Catriona: Women in pageantry are multi-hyphenates, not just pretty faces
MANILA, Philippines — Expect Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray to give her full support and words of encouragement to women who wish to enter the pageantry scene although some of them worry that they are not beautiful enough.
“I think everyone can be their own type of beautiful. I may be a sentimentalist in saying that but honestly, I’ve always believed that the energy of someone speaks louder than the facial symmetry, or what they deem typically beautiful,” said Catriona about women aspiring to be beauty queens but are not so confident with their looks.
“It’s really how they treat other people, their energy that they exude to those around them I think that’s the thing that makes them magnetic and even though they may be on a stage in a pageant, I feel like people can feel that. People can feel when your energy is in a right place and when you are being genuine and authentic. So that’s why we encourage them to not limit themselves by their physical appearance alone,” she added in an interview with The STAR.
Pageantry nowadays, the beauty queen furthered, is pushing boundaries on what women are made of. She, too, stressed that women (in pageantry) are not just pretty faces but multi-hyphenate women. “Some are in the workforce, some are studying or pursuing degrees. So, I think it’s a sad thing to limit yourself by just the genetics that God gave you.”
Catriona has a piece of advice to beauty queen aspirants: never fear failure on the first try.
“I mean, considering my first try at international pageantry, I also lost so, I also have that perspective as well. As is R’Bonney (Gabriel, Miss Universe 2022) and many other girls who went through the pageant system. It’s not usually their dream (has been) realized on their first try.
“But I think it echoes a really wonderful sentiment that life is not linear and the path to success is not just A to B. It really goes up, down and all around. You fail maybe a lot or maybe a little but that’s the point of it. You’ll grow so much and you’ll learn so much from those experiences. So, we are encouraging women to pursue pageantry and it’s okay to fail, and if they wanna take another shot, just do it.”
The just-concluded Miss Manila 2024, which she co-hosted with R’Bonney and GMA Sparkle artist Gabbi Garcia, served as proof that women in pageantry see the contest as a good platform to be able to work with community and charity projects. During the finals night, the Top 5 candidates expressed their desire to work on their advocacy projects for the betterment of the country’s city capital and its people.
Catriona was impressed at how pageant organizers were able to showcase Manila’s historic places and the Filipino culture through the event.
“The thing that I really appreciate about the Miss Manila pageant is that they really use the basis of production, I mean in terms of opening numbers, swimsuit, evening gown competition, the backdrops on stage truly share something about Manila which I think is wonderful. It’s a visual aspect but also an invitation for people to know more about the city of Manila,” offered Catriona who served as host for the second time but first time sharing the stage with co-hosts R’Bonney and Gabbi.
“It was sister bonding for us,” exclaimed the beauty queen. “It was just us bonding as hosts backstage during the gaps or commercial breaks. (We’re) just chatting with each other, getting to know each other because Gabbi, I’ve only run into her in a handful of events. And R’Bonney and me have only had that just one shoot together. It was kind of a bonding experience for us.”
Catriona recalled that she first met R’Bonney during a pictorial for Vogue Philippines “so this is our first event, and live event pa kaya sobrang saya. It’s wonderful to be with her, and also Gabbi being part of our trio this year.
“It was a lot of fun. It’s all being girl-girls, and cheering each other on from backstage and just making chika in between,” concluded Catriona.
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