Discovering PIA, the Queen

On the eve of the Ms. Universe pageant, I found myself drawn to the whole spectacle. The reason: Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach. ‘Till late in the evening, I watched interviews with and about her, and I discovered a real person – sweet, hardworking and friendly – behind a face and figure hailed as the most beautiful in the universe.

Everybody knows her basic story, that she competed in the Bb. Pilipinas tilt twice before finally getting the crown in the third try. But it was only that night that I fully understood and appreciated what that really meant – the determination, hard work, discipline, sacrifices and even embarrassment that she endured through the process. And to think that, while at it, there was not any assurance that she would eventually bag the title. It really must have taken such faith and steadfast focus on her dream.

And in fact, it all started with a childhood dream. Watching the pageant with her mom when she was young, emulating how the contestants sashayed, dress up and make their faces, and imagining that she would one day walk their walk, bred her dream to be Ms. Universe someday.

But it wasn’t going to be that easy. I learned that for a time, she was the family’s breadwinner. And because of this, her dream of being a beauty queen had to be set aside because she couldn’t stop working. And then she finally found the opportunity to give her dream a try, but sadly, failed. So she tried again. And again. This time she made it and then she made history by becoming, in her own words, the most popular Ms. Universe.

In the end, it wasn’t just Ms. Steve Harley’s gaffe that would make her famous. It was because she took her title as Ms. Universe seriously, and made sure her reign would make a difference not just for herself, but for the people whose lives she touched, the organization behind her success whom she inspired, and a country that she brought to the world’s notice. It was during this stage, when she showed her love and care for them all, that she proved herself a real queen, a confidently beautiful queen, with a heart.

Queen Pia’s success story taught me many lessons, especially that of holding on to your dream. One has to keep working, trying, striving, because dreams have a way of coming true. And when they do, then it becomes time to show worthiness by giving meaning to the dream.