International Night @ Utah Valley University

I had never been to a cultural event of this scope because they don't have something of this nature at the University of Utah, where I'm getting my Master's degree. International Night at Utah Valley University is an event where students of varying cultures can showcase their music, food, and clothing. There are numerous booths set up in their grand ballroom, where the public could visit and check out the festivities. I thought the program was put together so well! All of the performances were unique and entertaining. I felt so delighted being part of the audience.

These cute little Venezuelan dancers saw me getting ready in the dressing room and asked for a picture. They were thrilled that Venezuela just won Miss Universe. One day, they'll be pageant queens!

 

Some of the awesome performers! Such a fun show!

Look at all of these beautiful clothing! I'm glad I dressed up in my own Vietnamese traditional dress so I could match with them. Thank you for having me, UVU! I would love to come back and visit again in the future.

Miss Cambodia Utah 2014 Orientation

Over the last couple of years, the state of Utah has seen an emergence of Asian cultural pageants. We have Miss Vietnam Utah, Miss Philippines Utah (which is discontinued until further notice), Miss Laos New Year, Miss Thai Songkhan, and Miss Asia Utah. There's still a lot of countries that go unrepresented in Utah. This is the reason why I am so excited to find out that there will be a Miss Cambodia Utah in 2014! The committee hosted their orientation meeting at Red Maple restaurant. I was pleased to see that there were 8 girls who attend and showed interest in the pageant. They were so gracious to buy dimsum for everyone too, including all of the guests.

From left to right: Agnes (my pageant director), Vibol (one of the directors for Miss Cambodia Utah), me, Ray (a helping friend of the commitee), Janna (the other director for Miss Cambodia Utah), Boneet (Miss Asia Utah, my pageant sister), Chanda (the wardrobe specialist), and Natalie (experienced pageant guru who taught the girls how to walk on stage).

Group pictures with the contestants and pageant commitee.

So happy to see my friend there, who will be helping the girls with their makeup!

I shared my experiences as a person who has been on all sides of the field. I've competed in pageants where I didn't win anything, I've been a runner-up a couple of times, and I've won the crown before. I explained that pageants are not about competing with your fellow contestants, but it's about competing with yourself. The one time that I actually won a title, I refused to wait backstage before it was my turn to perform. I waited in the dressing room until I was up and the reason I did that...was because I didn't want to see how the other girls did. I knew it would mess with my mind and I would re-evaluate everything if I saw how they did. I went out on that stage, with the mindset that I must do MY very best...because I knew that as long as I gave all I could, I wouldn't have any regrets.

The main reason that someone does a pageant should be to give themselves an opportunity to grow. After every single pageant, I've always looked back and identified the things that I could improve. Because of that, I come back each time stronger and more ready. I also mentioned that people need to look at pageantry as a sisterhood, instead of a competition. Some of the dearest friends I've made are ones that I met through pageants. We need to grow TOGETHER, learn TOGETHER, and succeed TOGETHER. Whatever you put into the pageant, that's what you'll get out of it. If you become a cautious, serious, and mean person...at the end of the pageant, you'll look back at it as a horrible experience. But if you are fun, relaxed, and optimistic, you will walk away as a winner no matter what.

I told the girls that they are welcome to contact me at any time for advice and suggestions. Since I am co-directing the Miss Vietnam Utah pageant right now, I am very used to having girls text or call me to brainstorm ideas for their talent selection or wardrobe decision. It always gives you more confident to get more opinions because remember that sometimes you don't see what other people can.

Big thanks to the Miss Cambodia Utah pageant committee for inviting me, Agnes, Boneet, and Natalie to come speak at their orientation. I hope that what I said was convincing enough for the girls to join the pageant. I'll be continuing to help out with their preparation for the competition until April 12, 2014! Stay tuned!

Interview with KSL Radio

Nkoyo Iyamba is currently a journalist at KSL Television & Radio. She was also one of the emcees for our 2013 competition. What we don't know is that she was also the founder and former director of the Miss United Nations USA pageant, which is why it's such a pleasure to work with her again.

Carla Pintado (Miss Hispanidad Utah 2013) and I did a radio interview with Nkoyo regarding my calendar project. We talked about the objectives and mission of our pageant systems. We also discussed our platforms and what we would be donating the proceeds of the calendar to. You can tell I didn't really wear a lot of makeup since radio listeners can't see what I look like anyways. Haha! We couldn't get any other of the pageant queens to come to the interview because it was a last-minute notice.

Thank you, Nkoyo for allowing us to come onto the show and talk about our project!

Grand Opening of Rice Basil

When I still lived in Salt Lake City, I used to go to Rice Fusion all the time for dinner. When Agnes told me that we've been invited to attend the grand opening of Rice Basil, I thought it must've been fate! I moved to Holladay 10 months ago, and so I stopped going to Rice Fusion since it was too far. Then I find out the owner had moved the restaurant to a new location in Holladay. Now I can go eat there again!

Their new facility is still as upscale and classy as the former location. Parking seems to be more limited but you can park on the street. The food is still very good and they were gracious enough to serve free food to the public from 12 pm - 8 pm today.

Thank you, Alice for inviting me to help with the ribbon-cutting ceremony! I wish you and your business nothing but prosperous success. You'll be seeing a lot more of me :)

Ms. Wheelchair Utah 2013

A stressful week, it's been. We had a lot of unexpected obstacles come up with the calendar project. All of the queens from the Miss America and Miss USA system had to withdraw from the project because of reasons that they could not control. I'm thankful that they had the intent to help my cause though. We also had another queen withdraw for personal reasons. So we became short one person. Luckily, fate brought me to Ms. Wheelchair Utah and she agreed to be the 12th model for our calendar!

She is truly an inspiration and just from getting to know her, she really shows that no matter your abilities and disabilities are, you most definitely can still be a queen. Additionally, she adds a great diverse element to our calendar. I'm so excited to have her!

Miss Utah Teen USA 2012

We managed to get Miss Utah Teen USA 2012 to join our group of queens for the calendar! She was so elegant and classy in her photo shoot today. So fun to work with her!

Behind-The-Scenes @ Calendar Shoot

After weeks in the planning and searching for titleholders, we finally were able to select a day where all of the beauty queens could get together and do the photo shoot for the calendar! Big thanks to Trinity and the students at Aveda salon for doing makeup and hair for some of the girls. Also, big thanks to Lyman Wynn at L1quid Studios for allowing us to use his studio to do the photo shoot. Lastly, big thanks to Austin Lindsay Photography for helping me set up everything and for doing the pictures. It was so much fun being able to meet everyone!

The local Miss America titleholders with Miss Utah Latina 2012.

Jawahir and I...we're sash sisters! (Meaning that our sash has the same font and all. Haha)

The two Native American titleholders! They drove the farthest to be there! One drove 3 hours and the other drove 5 hours!

Love her crown! So unique.

I call us the "Southeast Asian" titleholders.

Miss Africa Utah with Miss Utah County and her adorable little miss.

Miss Asia Utah 2012 and Miss Draper 2013.

I decided to hop in for a picture as well.

Miss Utah Latina and Miss Lehi testing out our chairs for the group shoot.

A fun little group photo we got while everyone was getting ready :)

These awesome ladies helped the queens get their hair and makeup ready!

Miss Asia Utah with her teen titleholder.

Had to get a picture with this lovely pair.

We managed to nab National American Miss Utah for the project. She'll be going to nationals very soon.

Overall, it went really well despite the stressful moments when we were crunching time and helping girls find the location of the studio. A sincere and heartfelt THANK YOU to all of the queens who came out for this project. Can't wait to see the final result! :)