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Venus Raj looks back on ‘major major’ transformation

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ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA – Former beauty queen Venus Raj took to social media to open up about her humble beginnings as she encouraged the public to dream big, work hard, and have faith. </p><p>On Instagram, Raj shared a photo of her as an ordinary college student alongside a picture of her representing the Philippines in Miss Universe in 2010.</p><p>“This is not a ten-year photo challenge,” she began, referring to the recent social media trend. “I am posting this to encourage all of us to never look at a person [based on] who he or she is at the moment.”</p><p>“Instead, look at a person [and try to see] who he or she can become.”</p><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzh9IxwJ40r/" data-instgrm-version="12" style="background:#FFF;border:0;border-radius:3px;box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15);margin:1px;max-width:540px;min-width:326px;padding:0;width:calc(100% - 2px)"><div style="padding:16px"><div 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href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzh9IxwJ40r/" style="background:#FFFFFF;line-height:0;padding:0 0;text-align:center;text-decoration:none;width:100%" target="_blank">View this post on Instagram</a></div></div><div style="padding:12.5% 0"> </div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:row;margin-bottom:14px;align-items:center"><div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;height:12.5px;width:12.5px;transform:translateX(0px) translateY(7px)"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;height:12.5px;transform:rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px);width:12.5px;flex-grow:0;margin-right:14px;margin-left:2px"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;height:12.5px;width:12.5px;transform:translateX(9px) translateY(-18px)"> </div></div><div style="margin-left:8px"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;flex-grow:0;height:20px;width:20px"> </div><div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:2px solid transparent;border-left:6px solid #f4f4f4;border-bottom:2px solid transparent;transform:translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"> </div></div><div style="margin-left:auto"><div style="width:0px;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-right:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(16px)"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;flex-grow:0;height:12px;width:16px;transform:translateY(-4px)"> </div><div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-left:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(-4px) translateX(8px)"> </div></div></div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;flex-grow:1;justify-content:center;margin-bottom:24px"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;margin-bottom:6px;width:224px"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;width:144px"> </div></div><p style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzh9IxwJ40r/" style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">A post shared by Venus Raj (@onlyvenusraj)</a> on <time dateTime="2019-07-05T09:46:30+00:00" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px">Jul 5, 2019 at 2:46am PDT</time></p></div></blockquote><div><script async="" src="https://www.instagram.com/embed.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><p>Raj went on: “The first photo was taken when I was in first year college. Yes, I had dreams, but [I] never thought that those small dreams would flourish into reality. I had no idea that one day, I would represent the country on the international stage.”</p><p>“God is in the business of transforming lives. Never underestimate how God can transform yours. He can write bigger and better stories,” she ended.</p><p>In her post, Raj used the hashtag #MajorMajorTransformation, presumably referring to her memorable line in the question and answer round of the Miss Universe 2010 pageant.</p><p>While she only finished fourth runner-up to Ximena Navarrete of Mexico, Raj is widely credited by pageant fans as the one who placed the Philippines back on the Miss Universe map.</p><p>All of her successors have since placed well in Miss Universe, highlighted by victories from Pia Wurtzbach (2015) and Catriona Gray (2018).</p>

<p>Venus Raj is widely credited by pageant fans as the one who placed the Philippines back on the Miss Universe map.</p>

Venus Raj is widely credited by pageant fans as the one who placed the Philippines back on the Miss Universe map.