Beauty queen Hannah Arnold is currently in Tokyo, Japan competing at the 60th edition of Miss International. She is vying for the seventh Miss International crown for the country today at the Tokyo Dome City Hall.
The previous Filipina beauty queens who won the Miss International crown were Gemma Cruz Araneta in 1964, Aurora Pijuan (1970), Melanie Marquez (1979), Lara Quigaman (2005), Bea Santiago (2013), and Kylie Verzosa (2016).
Before flying to Tokyo, the 26-year-old Filipino-Australian sat with Manila Standard Entertainment for an exclusive interview and spoke about her journey to the crown. She expressed her being excited and emotional at the same time because “it’s two weeks of competition which is crazy to think that all the years of preparation wrapped up into that short amount of time.”
Hannah has been to Japan before that’s why she was excited to be back and meet the other delegates.
“We have a group chat, we’ve been talking a lot. So I know it’s going to be a great experience,” the statuesque beauty said noting that she has already built a close connection with Miss New Zealand and Miss Spain because they share the same passion for food.
Hannah is one of the Binibining Pilipinas winners who had waited a longer time to compete. She won the Binibining Pilipinas International title in July 2021.
“It’s been a year and a half. I started with my preparations but suddenly they announced that Miss International was postponed so I kind of stopped with my physical training but I kept on researching and tried to imagine myself there in the competition,” she recalled.
“The stars shine their brightest in the dark, so for all my supporters who are feeling a little lost or that their plans are being delayed, I’d like them to take this time to go refresh because they’ll come out even stronger and brighter,” she said alluding to her experience waiting to compete which she would want to share as an inspiring message with her fans.
Hannah has been taking part in various advocacy projects. As an advocate of science and education. She’s an ambassador of the Department of Science and Technology. During her reign as Binibining Pilipinas International, she helped provide reading and writing materials to children in far-flung towns in the country. She is an HIV awareness advocate and a long-time partner of LoveYourself PH, a community of volunteers that provides free HIV testing, counseling, treatment, and life coaching.
“So, when I say my training was kind of different, it means I didn’t just focus on the pasarela and hair and makeup. I also focused on the advocacy side. I’m very lucky. I think that I was able to immerse myself and enjoy the advocacy part,” she said.
When Bea Santiago won the Miss International crown in 2013, Hannah admitted that she became an instant fan and started seeing herself on the pageant stage.
“Bea is also from Masbate. She inspired me to join pageants. I got curious about what pageant candidates do,” she said adding that Pia Wurtzbach is also one of the beauty queens in the country that she looks up to.
“Pia is always so kind to me and she always gives me inspiring messages. I hope I can be like her one day.”
In her pageant journey, apart from her fans, she considers her family as her biggest cheerleader.
“I used to do ballet for ten years. Every time I’m onstage and I would see their faces, my mom, my dad, and my ate, that would make me so excited, so knowing that they would always be there that’s a big morale boost. Even from the distance, they’re really cheering me on,” she enthused.
Coming out of the pageant, Hannah believes that it’s going to be a unique and wonderful journey for her. Building long-lasting friendships and learning about other cultures are two of the main things that she would want to have as takeaways from the prestigious beauty competition.
“Walking away from the competition, I know that I’m going to have so many sisters from around the world. As early as now we’re talking about visiting the Philippines, then we’re planning to go to another country next. One of our sisters sent a picture of the Northern Lights and we said okay, next year let’s go visit it,” she said.
“I know I’m going to walk away with some of the most unique and memorable experiences. With or without the crown I’m still going to advocate, and try to be that voice, and I know that I’m going to have a big following still so I need to maintain that I’m using my voice for well-meaning causes,” she ended.