WE'VE got another beauty queen and Ms. Universe contender on our cover. This time, it's Clint Holton P. Potestas asking the questions.
NO MATTER how our team desperately coordinates with the security administrators, dispersing the human domino for our exclusive interest is impossible, especially that Venus Raj’s height at 5’9”—plus, the six-inch, open-toe gladiator sandals on this particular day—could conjure hype and hoopla anytime.
The quadrangle is cleared up before the shoot begins. But it couldn’t be helped; the students notice Venus stepping out of the holding area. They instantly vacated their rooms once more, like a domino being pushed over, stretching back and forward.
She waves at them, quickly donates to the camera the best possible pose in the middle of the instant photo shoot. And with that one winning gesture, the 23-year old Venus signals that she is not only aware that the grounds have become a runway lined with admirers yelling her name in awe on an otherwise quiet Friday morning at Lahug Elementary School, but also the idea that she’s OK with it.
Her presence alone is already a command. Earlier, she spoke to the same students to talk about her campaign that promotes nutrition among kids and how health can truly aid them in success.
“I said yes to this advocacy because it is something that I can instantly relate to,” Venus talks about her Bear Brand’s Laki Sa Gatas (LSG) nutrition education advocacy. “I think I am the right person to talk about nutrition, poverty, and achieving dreams all together.”
Jasmin Estacio, Consumer Marketing Manager of Bear Brand, explains in a written statement that “her life itself should serve as an inspiration to all whom we intend to touch.”
The beauty titlist will be all over the country for this goal. For her Cebu leg, she spends time with school children for a day to conduct storytelling sessions and play games with them. Then she simultaneously signs up the “ambition glass.” The students are instructed to draw their ambitions on a piece of paper that will be pasted around the body of a drinking glass as a reminder about the importance of taking adequate and proper nutrition to pursue one’s dreams.
She has that charisma the Cebuano market is so attracted to. Her two previous visits were largely for business: when A.S.A.P., a Sunday noontime variety show on ABS-CBN where she is a regular cast, held its episode at the South Road Project, followed by the Cream Silk marketing caravan.
Staying healthy is a top requirement. Because she co-hosts the magazine show Umagang Kay Ganda that airs from Monday to Friday on ABS-CBN, she carries a tumbler of milk as an energy drink with her to last the day.
She is no longer the girl who was once criticized for being too dark, tall, and skinny. In fact, these have become distinctive qualities when she placed third as the Philippines’ representative to the Miss Universe in 2010, competing against more than 70 contenders all over the world.
It was a victory worth fighting for. After winning the Bb. Pilipinas pageant (the victor immediately is the official contender to the Miss Universe), she was dethroned due to her citizenship status. She was born in Doha, Qatar to an Indian father and a Filipino mother.
“If I allowed it to happen, I would not be able to get to where I am now. And if I didn’t fight for it, I would not realize how many friends, family, lawyers, and most especially the gay community that conducted a signature campaign asking for reinstatement. Because of that, I was inspired and fought all the way until I was reinstated.
It was so dramatic,” Venus goes on, “that even the owner of Miss Universe called me up to clarify about the controversy. She asked me if I was granted a Phillippine passport, and I answered yes, so she said, then you’re a Filipino, and therefore entitled to represent the Philippines.”
And if there’s any value a child should emulate, it would be sheer determination.
Compared to all stories written about an iron-fist drive to success, hers is a living
legend. Born to an Indian father and Filipino mother, Venus grew up in rural community
in Camarines Sur, residing in a nipa hut made of wood, anahaw, and bamboo.
“Our house is located in the middle of a very vast rice field. So from school, I would walk on the pathway, imagining that the plantation and the grains are my audience,” laughs the beauty titlist of her childhood memories. Even before becoming famous, Venus was already active in the performing arts, championing oratorical contests at the San Vicente High School in her hometown. She completed her degree, cum laude, in Communication Arts major in Journalism.
She is not a party animal. She sleeps at 9 in the evening (one beauty secret), whether she has projects the next day or not. “And because I am probinsyana (provincial girl), I don’t enjoy going to clubs,” Venus laughs. “Twelve midnight should be the latest
time I’d stay late.”
Otherwise, you can spot her in Marikina for her charity program. As the Department of Social Welfare and Development ambassador, she says, “We give 300 pesos to each school child there. It’s a little amount, but I surely know how it can greatly help them.
I’ve been there. A lot of them are constrained with the daily allowance.”
Good answer, but the rest of us wonders—what happened to your love life?\
Perhaps, impossible qualification? I asked.
Not at all. The thing is, they never tried,” Venus gives that familiar laughter. “For the last four years, I’ve never been in a relationship. I would most likely fall for a Cebuano, or any Filipino because I am never attracted to foreign or Caucasian men.”
Good news for Pinoy men, isn’t it?