Filipino-Australian Andrea Jaca Smith is Australia's representative to the Miss Trans Star International 2017 to be held in Barcelona, Spain on the 7th of October 2017.
The Filipino-Australian citizen from Dandenong, Melbourne has long been joining pageants since she was 19-years-old.
Growing up in the Philippines, where gay pageants are a hugely popular trend, seemed to be an added benefit for Andrea.
"Transgender beauty pageants are a celebration of the unique beauties and distinctiveness of each and every human being," Andrea tells SBS Filipino.
"It is a festivity for people open-minded enough to accept idiosyncrasy in others and display respect in the highest and noblest possible way."
Listen to Andrea's full interview (in Filipino) with SBS Filipino below:
LISTEN TO
Filo-Aussie to represent Australia for Miss Transtar International
SBS Filipino
09/09/201708:37
The 36-year-old title holder is now preparing for the pageant by doing a series training, looking after what she eats and going to the gym regularly.
"I’m doing catwalk training," she explains. "I do train girls for local and international pageants so it is an advantage for me but of course I have to look for my diet at the same time and I do regularly go to gym."
The five-foot-six-inch trans woman now has 17 years experience of joining beauty competitions, also dedicate her time in training and honing young girls competing for local and international pageants.
Accompanied by her mentor and friend during her interview at SBS Radio, Ramfel Huggins shares how proud she is of Andrea’s achievement.
"We were very confident with Andrea because she’s not only Miss Transsexual Australia, she’s also former Miss Belgium and Miss International Queen in 2015," says Huggins. "I was actually Miss Australia."
"We competed together but we are childhood friends, we’re from Cebu, so we’ve been friends since we were 15-years-old."
The two have have continually supported each other in their endeavors around the world.
Huggins, who is also a graduate of Fashion Design in London is also creating Andrea’s wardrobe for the pageant including the National costume.
Andrea Jaca Smith holding the Australian flag heading to Barcelona, Spain to compete for Miss Trans Star International 2017 Source: Image courtesy: Miss gay and Miss Transsexual Australia International
"We’re actually designing a haute couture white and blue cocktail Melbourne-cup style to represent Australia," says Huggins.
"I think the Melbourne cup for us would be the most flamboyant and the most significant way to celebrate the Australian culture."
Being the first Filipino-Australian representative at Miss Trans Star International, Andrea says she feels especially privileged and is enjoying the moment and doing her best to represent the Filipino-Australian community.
“It’s a privilege, I’m just keeping my crowns and then just enjoying the moment and I’ll do my best to represent us."
Trans Star International is an annual 10-day pageant that started in 2010. Now in it's seventh year, the pageant focuses on the issues being faced by transgender and the LGBTQ community. It also aims to address the problem on transphobia.
Transphobia is defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as the irrational fear of or discrimination against transgender or transsexual people.
Andrea recalls an experience of discrimination, she shared "at school, I was bullied by some and even called as ugly duckling, even my own grandma told me I'm a disgrace to the family."
Because of this, Andrea was motivated to join pageants in the pursuit of promoting equal rights for transgender people. She is also a strong advocate of marriage equality and HIV awareness.
Andrea Jaca Smith in a photo shoot for Miss Trans Star International Source: Image courtesy: Miss Trans Star International Pageant
For Andrea, the transgender beauty pageant is a platform to speak up regarding issues that affect the world and the rest of the LGBTQ community. This is where she can voice opinions and raise awareness about transgender rights.
"This pageant is a platform for transgender people to speak up regarding issues that both affect the world and the rest of LGBTQ community," she explains.
"This is where we can voice out opinions and stimulate awareness about how wonderful we are as transgender and members of the LGBTQ community," says Andrea.
A major issue affecting the Australian LGBTQ community right now is of course the same-sex postal survey and the debate around it.
On this issue Andrea stands firm. She says, "love is love, whatever gender, whatever sex."
"everyone is entitled to love somebody.
"because love has no sex and sex has no soul."
Andrea urges the public for support as she vies for the crown of Trans Star International 2017.
Below: In 2016 Honey Montana and Andrea Jaca Smith were crowned winners of the 2016 Miss Gay and Miss Transsexual Australia pageant on Saturday, January 30. Australia’s most prestigious beauty pageant for trans women and drag queens was held at at the competition's new home, The Substation in Newport as part of the 2016 Midsumma Festival. SBS Radio's Kyriakos Gold went behind-the-scenes to take a look:
