Ahtisa Manalo’s faceoff with Franki Russell much-awaited in Miss Cosmo

Franki Russell and Ahtisa Manalo will be head-to-head at the Miss Cosmo pageant in Vietnam on October 4. Images from their Instagram.

Ahtisa Manalo will have a bit of competition in Filipino-Kiwi Franki Russell, who will now be representing New Zealand in the pioneer staging of the Vietnam-based Miss Cosmo pageant next month.

Manalo and Russell will be among the more than 80 delegates this year in the competition that will be held at the Phu Tho Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on Oct. 5.

Manalo is a seasoned aspirant, and already won her first international pageant as the 2018 Miss International first runner-up. She was recently treated to a send-off press conference in Taguig City where she said it is challenging to join a pageant with no history, as she sees this as an opportunity to be a trailblazer and a standard-bearer.

On the other hand, Russell was an actress and a former “Pinoy Big Brother” housemate. She was supposed to usher New Zealand’s return to the Miss Universe pageant this year, but things took a different turn, and she now finds herself in a new global tilt.

After her participation in the 73rd Miss Universe pageant was abruptly dashed, Russell said she did not immediately jump to the Miss Cosmo train. Before agreeing to raise New Zealand’s flag in the contest’s first edition, she took a look at it first.

“I did my research. I had to make sure I knew what I was getting myself into. And after learning about the core values of Miss Cosmo, I really felt like I aligned with it. When I saw they’re all about unity, they’re working with that modern woman, I felt like that’s what I am too,” Russell shared at her send-off press conference held at Novotel Suites Manila at Aqua in Mandaluyong City on Monday, Sept. 9.

Earlier this year, Filipino public relations practitioner and publisher Josh Yugen acquired the Miss Universe franchise for New Zealand, and appointed Russell as the titleholder who is tasked to bring the nation back to the global tilt after four years of missing the competition.

But in July, Yugen Group announced that it was canceling its franchise for failing to comply with a “specific order” from the Miss Universe Organization (MUO). The firm did not specify what it is about, but Russell surmised it is connected to the daring scenes she did in previous movie projects.

Yugen clarified, though, that Yugen Group’s Managing Director Ian Borromeo is the national director of Miss Cosmo for New Zealand and not him, because he is currently occupied with the franchises of the Miss Universe pageant for Bahrain, Egypt, and Pakistan.

Rollercoaster ride

Russell reflected on her long pageant journey, that first saw her as a Miss New Zealand applicant, to signing up for what was supposed to be the first search for the United Arab Emirates’ Miss Universe delegate, then earning the Miss Universe New Zealand sash, and now joining Miss Cosmo.

“Life is like a roller coaster. There’s lows and highs, and I think nothing ever goes perfect, but maybe it can turn out even better than you go for sometimes,” she said

The 30-year-old stunner, who moved to the Philippines in 2019 to embark on a career in the entertainment industry, also shared her thoughts on the Miss Cosmo pageant’s tagline “impactful beauty,” and said, “whenever I see something beautiful, that makes me happy. When you walk into a room, people want to hear what you have to say, because beauty is more than physical beauty, it’s inner beauty and what you have to say. So I want to make sure that whenever I have something to say, it’s meaningful and purposeful and it’s shining a light on the causes that I’m passionate about, like my advocacy, which is cyberbullying.”

And if she becomes fortunate to be crowned as the pageant’s first ever queen, Russell already shared how she plans to go about her reign.

“I hope to use it for good. I hope to inspire women, many people that see themselves in me. I want to inspire, hopefully, more Kiwi women to join pageantry. I’m representing New Zealand, and I’m so lucky to also be half-Filipina, and then surrounded by amazing pageant makers here. And it feels like when you win a title, you’re not just representing your country anymore. You’re representing every woman. So I hope to shine that through,” she declared.