Amidst the pandemic and the depressing local news, be it in terms of politics or our healthcare system, one thing that seems to bring happiness to our fellow Malaysians would be listening to various success stories and achievements of our homegrown talents — regardless if its a national or international achievement. Now, beauty pageants might have a special spot in the hearts of our countryfolk probably, due to the large coverage on international television.
Pageants such as Miss Universe and Miss World would be the most popular ones but did you know that there’s a pageant for teens? Well, apparently there is and it’s called Miss Teen Universe and, here’s the best part! Our fellow Malaysian, Dheper Reshaa Teh is now a finalist for the 2021 edition of it.
This 19-year-old Penangite is currently pursuing a Diploma in Business Studies at INTI College Penang and had an aim of promoting Malaysia’s diverse cultures when she first joined this pageant. Adding on, she has a goal of making Malaysians proud when she heads for Dubai, United Arab Emirates on 25th October to compete in the international pageant on 6th November.
Citing from Bernama, she said, “I hope that my four years of pageantry experience will lead to my success in being crowned as Miss Teen Universe for this year. Those who wish to support me representing Malaysia can visit the Miss Teen Universe’s Instagram page (@missteenuniversepageants) and vote for me there.”
The interest to participate in beauty pageants came to Dheper at the age of 4 after being inspired by other Miss Universe pageants around that time and at that tender age, she aspired to be one herself. She learnt to catwalk by herself at home and enrolled in a modelling academy in Penang, subsequently receiving her diploma there. That’s such a huge determination at such a young age!
She experienced wearing her first tiara was when she won the Miss Teen International Malaysia Pageant 2018/2019 and since then, she competed at 2 international-level pageants, namely Miss Teen Universe 2019 in New Delhi, India, as well as Miss Tourism Global City, held in Guangdong, China this year. She made it into the finals of the 2019 Miss Teen Universe and was ranked within the Top 20 under the Miss Tourism Global City.
Adding on, Dhepa said, “International level pageants are far different from national level ones. There were a lot of aspects I was not aware of such as issues on racism, politics and lots of culture shock … and here I was, being young and naive.” She also stated that the contestants she had met had taken great care of her during her lone travels.
Apart from this, Dhepa hopes she could use her hands-on experiences in pageantry at the international level and represent Malaysia to compete in the Miss Universe pageants in the future. This Miss Universe aspirant also hopes to be able to get featured in publications like Vogue magazine as well as on billboards.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CTv2aYdszZK/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Well, what are you waiting for dear Malaysians? From now onwards, you could start voting for Dheper by leaving a comment in the posts by Miss Teen Universe on their Instagram page followed by the country of your preference Let’s cheer her on till she gets the crown!
Source: Bernama
