and the 71st Miss Universe competition was just held in new Orleans.
The international event featured nearly 90 women from around the globe,
competing to win this huge title.
Winning this title of Miss Universe turns women into role models overnight,
inspiring young girls everywhere.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with the
newly crowned Miss Universe are Bonnie Gabriel to find out
what this exciting title means to her and how she
plans to use her new platform to inspire change,
take a look.
This title is an accumulation of so much hard work,
so many people that really helped me get
to this point and really believing in myself.
So I mean, I'm just the happiest I've ever been. That's correct. I love hearing that.
What are your goals for your year as Miss Universe?
Well, I want to expand on my mission to use fashion as a force for good.
I'm a designer and I've been sewing for half of my life now and I want to push more
sustainability and ethical practices within the industry because the industry
is the second largest polluting industry in the world,
so I use recycled pieces when I'm Make my
designs when I'm in my studio and I want to spread awareness on that as
well as expand my sewing workshops and provide
learning opportunities all over the world now,
especially because we've learned 70% of clothes end up in landfill,
so that's such an important cause what goes
into training for a miss universe competition.
Training is every day in one way or another, it's like a sport,
so you have to dedicate all of your time to it.
So for me I would wake up and practice walking, go to the gym,
eat very healthy and clean and then being a designer,
I'd be in my studio spending hours and hours
making my pieces that I'd wear at the pageant,
so it's very intense, but
you know, you have to sacrifice to get to where you want to be.
So I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Well you're such a Trailblazer because you're
the first filipino american Miss Universe,
how do you hope to use your platform?
I really hope this shows little girls and just
anyone around the world to really embrace your identity,
own your identity of who you are.
I'm half filipino, half american and I'm so proud of that when I was a child, You know,
I wasn't so sure and I didn't own it as much as I do now.
So I really hope this inspires little girls to feel
special and see themselves in me and I want to
go back to something you said that you designed a
lot of the clothes you wore at the competition.
What goes into these designs? I imagine it being very stressful, very stressful.
Yes, but it's so fun, it's all part of the process and for example,
I made my swimsuit cape that I wore on stage and I dyed it and I
just started with the idea of phoenix rising and I want to share with the world,
the idea of how phoenix rises from the ashes
and rises from adversity and come back stronger.
So I put that message on my cape as well as I took plastic bottles and I cut them up and
I painted them to show the world you can take something
that we think is trash and make art from it.
Can we talk about your woman on, look what was the purpose behind that?
So I wanted to go big for that costume and I wanted to celebrate,
we needed to represent our country in one way or another.
So for me, I wanted to celebrate how America sent the first man on the moon
and now in Nasa, my hometown of Houston,
they're working on setting the first woman to the moon.
So that's what it is,
woman on the moon celebrating that as well as
just having fun with a really big costume.
I mean you're so busy, you're constantly on the go.
How do you find time to invest in yourself and put yourself first
because women sometimes forget that they put everyone else ahead of them.
You know, I think it's a juggling act.
I like to put a lot on my plate and that's kind of how I function when I, I have free time.
I'm not sure what to do with myself,
but I will say what keeps me grounded is a good morning routine,
a solid morning routine,
waking up early enough to do at least five
minutes of yoga and I'm really big on journaling and
writing down five things.
I'm grateful for whether that's in the morning or the evening,
and that just helps me pause and reflect when everything is so busy around me.
Absolutely love that. So from Miss texas to Miss Usa now Miss Universe,
what's next?
What's next?
Well it feels good that I'm not competing anymore because it was so intense
and now I can actually focus on doing the job as Miss Universe.
There's a lot of travel involved in a lot of charities that Miss Universe has
been working with for years that I get to be a spokesperson for now,
so I'm looking forward to all of that this year.
She was absolutely lovely, congratulations again to the 71st Miss Universe,
our Bunny Gabriel.