She walks and talks with grace and her petite figure and soft-spoken nature may immediately offer an impression that befits the shy, pretty girl-next-door criterion.
She is Michele Angela Navarro Okol, a 20-year-old consistent 1st honor Dean’s lister taking up Political Science in one of Manila’s top universities and the first-ever official representative of the Surfing Capital of the Philippines to enter the Miss Universe Philippines pageant.
Behind her grace — which complements her beautiful face and those expressive eyes — and approachable front, you’ll start regarding her with respect the minute she speaks up.
Angela immediately captures your attention with her unique approach in life, how she celebrates her individuality, and her plans to live up to her God-given mission on earth.
For one, when asked her “why” in joining the country’s Miss Universe pageant, others may be quick to quip “world peace” or other social, political, and “Mother Nature” concerns.
But Okol who experienced bullying in her teens for being “too big or healthy” for her age, is taking this big step with a mission to tell her story and be an empowering force to advocate self-acceptance and love and, like her, encourage more people to turn their life around for the better. “A better you contribute to a better world.”
Okol, with 29 others made it to the Top 30 list of candidates vying for the Miss Universe Philippines crown.
This young lass, raised by a long line of soldiers and airmen honing discipline, is excited about her Miss Universe Philippine pageant experience.
She would like to focus more on the fun side plus the learnings and opportunities that the Miss Universe pageant experience will bring to her plate.
From Binibining Pilipinas, who holds the franchise from 1964, the Miss Universe franchise in the Philippines was officially granted to a new organizing body in 2019, with Binibining Pilipinas Universe 2011 Shamcey Supsup-Lee as its national director.
Under the new organization, a separate, standalone pageant is now responsible for the selection of the future Miss Universe Philippines titleholders from 2020 onwards.