Model networking nights & beauty queens

BEAUTY QUEENS AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN.

by Jill Antonio

When you think BEAUTY PAGEANT - what first springs to mind?

Crowns, gowns, glitz, glamour? Maybe you’re like me and think: hair spray. tight dresses. sky-high heels, and plastered smiles.

After April 1st though, I discovered pageants are no joke (pun intended).

On April Fool’s day this year, AUSSIE ELITE hosted it’s April bi-monthly networking night in the penthouse of the architecturally stunning Central Park location, Sydney’s latest downtown urban village.

The theme for the night was pageantry: what it takes, and what it’s all about.

Conversations that evening proved there’s a lot more to beauty than meets the eye.

Among the near 50 guests was the charming Maryrose Salubre, recently earning the title of Mrs Universe South East Asia. Maryrose also herself runs the annual pageants Miss/Mr/Mrs Australasia and Miss Teen Australasia.

When discussing her usual judgment criteria, she said, she often asks young contestants how they intend to fundraise for various charitable causes.

Maryrose takes pride in the contestants, saying she’s seen they’re not only very pretty, but also smart and tech savvy young women with an awareness of how to leverage the power of social media to exercise their influence.

Hundreds more images are visible on our Facebook page.

We were also graced with the presence of Dayanna Grageda, 2015’s Miss Earth Australia winner. After playfully noting that we were in the sustainable energy building that is Central Park - she expressed that there’s much more to the crown than the title itself.

Having returned from a stint in Manila speaking on climate change and environmental issues to inspire change, her passion and generosity was apparent in the way she both spoke and acted.

Apart from the perceived glamour of beauty pageants, they most definitely open doors for opportunity… opportunities to be recognised not just for one's outward beauty (which is never lacking), but for compassion, intellect and heart.

All around, photographers, makeup artists, models and the like were swapping business cards and mingling. Even the Star Central Magazine team dropped by. The evening ended in photographs on the stunning Garden Terrace, pictured here.