned her Bb. Pilipinas Intercontinental.

“I didn’t realize pageants were so difficult. It’s good that I experienced it beforehand. I told myself, ‘I’ll come back stronger, more prepared, and more mature.’ And I did just that... I felt that I could do so much better, but I had to wait,” Karen had said in an interview with Metro.Style.

Since the country has not won the title before, Karen made that her motivation. Before her six years-in-the-making comeback, she was able to mull over the importance and responsibility of having a crown.

Like Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray, Karen is the daughter of a Filipina mother and an Australian father. Before moving to Queensland, she spent her primary years in Ubay, Bohol where she was born and raised alongside five siblings for the first eight years of her life. There, she learned to explore the outdoors and appreciate the beauty of her sleepy town.

Karen, who is ambidextrous and speaks English, Filipino and Bisaya, proudly showcased her roots in the international competition, speaking Bisaya in one of the videos (“Gwapa gyud ko,” she said) during coronation that highlighted the pageant’s “Power is Beauty” tagline.

Having attended school in Bohol as a child, Karen advocates for education in the rural areas, seeing the struggle of students to get to school and the lack of supplies and facilities.

Despite being able to secure a job in London before graduating, the former operations analyst decided tto quit her job to join Bb. Pilipinas –an endeavor that has always been at the back of her mind since she last joined. She has since traded the competitive career field in London for another kind of competition: the pageant scene.

An avid traveller, Karen, who finished a Business management degree from the University of Queensland, said that her travels have shown her that the struggles of the Philippines is shared in places across the world.

She believes that success has a lot to do with education, self-learning and drive.

Having been to more than 30 countries, she is about to chase more sunsets and horizons. Apart from her Miss Intercontinental duties, the National Peace Ambassador is slowly checking off goals in her bucket list. She is assumed to tie the knot after her reign, having gotten engaged to her fiancé Ian Garton last year.

While the 2018 pageant season didn’t start well for the Philippines, fans are still in celebration after Catriona and now Karen’s wins.

Making up Karen’s court are first runner-up Adriana Moya Alvarado of Costa Rica, second runner-up Laura Longauerova of Slovak Republic, third runner-up Hillary Hollmann del Prado of Colombia, fourth runner-up Ngan Anh Au Le of Vietnam and fifth runner-up Bella Lire Lapso of Ethiopia.

Before Karen, the farthest our Filipina bets have gone in the competition was in 2017 when Katarina Rodriguez placed first runner-up and in 2014 when Cebuana Kris Janson finished second runner-up.