NEWLY CROWNED CHELSEA MANALO OF BULACAN, FIRST BLACK FILIPINO-AMERICAN REPRESENTING MUPH 2024
The Philippines finally has its representative for Miss Universe 2024 in Mexico after Chelsea Manalo of Bulacan won as the newly crowned for this year’s pageant Miss Universe Philippines 2024 held at Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday, May 22.
From 53 contenders aiming for the crown, Manalo succeeded on reigning the crown as she becomes the first black Filipino-American to represent the Philippines at the Miss Universe.
Miss Universe new queen is from Bulacan (Photo courtesy of MUPH YouTube/The Manila Times)
With her charm, charisma, and wit, the Filipino-American beauty queen made sure to stand out from the preliminary competition to the lavish coronation night. She opened up on being a woman of color and how she has defied beauty norms and learnt to appreciate who she is during the question-and-answer period. She was asked how she would use her beauty and confidence to empower others.
Since the age of fifteen, Chelsea has worked in the fashion industry. Although she began her modeling career at an early age, she stated in one of her Instagram Q&As that she always imagined herself as a car racer rather than a model.
In her adolescence, she also made the decision to compete in pageants. Her MUPH biography states that she has participated in beauty pageants during her high school years. Among the most notable ones happened in 2017, when the attractive Bulakenya competed in Miss World Philippines and placed among the top 15.
Manalo’s winning answer for the Top 5 question and answer portion, "You are beautiful and confident, how will you use these qualities to empower others?"
"As a woman of color, I have always faced challenges in my life. I was told that beauty has standards actually. But for me, I have listened and always believed in my mother to always believe in yourself, and uphold the values that you have in yourself," Manalo said.
“Because of this, I am already influencing a lot of you facing me right now as a transformational woman. I have here 52 other delegates with me who have helped me be the woman that I am. Thank you," she added.
Runners-up are Stacey Gabriel of Cainta (1st runner-up), Ma. Ahtisa Manalo of Quezon Province (2nd runner-up), Tarah Valencia of Baguio (3rd runner-up), and Christi Lynn of Taguig (4th runner-up).
Source: ABS-CBN News
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