MANILA, Philippines — One of the challenges that Binibining Pilipinas - Globe 2024 Jasmin Bungay had to face prior to joining the national pageant was deciding whether she would stay in Dubai or give up her career there to pursue her pageant dreams.
The 26-year-old beauty queen is a former supply chain and logistics worker in the Middle East and a former teacher with a degree in Mathematics. She moved to Dubai when she was 21 and worked there for five years. In February this year, she came back to her home country to embark on her Bb. Pilipinas journey.
“I spent it building my career (in Dubai), building it from scratch. I started from zero. And when I was finally in a position where I was already comfortable in terms of my lifestyle in Dubai, I was already 26, and I felt that this chapter or this aspect in my life, it’s not yet complete,” she recounted to the press during a public send-off event at the Quantum Skyview of Gateway Mall 2.
“And I feel like if I forgo this pageant career, then I would spend the rest of my life regretting why I didn’t do it. It was such a difficult decision, but it paid off. It paid off eventually and I’m just so glad that I made that decision, I made that risk.”
Jasmin’s decision eventually led her to clinch the Bb. Pilipinas - Globe 2024 title.
“It serves also as a message to everyone that if your dreams mean more to you than money, than fame, or than anything else, then it’s worth pursuing. It’s worth risking everything. You can see that in the life that I live. And now I am proud to be Bb. Pilipinas Globe. I left my life there, but I’m beginning anew here. And I began it with a bang.”
Jasmin is poised to compete at this year’s Miss Globe international pageant tomorrow, Oct. 15, in Albania.
“This journey of mine is a testament really that it’s not too late to pursue your dreams. I was already — I mean I’m already 26 when I took this leap of faith, but it paid off in the end. So just be brave in your decisions in life and fully commit to it and it will pay off,” she told The STAR.
On how her being a former Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) would aid her in her bid for the international crown, she shared that in the years that she worked in Dubai, she already felt that she was representing the Philippines. “Because I want the other nationalities, my friends, my colleagues to have a higher regard for the Philippines and for the Filipinos.
“So even in the way that I work, even in the way that I deal with them, speak with them, or whenever I speak about our culture and practice it, I make sure that they would have a good impression. If they had a different take on the Filipinos, I make sure that I change it to something positive.
“I think that alone prepared me because it felt like I was already representing the Philippines. That means that those experiences prepared me for this very amazing and momentous time in my life.”
On why she should be the next Miss Globe titleholder, Jasmin asserted that she is a “representation of the modern woman” of today.
“Well, to be honest, whenever I get asked that question, even during Binibini, I get floored. I get lost for words because I’ve always felt like I’m average, like I’m just like everybody else. I’m not special or I’m not more amazing than (other) women,” she admitted.
“I see myself in a lot of women and share their experiences. And I think that’s my strength — in the way that I relate to all of them, in the way that I see myself in all of them. I am a representation of the modern woman that we have today. One who is unafraid to forge her own path and one who is willing to give a part of herself to enable those who think that they’re not capable, that they can, that they will and they must.
“Because a woman who fails to live her life to the fullest, who fails to live the way she’s supposed to, leaves the world way, way less than what it could be. And I came to empower all of them. And that is Miss Globe to me,” she said and claimed, “I am Miss Globe 2024.”
Jasmin aims to follow the victories of her Binibini sisters, Ann Colis (2015) and Maureen Montagne (2021), who had won the Miss Globe title. Last year, Bb. Pilipinas Globe 2023 Anna Lakrini finished as second runner-up.