MANILA -- Transitioning from a trainer of beauty queens to being a beauty queen herself, Miss Universe Philippines (MUPH) 2023 candidate Kali Navea-Huff believes she is so much more than a Q and A mentor.

“It’s a huge part of me but it’s not the only part of me. And my mentorship is not just in Q and A but it’s also helping young women and really people of all genders understand their power,” the 27-year-old Pasig City representative told ABS-CBN News.

“I want people to understand that being a mentor or my experience with that is not how they might see it. It is about who I am, the struggles I’ve been through, and I want people to see my failures as well as my success because it’s really what made me who I am. It’s how I’ve learned the most about myself as well as what can I actually bring to the table,” she added.

Navea-Huff admits that being known as the chief Q and A trainer in Aces and Queens, the beauty camp that produced queens like Venus Raj, Shamcey Supsup, Janine Tugonon, and Ara Arida, brings added pressure as some expect “perfection” from her.

“It is a lot of pressure, I‘ll be honest. Especially with Q and A, there’s always that expectation to reach perfection and perfection is a standard that is impossible and is also looking different for everybody,” she said.

“But I do welcome that pressure because that means that people do expect something out of me and I hope to rise to that expectation. And if I don’t, if I fail, then I hope that they would understand that I’m human, and that I make mistakes like anybody. And it’s those failures and it’s those mistakes that really make us who we are and I hope to still be fully representing the Filipino people when I make mistakes because I will, and when I do well, which I hope to do,” she added.

Despite spending three years as a trainer, the Miss Universe Philippines aspirant insists this does not give her an advantage over the other candidates, believing her chances of nailing her question should she reach the finals night is still “50/50.”

“There could be moments that you doubt yourself and they come often, unfortunately, but you never really know how you’ll feel until that moment,” she said.

“I just wanna make sure as well for the possibility that I succumb to that pressure and prepare myself for that and make sure that even if I do succumb to that pressure that I still give a good answer, I still show my heart, and I still show what I’m capable of,” she added.

“Perfect time” to join MUPH

While she didn’t think of becoming a beauty queen when she started working as a pageant trainer, the change of ownership in the Miss Universe Organization inspired her to take the leap.

“Miss Universe has undergone a massive change over the last year with the new ownership… and I just so loved her move towards transformational leadership, to promoting all women who have stories to tell,” she said.

“I’ve always believed that beauty pageants are and could continue to work towards being a progressive and inclusive place for women to shine and I really see that this year. And I felt like it was just so serendipitous that I was on my last year -- I’m now 27 -- to join and for her to take the reins and to be the woman that I hope to be one day. It really felt like the perfect time for me,” she added.

For the first time in 70 years, the organization is now led by a woman after it was acquired in October 2022 by JKN Global’s Anne Jakrajutatip.

Hardest question to answer

For the Q and A mentor, the most difficult questions to answer are not about national issues but the personal ones, saying it is easy to read the news but it is hard to be vulnerable.

“It is so difficult to open up your heart and your ideas to an audience and while some people might think it might be nice to talk about just your story, it can sometimes be the hardest part,” Navea-Huff said.

“You can read about current news, you can learn, you can create a little fact sheet if you want but your story is wholly your own. There is a unique answer and to make sure that you do it in a way that is resonating with other people, it's inspiring other people as well, and is also kind of related to their stories — it’s a really difficult job,” she added.

She further shared that acing the Q and A is not just about being the smartest person in the room but also being able to reach people and have your message resonate with them.

And as much as there is a chance that one’s message could reach the audience, there is also an equal chance that it doesn’t, she said.

“There’s always the chance that it doesn’t, there’s always the chance that somebody else who has a different story of failure as well as success resonates more,” she added.

Aside from being able to touch people’s hearts, Navea-Huff believes a lot of things factor in when it comes to winning a pageant: what the judges want, audiences’ expectations, and, yes, destiny.

“I also understand that it really is up to destiny. It really is up to what the judges are looking for as well as what the audience expects out of a Filipino queen. And so I hope to be that person but I also know that destiny does play a huge role,” she said.

Advocacy

More than the glamour, the graceful walk, and the dolled-up face, Navea-Huff is determined to fight for people who have experienced gender-based violence.

“As a survivor myself, I have felt that my voice didn’t matter. I felt like everything was my fault, and I really felt truly powerless, and my experience is something that I know so many other women have gone through,” she said.

A law student, Navea-Huff aspires to use her legal knowledge to provide concrete solutions.

“I would want to make sure that my knowledge as a law student and my knowledge as well as a mentor — meeting so many young women who have been in that position — is to make our laws accessible to them, to make them easily understood, to make sure that no matter what background you come from, your age, your gender, your education, it really doesn’t matter. You have access to that knowledge,” she said.

“You have rights and you’re able to fully realize them and fully be able to access them because it is something that I feel like a lot of people don’t understand… that they are worthy, of course, of recovering, but also that they have legal remedies,” she added.

Giving a message to those who experience gender-based violence, Navea-Huff said they should not think that it is their fault and that they are the problem.

“Whenever somebody is faced in a situation of gender-based violence, often times, it is rooted in so much more than their relationship. It is rooted in our everyday language, it is rooted even in our policies,” she said.

“I hope they understand that they are not the problem. That they can keep trying, they can keep fighting to get out of that situation,” she added.

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