Like A True Queen: Katarina Rodriguez Gracious In Defeat After Almost Winning Miss Intercontinental 2017
The elusive Miss Intercontinental title may have slipped from the hands of Philippine representative Katarina Rodriguez, but she has nonetheless made the country proud with her impressive first runner-up finish.
Miss Intercontinental started back in 1971 as a promotional event for the tourism in Aruba, and evolved into an international, annual pageant that showcases beautiful and talented young women from around the world. This year's pageant, which was held on January 24 (January 25, Manila time) at the Sunrise Garden Beach Resort in Hurghada, Egypt, crowned Mexico’s Veronica Salas Vallejo as the Miss Intercontinental 2017. Placing second runner-up is Catherlinjne Heppenhuis from Netherlands.
Aside from being the first runner-up, Katarina was also named as Miss Intercontinental Asia and Oceania.
Katarina, who was also a runner-up on Asia's Next Top Model, was a strong contender. The beauty queen whose advocacies include peace and HIV-Aids awareness placed third in the pageant’s online voting. Then come the coronation night, she not only wowed in the swimsuit and evening gown portions, she also gave a very impressive answer during the question and answer portion.
The question: “What is the most important thing that you have learned about participating in Miss Intercontinental?" The 24-year-old Filipina beauty queen, who looked stunning in a pink strapless Francis Libiran gown, confidently answered:
"The most important thing that I have learned while participating in Miss Intercontinental is actually an Arabic word, which is named after one of the resorts in Sunrise. It’s called Meraki. It means to do all things with passion, soul, and creativity. When I heard this word and the definition, it resonated with me 'til now and I think it will for the rest of my life. Therefore, that is the most important thing I learned while participating in this pageant. Meraki, to do all things with soul, passion, and creativity."
It was a brief, straight-to-the-point, and very-well-said answer. She didn’t beat around the bush and, more importantly, she didn’t buckle.
Miss Mexico, on the other hand, was asked what qualities the Miss Intercontinental should have. Veronica said that she should have “passion, discipline, love” for what she does.
Knowing that she gave her best, Katarina naturally felt sad that she didn’t win. In a live video uploaded on the Facebook page of Miss Intercontinental, Katarina joined Miss Mexico and Miss Netherlands, and was seen teary-eyed as she commented, “Okay lang ito, okay? I miss all of you, I miss my country. It was a tough ride, it was a lot of work, a lot of hours.”
During the actual coronation, Katarina shared on Instagram that Miss Mexico’s crown fell off her head. She wrote, “YES, I did have to pick it up and hand it to her. How could I not say it was such a painful thing for me to do? But when giving the crown to her I swear to you there was this energy that went through her and straight to me and this is where I knew I am no longer a child but a woman.”
It truly takes maturity to accept defeat, and for that, Katarina is a true queen.
Katarina collaborated with her good friend PJ Almera for this photoshoot, which was done just before she left for Egypt for the Miss Intercontinental pageant. On this shoot, PJ told Metro.Style, "We shot all these layouts in just one day from 4pm-12mn. We took a lot of layouts just to make the shoot very productive, and we didn't know we would come up with around 10-12 sets with wardrobe, hair, and makeup changes!"?
And as we’ve seen during Katarina’s Miss Intercontinental journey in Egypt, she is also a style queen in the making. Her outfits are smart and sophisticated yet fun as well.
Her fashion stylist and good friend, PJ Almera, shared with Metro.Style that each and every outfit went through careful planning: “We planned for almost a month but we finalized and packed everything only in one night.”
“Katarina is one of the smartest beauty queens I know. She comes up with concepts that are super well thought out, like her departure outfit; she wanted to wear the colors of the flag but didn’t want to make it look tacky or costume-y, still fashionable and elegant,” PJ adds. “Katarina is actually not a fan of high-end brands. She’s more of what looks nice rather than what is expensive.”
Airport #OOTD
Plane Jane Chic
Sultry in Sheer
Pretty in Pink
Blooming Beauty
White Hot
Sexy and Playful
Sharp and Smart
Gorgeous Pinay
Effortlessly Stylish and Dinner-Ready
Boho Chic
Congratulations, Katarina!
Photos from @katarinarodri (cover photo) and @misterpatrickjames (thumbnail)
