International beauty queen Gemma Teresa Cruz-Araneta had a pep talk with the Hara sa FU aspirants on how to survive the pageant during the screening held Nov. 14 at the Lawak Kauswagan.
As the first Filipina and first Asian to win the crown as Miss International crown in 1964, Gemma Cruz confessed that no one professional [handler] actually taught her how to sit or how to walk in pageants.
“It was my mother [writer and journalist Carmen Guerrero Nakpil] who taught me how to walk when I was a year old, and it was my grandmother who always told me to sit with crossed legs,” she recalled.
“Listen to what your mother and grandmother say,” Araneta, now 73, advised the 20 candidates.
She also mentioned about the importance of mentorship at home and in school, which could be of great use when surviving endeavors that are “tremendously different from the usual daily routine” such as pageants and similar competitions.
The screening committee for the Hara sa FU was also composed of Research Director Dr. Peter Dayot, Hara producer Dean David “Dingdong” Ang of DDA Events, and Naddie May Orillana-Tejam, who was Ms. FUHS 2003, and Ms. Buglasan 2005.