Miss Earth 2007: Lucky at seven
MANY people aren’t certain why seven’s a lucky number. But Carousel Productions Inc., the organizer of the Miss Earth beauty contest, considers it as an auspicious digit, as it marks the pageant’s total years of existence in the international beauty arena.
A total of 90 ladies from the seven continents of the world come together here in Manila this year, to give beauty a more significant meaning to inspire humans to make a stand on pressing issues pertaining to the environment.
To lay emphasis on the environmental pursuits and activities of the Miss Earth delegates, the organization will re-instate the “Beauty for A Cause” award—first given to Vida Samadzai of Afghanistan in 2003, for standing up for a cause she believed in. Carousel president Ramon Monzon explains: “There’s an increasing involvement and dedication among the candidates to the preservation of the environment, and so they deserve to be recognized [once again].”
“There’s more to discover this year as these ladies will explore the sublime beauty of our beaches, forests and contemporary locations that imbibe harmony in nature,” says executive vice president Lorraine Schuck. “Destinations go far beyond the Philippine shores… Miss Earth also launches its Asian tour this year, with Vietnam as the first stopover [of the competition].”
This “search for a cause” has already earned the reputation being one of the big three global pageants in terms of the number of participants along with Miss Universe and Miss World. Its past titleholders include Catharina Svensson of Denmark (2001), Winfred Adah Omwakwe of Kenya (2002), Dania Patrcia Prince Mendez of Honduras (2003), Priscilla Meirelles de Almeida of Brazil (2004), Alexandra Braun Waldeck of Venezuela (2005) and Hil Yesenia Hernandez Escobar of Chile (2006).
The frontrunners
During the press presentation of Miss Earth 2007 held at the poolside of Traders Hotel in Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City, last Oct. 23, eyes and camera lenses focused on the beautiful faces and to-die-for figures of ladies clad in floral bikinis and four-inch high heels as they sashayed at the poolside and posed for the members of media, amid the bad weather. But the drizzle and downpour didn’t stop the candidates from “protesting” with their placards bearing environmental messages as well as distributing plants to the crowd. Meet some of the “easy picks” in this year’s competition.
1. Patricia Andrade of Brazil. She is a 23-year-old business administration sophomore at the Faculdades Integradas do Oeste de Minas Gerais. She resembles Brazil’s first Miss Earth Priscilla Meirelles de Almeida, who’s now a sought-after model here in the country.
2. Canada’s Jessica Nicole Trisko is a 21-year-old political science Ph.D. student at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. Her mother, the former Maria Elizabeth Asuncion Domingo, hails from Manila.
3. Themys Fevriel of the Dominican Republic. She is an 18-year-old social communication major at the Universidad de Santo Domingo. “I dream of becoming a staunch defender of the environment… and the only way for me to fulfill it [I think] is to take part in this pageant,” she said.
4. India’s Pooja Chitgopekar is a 22-year-old model based in New Zealand. She’s also taking up bachelor of medicine-bachelor of surgery (MBBS) at the University of Auckland. Her previous beauty titles include Miss Auckland 2002, Miss India New Zealand 2003 and Miss India Worldwide 2003 first runner-up. She joined the world-renowned Femina Miss India tilt “to help me express my opinions.”
5. Yoo Jee Eun of Korea is a 22-year-old who pursues acting at the Kyunggi University’s division of interactive and multi-media arts. Back in her country, she encourages everyone to join forces in minimizing the “yellow sand (dust) storm,” a seasonal meteorological phenomenon caused by industrial pollutants.
6. Mexico’s Maria Fernanda Cañovas Leal is a 21-year-old administration senior at the Universidad de Monterrey, one of the best universities in Mexico that stands out as a model of liberal arts education. This dead-ringer for Lupita Jones, her country’s first Miss Universe, is also a runway model and loves to play basketball in her free time.
7. Margaret Pauline Hauge of Norway is also of Filipino roots. This high school senior at the Fana Gymnas School in the city of Bergen is the daughter of the former Teresa Barro, a native of Davao. The greatest challenge that she’s facing right now, according to her, “is not only to win the Miss Earth crown… but to speak the Tagalog language fluently.”
8. Our very own Miss Philippines, Jeanne Angeles Harn, is an account executive for an advertising agency. Our 25-year-old hometown girl has the pressure of equaling, if not surpassing, the feat of her predecessor Catherine Untalan, who placed third overall (Miss Water) last year.
9. Silvana Santaella Arellano of Venezuela. This 24-year-old “life-size Barbie doll” of Italian descent is a senior dentistry student at the Universidad Central de Venezuela. Back in Caracas City, her place of birth, Silvana’s created a program, dubbed as “Mundo Marino,” where she gets to teach children in preserving the seas, lakes and rivers.
10. Zimbabwe’s first-ever entrant to Miss Earth, Nyome Omar, is a 22-year-old business administration student at Herentals College who also works as a personal assistant to the managing director of an electrical appliance firm. Nyome’s done a lot of TV advertisements and she’s also featured on the music video of African singer Prince Tendai, entitled “November Rain.”
Other favorites are Melissa Cardaci, a 20-year-old pharmacy assistant from Belgium; 25-year-old model Natalia Salas of Costa Rica; Ariana Barouk, a 24-year-old public relations major from Cuba; 19-year-old linguistics student Nana Mamasakhlisi of Georgia; Stacy Garvey, a 19-year-old philosophy major from Nigeria; 20-year-old model Odilia Pamela Garcia Pineda of Peru; Tanja Trobec, a 19-year-old tourism student from Slovenia; 22-year-old model, TV presenter and primary education major Angela Gomez Duran of Spain who resembles Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova of Canada; Ivana Kuzek Gagua, an 18-year-old international work student from Sweden; 22-year-old management-external relations graduate and model Galyna Andreeva of Ukraine; Lisa Marie Forbes, a 26-year-old entrepreneur from the United States; and 20-year-old marketing major Truong Truc Diem of Vietnam.
Miss Earth’s coronation night will be held on Nov. 11, Sunday, at the University of the Philippines Theater in Diliman, Quezon City. This three-hour extravaganza will be aired on ABS-CBN-2 at 9:30 p.m.
