Binibining Pilipinas 2023 1st runner-up Katrina Anne Johnson fulfills promise to late mother
MANILA, Philippines — When Katrina Anne Johnson competed in the recent Binibining Pilipinas 2023 pageant as representative of Davao del Sur, she wore a small butterfly as part of her ensemble.
This was because, before her mother passed away, she promised her only daughter that should she be competing in another pageant, she would be there with her as a butterfly! And, in one way or another, her mother kept her word!
At the age of 20, she lost her mother to a bout with Stage 4 lung cancer. As an only child, her mom's loss made the lockdowns that followed almost unbearable. She was by herself as her dad was in the United States, by himself too, as travel restrictions were in place.
Katrina's sporadic pageant journey started in 2015 when she was a freshman Pharmacy student at the University of Immaculate Conception. She was prodded by her teachers to join the school pageant to represent their department. Luckily, she won the school's beauty title. Unbeknownst to her, the said crown required her to represent their school in the inter-school pageant from all over Davao. As luck would have it, she won again.
Going national
As she wanted to join a national pageant like the Binibini, her handler-cum-makeup artist suggested that she join a pageant that was not confined to the scholastic system. So she joined Miss Silka 2016 and won again! To date, she is the only winner from that search who hails from Mindanao.
It was in winning the school-based pageants that she got involved with the Maharlika Charity Foundation — as a beauty titlist who pursued a science-related course.
The said organization reached out to indigents in far-flung areas of Mindanao. It was through the many medical missions that Katrina saw how pageantry could be a platform to touch the lives of many.
After she relinquished her Silka crown, her mom asked her about her foray onto the national stage. When her mom got sick, Katrina put her plans to join the national pageant on hold as she had to take care of her mother until her death.
After her mom left, it took her three more years to be certain. It was only when Binibining Pilipinas Supranational 2018 Jessa Juelar prodded her that she finally decided to embark on her Binibini journey and the rest is history.
Prior to her Binibini journey, Katrina finished her master's equivalent of a Clinical Pharmacy degree. Should she continue this line of study, it would only take her a year to write her dissertation and get a doctorate degree. The good thing is that the degree is recognized in the United States.
Katrina is now 25 years old. But should she decide to join another national pageant after completing her contractual obligations with Binibining Pilipinas Charities Inc., I'm pretty sure her mom's presence will still be with her in one butterfly form or another.
