Dia Mate was able to meet Winwyn Marquez before she left for her international pageant competition
Reina Hispanoamericana 2017 Winwyn Marquez shared this advice with beauty queen-singer Dia Mate for her international pageant competition.
Winwyn was the first Pinay beauty queen who won at the Latin-based beauty pageant. In 2017, it was the first time for the Philippines to send a representative in Reina Hispanoamericana and Winwyn did a great job in representing the country.
For this year’s competition, Dia will represent the Philippines. In an interview, based on the article in PEP, she admitted that she felt nervous about her international pageant stint.
She said this is because she is competing against Latinas, who are also known to be great contenders in beauty pageants.
She is also stepping into their home court since it is a Latina-based pageant and this is a disadvantage for her. However, Dia Mate pointed out that Filipinas are “palaban” and brave. “So, either way, I’m going to compete and be the best Reina I can be for the Philippines,” the girlfriend of singer JK Labajo said.
Then, Dia shared how she met the first Pinay Reina Hispanoamericana for the first time. Before leaving for Bolivia where the competition will happen, Gerry Diaz, Winwyn Marquez’s mentor, contacted Dia Mate if she was free that day.
“And he said, ‘Because I’m having lunch right now with Winwyn, are you in the area? It’s just in the Rockwell area, let me know if you can make it,’” Dia shared.
She said yes immediately because she wanted to meet the Kapuso star. It would be amazing for her to meet the first Pinay Reina Hispanoamericana. “So I went to meet with her and she was so, so nice. She answered any question that I have. She told me about her whole journey,” Dia said.
Then, Dia shared what Winwyn said to her. “The most important thing Winwyn told me was to not be intimidated by the Latinas and to really focus on myself and my own journey…” she said.
Dia added that it is because she could get lost in the noise during the pageant and self-doubt may arise. Then, this might affect her performance and how she would present herself to the pageant audience.
“So, that’s what I’m keeping inside for this journey… it’s to make sure that I’m focusing on myself, blocking out all the noise, and performing the best I can,” the beauty queen-singer said.
Dia Mate also shared that for her preparation, aside from the usual strict diet, workout, getting healthy mentally and physically, getting ready for the Q&A, and her pasarela training, she also had to take Spanish lessons.