Alexie Brooks. Image: INQUIRER.net/Armin P. Adina
Alexie Mae Brooks may not have ended up with the coveted Miss Universe Philippines crown at the national pageant held last month, but she received her own national title as Miss Eco International Philippines, and P300,000 as Miss Jell Life.
Speaking with a select group of scribes in Taguig City on Thursday, June 6, Brooks revealed how she intends to use that big of an amount. “I’m gonna go home and go treat my grandma out. I haven’t been home for a while now. And yesterday, she called me and she was crying and she’s asking me when I’m going home,” she said.
Brooks has been away from home for several months because of the various activities for the 2024 Miss Universe Philippines pageant, and her stay in Manila got extended because of commitments that came with her national title, her ticket to the 2025 Miss Eco International pageant.
But she will finally get to be with her dear Lola Basing next week when she returns to Iloilo City for her homecoming on June 11. Her hometown of Leon is also preparing a rousing welcome for the queen on June 12, Independence Day.
“So I’m going home next week for my homecoming, and I’ll probably take her out with some of her favorite foods. She didn’t really ask for much, but help my grandma, help my family,” Brooks shared.
“Everyone is so excited, and I am very excited myself. I can’t wait to see you and meet all my people. I know they’ve been there for me all throughout my competition, in my career, and I’m really happy and really grateful. I’m going home and I get to feel the warm welcome again, and the love of my fellow Ilongos,” she continued.
Brooks said she is looking forward to enjoying the world-renowned Ilongo fare that made the province a UNESCO creative city of gastronomy. “Everything there, the food there is amazing. And I’ll have me some ‘batchoy.’ I’ll probably get a batchoy when I get home right away,” she said.
“Of course I miss my friends, and the people, and just the feeling of your home. It’s still different. But food is number one in my priority,” said the beauty queen, who revealed she whips up a mean KBL dish (kadyos, baboy, langka) in the kitchen.
But aside from becoming the Philippines’ official representative to the 2025 Miss Eco International pageant, Brooks’ accomplishments in the first half of the year have also included earning her bachelor’s degree from the National University, and moving into her own loft apartment.
“I went through so much pain my whole life. And there was no one really coming to help me. So, you know, one day I decided, no one’s coming to help you sometimes, and you need to really help yourself,” she told INQUIRER.net in an interview conducted before the media conference.
Brooks said she has always dreamed big, even though her grandmother’s only wish for her was to finish her studies. “When I graduated from college, she was crying, and she’s telling me she’s proud of me. But for me, I want more not just for myself. When I said I wanted to join Miss Universe, it was not the crown that I wanted. It’s about the responsibility and the inspiration for the people, and the empowerment for me. So, I’m really grateful for where I am right now. But I want more, and I hope that my supporters and everyone continue to support me on my journey,” she declared.
And she undoubtedly has a lot of supporters, as seen during the entire competition when throngs of her followers would troop to social media pages to declare their love for the queen, and the loud cheers she received whenever she took the stage in all the events.
“I watched all of the videos online of all my supporters, and I was in tears knowing that these are the same people who saw hope in me. And they are the same people who see themselves in me. And I think that I represented them well. So, I just want to thank them so much for their support, for always being there for me, and for always checking up on me. And I think that without them, this journey of mine wouldn’t be so fulfilling. So, I’m really grateful for them,” Brooks said.
The Miss Universe Philippines crown went to Bulacan’s Chelsea Manalo, who like her is a dusky beauty of African-American descent, and the first part-Black woman to win the national title. Brooks said she is genuinely happy for the new queen’s triumph because she had known her for more than five years.
“She was the first one I spoke to (in the pageant), because she’s the only one I knew. I got to know her from modeling, although she started a year before me. So, I was really happy when they called out her name,” Brooks shared.
Another person she met through modeling whose pageant connection is even more serendipitous now is Aklan beauty Kathleen Paton, the second Filipino woman to bring home the Miss Eco International crown, the same title that she will try to win for the country next year.
Brooks will once again tap into the competitive spirit that she developed as a national athlete when she tries to score the Philippines’ third victory in the Miss Eco International pageant next year. The country’s first win was posted by another Visayan beauty, Cynthia Thomalla.
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