Rowee Lucero is the new Miss Aura Philippines national director. Image: Facebook/Miss Aura PH
MANILA, Philippines — The Miss Aura Philippines pageant, the official national competition licensed to select the country’s representative to the Miss Aura International contest, has a new national director after the successful staging of its maiden edition last month.
Educator and 2020 Miss Globe fourth runner-up Rowee Lucero was appointed by outgoing national director Katniss Griffiths to take her place in the national pageant organization.
In a post on the contest’s official Facebook page, Griffiths said she will remain as the chief executive officer of Miss Aura Philippines, but will relinquish her national directorship to Lucero so she could “focus on the business side of the organization.”
Griffiths was responsible for appointing pageant veteran Alexandra Faith Garcia as the Philippines’ first representative to the Miss Aura International for the global tilt’s 16th edition in 2021. The queen eventually became the first Filipino woman to bring home the crown.
This year, the national organization staged its first pageant to choose Garcia’s Philippine successor. Another veteran, Micca Rosal from Batangas, was crowned 2022 Miss Aura Philippines in ceremonies staged at St. Francis Shangri-la Place in Mandaluyong City on June 25.
Rosal now has the unique experience of having been under two national directors — Griffiths during her stint as a national candidate, and now Lucero as a delegate to an international competition. Lucero, for her part, said her recent appointment is both an honor and a challenge.
“This made me appreciate my 12 years in pageantry, not only as my platform but my training ground to prepare me for this designation. I’m challenged because I’m excited to see how I can be an asset to the organization, to our queens, and of course to our country,” she told the Inquirer in an interview.
Lucero said the news of her appointment could not have come at a better time.
“I was having an unpleasant week trying to figure out what’s next for me. You know as humans, we have those moments that we are uncertain of what’s next. So every night I made it a habit to affirm and attract the things that’s meant for my growth as well as for the people and passion I love,” she said.
She shared that she saw “11:11” on her phone’s clock and made a wish with her eyes closed: “Then after a few minutes, while I still had my eyes closed, [Griffiths] told me that she will announce that I will be the new national director of Miss Aura [Philippines].”
Newly-crowned Miss Aura Philippines Micca Rosal (center) poses with her runners-up Heavenly Lawingan and Vera Dickinson. Image: Philippine Daily Inquirer/Armin P. Adina
With the national pageant already culminated, Lucero’s task now is to support Rosal for the Miss Aura International pageant which will be held in Turkey again later this year. Rosal has the insurmountable task of securing a back-to-back win for the Philippines in just the second time that the country will participate in the 17-year-old international competition.Lucero will also be busy preparing for the 2023 national contest.
“I see this pageant creating more future beauty queens and being a platform to win, learn, perform, to face their fears, explore their capabilities, and be the next pride of the Philippines,” she shared.
She is currently working on a certification as an image consultant through an online program at the International Association of Professions (IAP) Career College based in San Diego, California, in the United States. Lucero already earned a certification for digital marketing from IAP. JB
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