Catriona Gray is captivating. Point-blank. Period.
And when she speaks, she’s clear, concise, sincere. The beautiful Bicolana-Australian, 24, was introduced as the guest editor of the online magazine-type site, Lifestyle.abs-cbn.com, at Novotel Hotel in Araneta Center.
She’s the first celebrity to hold the title #ABSCBNLifestyleInspo, and she is tasked to write about everything lifestyle-ish while correlating the topics to her journey as our bet for Miss Universe 2018. The model-singer admits that she has no editorial background, but I think she can easily put her articulate thoughts into writing.
What I love about her, too, is that she’s a voracious reader. She prefers audiobooks and she consumes multiple books at a time, the recent ones being The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu and Douglas Carlton Abrams (“It’s a feel-good book.”); The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg and Mike Chamberlain; and Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are So You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be by Rachel Hollis (“It’s a really good book.”).
Here she is, our Miss Universe Philippines 2018, unabridged:
Which of the past Miss Universe winners inspire you?
Definitely Pia (Wurtzbach)!
Besides Pia, Margarita (Moran) and Gloria (Diaz), did you study anyone else’s legacies and advocacies after winning?
No, I haven’t studied that many (Miss Universe queens) post-winning. That’s because before joining pageants, I wasn’t much of a fan. I wasn’t really a spectator. I only really knew about pageants from my mom (Normita) who’s loved Miss Universe ever since. I can’t recall her name but when Miss Mexico won in a red dress—(Lupita Jones? I interjected)—yes. When my mom first saw her win, she was like, I can just imagine you in a red dress like that….
In terms of advocacies, I’m not really aware of what they did before their crowning, but they have something to be admired about them and they’ve all done something with the platform of Miss Universe. I can’t really single out one eh.
(Catriona’s mom may have been referring to Ximena Navarette, who won in 2010, when Cat would have been 16. Lupita won in 1991. Both Mexicans wore a red dress during their crowning.)
Miss Universe is focused on HIV/AIDS and breast-cancer awareness. Do you want to inject another advocacy should you win?
Education. Education I feel is transformative and it should be deserving to anyone. It should be a basic human right. Why? Both of my advocacy works are centered on education. I work with two organizations, the one in Tondo—Young Focus—and LoveYourself, about HIV/AIDS awareness, treatment, support and counseling.
Education gives equal opportunities. If you give a child an education, it’s something that they’ll never lose and it can be the means to getting their family possibly out of poverty, or realizing their dreams for themselves.
Education also means getting rid of ignorance and stigma that affect so many people’s lives. You can even save lives through education, like knowing things about HIV and AIDS, how it’s contracted, how it’s treated. Education is so life-changing, I think everyone should have the right to education.
How did you start your involvement in these charities?
For Young Focus, I just actually looked online. I had never done charity work before in my life. I was 21 and then I was just looking around to volunteer in something. Growing up in Australia (Cairns, Queensland), I never experienced poverty the way that it is here in the Philippines. When I walked in the streets of Tondo (with my mom and Young Focus), I went to the Smokey Mountain area and the temporary housing area, and saw the slums, I was so affected. That was one of the life-changing moments for me.
When I was a model, I didn’t have any platform at all. I wanted to just volunteer. I wanted to just help out.
With regards to Miss Universe, when you see Miss Australia Francesca Hung, what would you say to her?
I would love to talk to Miss Australia. Feeling ko, when I talk to her, my Australian accent would come out! Like with my daddy (Ian), who has a full-on Australian accent, so whenever I talk to him, my accent also adjusts.
Actually, we have a WhatsApp group with some of the Miss Universe girls.
What about Miss Belgium Angeline Flor Pua?
She’s Pinay, ’di ba? Yeah, would love to talk to her and maybe she can teach me some words. (Laughs) And sana she brings baon na chocolates ’cause I heard that Belgian chocolate is the best!
We love you for being an ally to the LGBT community. And we have Miss Spain Angela Ponce, who is very controversial right now. Because you are already well-informed about LGBT issues, if there are other candidates who may be, without realizing it, transphobic, what would you do to educate them?
I think it’s really getting members of the transgender community to communicate their side: What is it like to be them? What are the challenges and the stigma and the things that people come up and say to them? What are the things that people believe about them?
I think it’s so important to hear their side, because if
not, it’s all speculation: they must be like this, they must see things like this. To push those labels and to push those opinions on them without letting them speak, I think that’s the greatest injustice. That’s why Angela’s joining is a turning point because she’s being that figure for the LGBTQ community. She’s being a spokesperson for the transgenders to say that, “We deserve a place in society. This is our side. Please listen to us.” Yeah, I think it’s wonderful that it has come up this year.
How many are you in your group chat?
We’re only actually 12 or 15.
Who spearheaded that?
Me! (Her pride and excitement is readily obvious.)
That’s nice. So you just added them?
I just messaged them on Instagram: “Hey! Do you have WhatsApp? Maybe we can make a group together?” We have Venezuela. Australia is there. Thailand. Myanmar. Brazil. Panama. USA. South Africa. Bolivia….
So, whoever gets crowned, you immediately add her?
Yeah! I try and do my best. But sometimes it’s hard to keep up. Usually I just get tagged in compilation photos with different countries so I find their tags there and I send them a message. Some of them haven’t responded yet; baka I’m in their other folders or maybe we’re not following each other.
The girls (in the group) are really sweet! We’re like, “Hi!” We’re all excited to meet each other. It would be nice to get there (at the competition venue) and not call each other by country lang. I’d rather that you can say their first names.
With regards to your training, do you still have anything to improve on or reinforce?
Oo! I feel like there’s everything that needs to be improved on! I’m that kind of person who’s never content. That’s the perfectionist aspect. But the thing that I love improving the most on is definitely Q&A because as you can tell, I can talk a lot! But when you only got 30 seconds, you can’t talk a lot. (Chuckles) So it’s one thing I really am training for.