Andrea Aguilera, first finalist of the Miss Grand International contest: It was an honor for me to put my name aside and to be called Ecuador

She was never alone. The Ecuadorian Andrea Aguilera placeholder image, who this weekend was the first finalist (viceroy) of the beauty contest Miss Grand International, had the support of his organization, via online, and with Thai friends who have become his second family. WhatsApp kept her connected with Tahiz Panus, general director of National Beauty Contest (CNB), the entity responsible for the election of the representative of the country for the competition, and Miguel Panus, chief coordinator; to advise and accompany her before each of her official activities, selection of outfits and meetings with the media. The early morning video calls (for Ecuador) paid off.

“I have not yet left the shock of having achieved this triumph for my country, because for me it was an honor to stop calling me Andrea so that everyone would call me and call me Ecuador. The quality and warmth of the people was incredible, since I arrived they welcomed me very nicely. What’s more, I already have a family here, I am staying with them, since I met them when I arrived they have helped me in everything I needed ”, Andrea tells this newspaper by video call, from Bangkok (Thailand), where she currently remains afterwards. of the final gala.

The young medical student assures that getting people from other countries to know about Ecuador, to mention the name of the country and be interested in their participation, has also been one of the achievements of her participation in the competition. “I, the truth, each exit I had, each performance, each participation, was an honor, I did it with all my heart, I think that was reflected in each moment and that is why the results were given,” he says.

From her native province of Los Ríos, Andrea arrived at Phuket after 26 hours of flight. That travel time, which for any traveler could be to arrive at his destination surrendered, for her meant the beginning of his candidacy.

“I was there for a week and although it was 26 hours of flight, a beauty contest is also about endurance and as much as you are tired, you have to be smiling and look and feel good all the time and that requires a lot of mental strength and emotional intelligence. After the flight, I went into a bath, touched up my makeup, changed my clothes, put on heels, touched up my hair, and went out. I went out to see what happened because I wasn’t sure there were fans there. And since I left, there were people recording and when they saw me, how the band from Ecuador was wearing and here the contest is super popular, they began to record me, to greet me, I felt a celebrity, it was too nice, “he says.

Amid the cheers of the public that gathered at the airport, Andrea details that every opportunity she had to meet the media was taken advantage of. “That recharged me with an energy that you cannot imagine and outside the organization was doing interviews with the girls who were arriving, I got on very well, with all the energy in the world and I think that from there I marked my arrival,” he says.

With a rapid learning of the English language for the contest, she learned in three months, Andrea maintains that when the public was with the delegation of participants, hearing how they shouted Ecuador filled her with joy. “I felt that every time they called out the name of the country, being in such a distant country, my heart would leap out of my chest. Let them yell at you for the name of your country, to know that thanks to your work your country is known on the other side of the world, I don’t know I was very proud, knowing that my work was paying off ”, mentions the 20-year-old young woman.

“All the effort was worth it, for me everything was worth it. I think that even if I hadn’t classified, for me, it was worth it because I was sure of the work I did. I didn’t mind sleeping an hour or two a day, to get my hair and makeup right, to iron my clothes, to fix my accessories. They (the CNB team) did not mind being connected with me at dawn to answer my questions, they were connected with me all the time, that’s why I felt good with each outing. At the end of the day, Ecuador sounded, and with that second place, what more can I ask for, although the goal was the crown for me, we fulfilled it ”, Andrea Aguilera.

The Ecuadorian has already signed a contract with the Miss Grand International organization to work together with them for a whole year. “They have my exclusivity in terms of image, I have to consult them absolutely everything I have to do, I cannot participate in another beauty pageant for a year, when there are activities that require the TOP 5 or the queen and viceroy, I must be there or in the event that Miss Grand International cannot fulfill her duties, I would be Miss Grand International. Tomorrow we will have a local media tour. I really want to be here longer ”, he reveals. And he adds: “All this about the contest, which is super popular here, and I won second place, I won as the most loved by Thai fans, it is opening many doors for me and I think it is a good moment, a good opportunity to take advantage of them, I’m going to see what destiny prepares for me ”.

His moment of popularity

As if it were one of the scenes from the movie Miss Congeniality O Miss sympathy, which starred Sandra Bullock, was precisely Andrea’s charisma her key to stand out in the contest. Invited to participate in the local lottery draw, an activity of great importance for the community, Andrea took advantage of the turning of the wheel of fortune – which was televised – to give the space a Latin and Ecuadorian touch.

“I appeared in many newspapers because I participated in an event that is a government lottery, this is at the national level, a super important event. So 12 girls were invited to spin the wheel, it was very simple, roll the wheel, walk to the side and spin it again. So I said to myself: it doesn’t have to be so mechanical and I said to myself, I’m going to put Latin flavor in it and when I did, they focused on me and started getting me on the news with headlines like Andrea Aguilera and the new way to spin the roulette wheel, so I I became known for that day ”, reveals the compatriot.

Although the Ecuadorian managed to share with most of the participants, she developed a good relationship with the representative of Colombia, Mariana Jaramillo, who was also her roommate during the beauty competition. “I always had a good relationship with everyone because that is very important in a beauty pageant, as long as it is from the heart, but also to demonstrate because this is like a public relations job that they give you and you must show that you can relate perfectly to any person around you, because the contest is not to win a crown and already, in reality they are looking for a collaborator to work with, who is their image and is willing to work, “he says.

Andrea has received so far several proposals from various international modeling agencies (Mexico, Colombia and Thailand, among them) as a result of her participation in this tournament. “I am analyzing what is best for me right now because I need to be very clear about my objective, and I have to analyze well where I want to go, I am in that process,” says Andrea, who plans to stay in Thailand until the end of the year.

That journey, he says, he plans to do accompanied by the family who won in the foreign country and who have provided support during his stay. One of the places he plans to visit, he says, will be Phi Phi, a small archipelago located in the Andaman Sea, in southern Thailand.

“I really did get a family here. When we were tested on the wardrobe, the speech Stop the War, I met them, I felt a very good vibe from them and I went to talk to them, I told them that I would like a gala dress from them, for the final night and then the connection was very fast. We were able to talk more, they made me the dress and from then on they were also aware of everything. My shoes broke, my typical suit was torn by the trip, I needed a few more things and they managed to fix everything. They are designers from Thailand. They spoke to me in English and they translated into Thai for others. Beyond knowing how to master the language because we create barriers for ourselves, the energy you project is very important, because my English is not perfect but we communicate very well because of the energy we project. They had all the patience with me. That is why I believe that language is not a barrier ”, she affirms about the connection she developed with her now friends.

“I don’t like to talk about plans because nobody knows what might happen, obviously I have a course, I have a clear path of where I want to go, but if something deviates on the way sometimes I am not going to get stuck, I’m going to look for a new one. way to get there and I’m enjoying the journey, and I’m taking advantage of it, ”says Andrea. (I)