EXCLUSIVE: Miss U PH National Director Shamcey Supsup-Lee On Revolutionizing The Local Pageant Scene
With just two months left in the year, Shamcey is ending 2020 as a different—a better—person than she was when it began
Rebirth—if there's a word Metro Chats guest Shamcey Supsup-Lee chooses to sum up the 10 months of 2020 that have gone by, it's that.
The pandemic left no stone unturned and, really, forced many of us to reckon with the spiritual, emotional, mental, and even physical changes brought on by the circumstances. There was no getting around the consequences of what's proven to be an uncomfortable, testing, and generally tough year, but this beauty queen-turned-pageant director knew exactly what to do with the symbolic second life the COVID-19 crisis had given her. The fact that she'd considered it a chance to be reborn (instead of a painful death of our old, familiar lives and selves) is a testament to how she's approaching things positively.
The yearly Miss Universe Philippines competition—an event that's become so deeply ingrained in Philippine culture—has become her responsibility to overlook, her first task of the year being to save it from indefinite postponement due to the pandemic. Who wouldn't be stressed out?
It took four months of Shamcey thinking on her toes and continuously innovating but in the end, she managed to pull off big plans for the event, and in the process, even revolutionize beauty pageants as Filipinos have come to know them.
As we were joined by Shamcey Supsup-Lee on Metro Chats via Kumu's FYE Channel yesterday, she's safely tucked away in Bagiuo, counting down the days until coronation night scheduled to take place on October 25, Sunday.
For the biggest pageant fans, Shamcey has more good news to share with you. In case you missed it, there's a new digital series you should be checking out.
Ring Light, the first of its kind in the entire world, is now available for streaming on empire.ph and it's the first time Pinoy pageant fanatics are taken along on the journey to the crown. Designed to showcase the innerworkings of pageant life from ramp training and choosing advocacies to making meaningful friendships and tackling candidates' personal stories of growth, viewers get to see what it truly means to transform a woman into a queen.
Ring Light has a total eight episodes, and, know that with each subscription to the digital show, parts of the proceeds go to each of the candidates' chosen beneficiaries. (Learn more about the show and how to subscribe here).
Check out the highlights of our exclusive interview with Shamcey Supsup-Lee on Metro Chats via Kumu's FYE Channel:
Shamcey Supsup-Lee on Metro Chats
Shamcey Supsup-Lee on Metro Chats
Shamcey as MUP's national director
In case you missed it, Shamcey Supsup-Lee took over The Miss Universe Philippines pageant as its national director in December 2019, inheriting the responsibility of helping pick out the country's bet to the yearly international competition. This year's Miss U Philippines competition is her first! After a couple months of quarantine-caused delay, Shamcey has finally made her way to Baguio, where she and the 2020 candidates are stationed for the competition's set of activities.
The challenges of pushing through with the pageant
Still on the topic of delaying pageant activities, would you believe that Shamcey and her team had actually considered postponing the competition in its entirety? Imagine that—the Philippines absent at the Miss Universe competition! It was simply because of the uncertainty brought on by the pandemic, and the difficulty in rounding up candidates who, naturally, were bound by lockdown rules and stuck in different parts of the country, from Luzon to Mindanao. It was a safety first approach to the pageant, Shamcey says, and it wouldn't have been worth it to continue as if there was no pandemic simply for the sake of keeping to their schedule.
A behind-the-scenes look into the candidates' pageant journey
Coronation night was initially set for May, and finally, it found a new schedule on October 25. But during the four months of strict lockdown, Shamcey wasn't sitting back and relaxing; she was hard at work, figuring out how to innovate the Miss U Philippines competition to roll with the times. The result? She and her team came up with an 8-episode digital series called "Ring Light," and it features all the BTS material pageant fans want to see from the event.
On creating Filipina leaders
It's a "learning journey program," according to Shamcey and it was part of them wanting to revolutionize the local pageant scene. "We wanted to create Filipina leaders, not just beauty queens," she says, saying that the show wasn't just produced for entertainment value for audiences at home/pageant fanatics, but to help the candidates themselves discover what it means to be given the chance to represent the country. The "learning" aspect of "Ring Light" was for the girls—to help them figure out their advocacies, get in touch with their values, and really to deepen their purpose for becoming Miss Universe Philippines overall. "Ayaw lang namin na they'll tell us what sector they want to help, pero, paano nila gagawin? That's what we're here for... How will you continue all your plans for your chosen beneficiary or advocacy?" Shamcey continues.
What it truly means to be a "queen"
That's not to say that "Ring Light" is all business and no fun at all. It's both, and it achieves this by giving the biggest pageant fans an in-depth look into what goes on behind the curtains when candidates transform from Miss U-hopefuls to Miss U-ready. "You'll see the journey of each candidate as the discover the queen within and unleash it onstage," Shamcey says, the whole point of which is also to inspire viewers that one need not not be a "queen" to do good work in this world.
The relevance of pageants in the midst of a pandemic
Best of all, Shamcey was prepared to answer a question on many people's minds these days. In a time of a pandemic, what are pageants for? (She said that she and her team needed to be able to agree on an answer to that before they could confidently push through with their plans). "In life, we don't just try to get our basic necessities. We don't just try to survive," Shamcey begins. "Life is more than that. We want to inspire people that despite the challenges and difficulties that they have, they can still dream, and that their dreams are valid whether they're considered 'essential or non-essential,'" she continues.
Using their platform for good causes
It's also why Shamcey and her team were so focused on making sure candidates knew the true value of picking out an advocacy. When viewers subscribe to watch "Ring Light," parts of the proceeds from subscription fees go to each of the girls' beneficiaries. Everything is meaningfully connected in this year's Miss U Philippines competition.
Her first MUP experience has truly been a baptism of fire
It's definitely a baptism of fire for Shamcey whose first year of heading the Miss U Philippines group couldn't have been more exciting/worrying at the same time! Being its national director is something she's taken to heart, pressure and all, but she believes "Hindi naman ibibigay sa iyo ang isang bagay 'kung hindi mo kaya." She admits that her plans for the year had been turned inside out and upside down by the pandemic and she needs to work around more limitations than she had anticipated but even so, she wishes to make the Filipino proud with her work. After all, there's nothing like a good old pageant run to lift the spirits of Filipinos everywhere!
In this pageant, there's no such thing as a "sure win"
With the Miss U Philippines coronation night just two days away, Shamcey says that it's still pretty impossible to pick out the strongest candidates most likely to win the crown. "Somebody will always shine come coronation night," she explains, adding that there's virtually no such thing as a "sure win" in these competitions. In case you were wondering how the winner will be chosen, the Top 16 picks will be decided on by the Miss U Philippines directors (that includes Shamcey), however, it'll be totally up to the competition's judges to name Miss Universe Philippines come October 25. And when a winner is named, she can be sure that she'll be trained by only the best set of mentors and she'll be surrounded only by those wanting nothing but to see her conquer the Miss U 2020 stage.
Her perception on beauty
Even with her new position as the Miss U Philippines national director, Shamcey's answer to the question "What is beauty, exactly?" hasn't changed. That's because she doesn't have a definitive answer; beauty's definition is fluid, forever changing with the times, but what remains the same is a woman's confidence that commands attention. "It's really owning your personality and authenticity. Showcase your character through your outer beauty. Kaya sa mga winners, wala namang magkakamukha diyan. Wala namang there's a certain 'peg' that you have to follow in order to win. It really boils down to how you see yourself... I also believe in destiny!" Shamcey smiles.
The real essence of being a beauty queen
Thinking back to her own experience on the Miss Universe stage in 2011, Shamcey admits she didn't quite "feel" that her ultimate purpose was to win the crown and become Miss Universe. She wanted to make a name for herself in the pageant scene, sure, but something within her had always told her that being Miss U Philippines would amount to something more, something that was bigger and more valuable than a title, crown, and sash combined. "I was destined to be on that stage so that the universe would hear what was in my heart," she says. Since becoming Miss Universe 2011's third runner-up, self-discovery has been the name of the game for her.
"Beauty queens are made"
In fact, if there's anything that Shamcey wants future Miss U Philippines candidates to know, it's that they shouldn't expect themselves to be fully confident, flawless, and in-the-know about, well, everything. "You are not born a beauty queen. I think beauty queens are made. You're like a student. You learn throughout as a student, and once you graduate, you are a better version of you!" Shamcey assures.
An empowered woman who empowers other women
You can have the best of both worlds. That's a lesson Shamcey wants to teach, too. A woman, a modern woman, need not choose between a "serious" career and one in entertainment and beauty. She uses herself as an example; she's an accomplished architect, did great in school, and has a world outside showbiz, however, she's equally involved in pageantry and respected in both arenas. It was even doubly challenging for Shamcey who had to make a name for herself in a male-dominated industry that doesn't always put women at par with their male counterparts. But in the end, here she is! Happy, successful, and more than anything, empowered and empowering others.
Turning a problem into an opportunity to help
Talking about how the pandemic has affected her personal life, Shamcey says she and her family, especially their businesses, weren't spared. She and her husband, Lloyd Lee, are restaurant owners and with most of their locations in malls, they were hit hard by quarantine restrictions. Eventually, they pivoted their business to cater to frontliners and other hard hit groups for about four months instead. There was a point that they were preparing 2,000 meals daily, and sending them to different hospitals (and even students stuck in their dorms in school). "Even though it was a negative thing, we were able to turn it into a positive thing and help others in time of a pandemic," she says.
Family time—all day everyday
The biggest blessing of this whole situation is Shamcey spending a ton of uninterrupted time with her husband, her 4-year-old daughter, and her 2-year-old son. It's hard to focus sometimes, though, because her kids always want to be involved! The distractions are real, she laughs, and it's sometimes impossible to figure out how to separate work and home with two toddlers but this has been a time she'll forever treasure.
On valuing the things we used to take for granted
As a parting thought, Shamcey has this to share with everyone: "It has made us realize the things that we take for granted. Hopefully, when the time comes that everything goes back to normal, hindi natin makalimutan 'yung mga small, simple luxuries that we get to enjoy like going out with our friends, seeing family members, being able to go out and not think about being infected and just being able to enjoy your surroundings. Hopefully we don't forget what we experienced during this pandemic and enjoy what life has given us, and our lives!"
Check out other interview highlights from Metro Chats on Kumu's FYE Channel below:
Catch fresh episodes of Metro Chats on Kumu's FYE Channel every Thursday evening!
Photos from @supsupshamcey
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