Who is Mina Sue Choi, first Korean Miss Earth 2022 winner?
MANILA, Philippines — It was her eco-video that endeared current Miss Earth winner Mina Sue Choi of Korea to pageant aficionados, especially Filipino fans, since the pageant was not only held in Manila, but was also run by Carousel Productions, a Filipino entity.
Deftly mimicking the movements of a bottlenose dolphin, the 24-year-old Communications student effortlessly glided through the seawater and straight into the hearts of fans and followers when they saw her video entry.
"Dolphins help maintain the natural balance in the food chain. They are essential to the Marine Ecosystem as they level out the population of fish, and other producers and primary/secondary consumers of the food chain," she averred.
Pageant audiences were probably surprised to see that Mina Sue was fluent in speaking English — a feat for every aspirant who hails from a non-English speaking country.
The Korean beauty queen not only delivered her answer during the final Q & A, spontaneously but also glibly and with a lot of heart.
Mina Sue was born in Sydney, Australia and lived there until she was seven. This gave her formative years a good grasp of the English language.
The family then moved back to Korea where she attended and completed her elementary education with the country's public school system.
She would leave Korea, yet again, and move to Canada with her family and continue her schooling there. She recalled that growing up meant moving around the world — which included residing in some parts of the United States and China. Little did she know that it was her itinerant upbringing that would mold her into an outstanding "woman of the earth."
She is Korea's first Big Four (Universe/World/International/Earth) titleholder after winning Miss Earth 2022, and second if gauged by the Top 5 standards that include the Miss Supranational, which her compatriot Jenny Kim won in 2017.
The other near-victory instances for Korea came in 1988 when both their representatives won first runners-up positions in the Miss Universe and Miss World competitions that year: Jang Yoon-jeong in the Miss Universe tilt and Chui Yeon-hee in the Miss World quest.
"Rich experiences do not require rich expenses; the experiences can be made by using our travel budgets more wisely by purchasing local goods, supporting local businesses, opting for public transportation, bikes, and more," enthused the polyglot and globetrotter.
Next year, her other compatriot, Hanna Kim, will represent Korea at the 71st Miss Universe edition in Louisiana. The energetic former school teacher gamely shared her makeup tutorial on the Miss Universe website.
Mina Sue said that even when her reign will be over, she will continue being a vanguard for our ailing planet.
"My advocacy is promoting reduction of carbon footprints in cities with sustainable mobility and encouraging lifestyles that will help reduce carbon emissions in our daily lives," she said.
Mina Sue's elemental court is comprised of Sheridan Mortlock (Air, Australia), Nadeen Ayoub (Water, Palestine) and Andrea Aguilera (Fire, Colombia).
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