Georgette Kalil, Miss Ecuador International: “We need another boost of faith, like the one Andrea Aguilera had”

At the age of 21, Georgette Kalil She is sure of what she wants to achieve as Miss International: to once again give Ecuador the joy of international positioning of its beauty; and use this platform to expand your child and adolescent emotional well-being project. The greatest aspiration of Miss Ecuador International 2022, who dreams of becoming a clinical psychologist, is to reach the youngest people in the country and take care of their mental health.

For now, this model from Guayaquil is preparing with elocution, dance (to show off the inevitable typical costume) and catwalk lessons to shine at the 61st edition of the Miss International pageant that will be held on October 26 this year. , to Japan. The current sovereign is the German Jasmin Selberg. And also, he is progressing, he has prepared a special talent that will no longer be a secret when he can present himself. finally at Yoyogi National Gymnasium, in Shibuya, the headquarters of the competition.

This October 8, the beauty will start her competitive journey in Japan, but before that she offered us this interview.

Why would you like to be Miss International?

For the same reason I applied for Miss Ecuador, for my social project. When the gala was last year, everyone asked me if I was sad that I didn’t win (I was second), but for me everything has a direction. Miss International, which is looking for ambassadors of peace, cooperates with Unicef ​​and my project deals with the emotional education of children. I study clinical psychology and that was the first reason why I applied to the national competition, to realize this project. So the Miss International platform is perfect for that.

I also think that sometimes in Ecuador we need that little boost of faith, in this case Andrea Aguilera already had it, the first beauty queen to win an international pageant, Miss Supranational. I think it’s important to believe in yourself, because unfortunately here in the country we’ve never aspired to the crown, because we feel we can’t get there or we feel it can’t happen to us. I would like to give Ecuador hope again that it can win something, that it can be the first in something, even if it is a beauty contest.

Want to repeat that achievement?

The truth is that she is from another competition, from another organization. I can simply see that she represented the country, because when she goes to the competition she changes her personal name to Ecuador. It is the dream of many people, of an entire country. For me, she was an example, because Ecuador won and the emotions were such that we won the World Cup.

But few know what happens, not everything is rosy, it’s very hard work, a lot of sacrifice and a lot of resilience. She made it despite a lot behind her, because this is it Show and things have to turn out perfect, even though real life is not perfect. It’s exciting for me, because Ecuador already sounds like a country that has “band weight” as is the case with Colombia, Venezuela and the United States of America, which are always at the top.

Can you remind us what your social project is?

I would like emotional education to be included in school programs, to teach children and adolescents everything related to mental health. I’m building an emotional support app to get statistics. I saw the other day that suicide is the second leading cause of death for teenagers here in Ecuador, that’s a very important number. I knew I wanted to be a clinical psychologist because as a teenager I went through a lot of emotional adversity, I had a lot of depression, anxiety, anger, anxiety, and unfortunately at that time the topic of mental health was not so open until the pandemic passed.

I had no idea what was happening to me and I suffered a lot. If I had gotten the help I needed, I wouldn’t have gone through so much. That’s when I discovered that you can’t live like this and I don’t want anyone else to go through this. I focus on young people because school is the place where we learn, where we grow. I would like them to have an emotional vocabulary, to know what depression is, among other things, and how to manage their emotions, because they don’t teach us that either in schools or colleges.

It’s your first time in Japan. How do you prepare for a tour of this country that has such different customs and languages ​​from ours?

I did a lot of research to be prepared about what they liked and what they didn’t like, especially in matters of education and customs. Japan is quite an educated culture, so it’s very important for me to know those little details that go unnoticed.

What did you learn that you didn’t know before or what caught your attention the most from what you learned about Japan?

I find the culture of tea very interesting, also the topic of food, education about eating is very different.

What do you want Japan and Miss International to know about Ecuador?

What I love about Ecuador, apart from its food, its gastronomy, is the quality of its people. We are too warm, too full of love and real people. We see people passing by on the street as brothers, we greet neighbors we’ve never seen before as if we’ve known them all our lives. This is what I like the most and it is one of the reasons why it is very difficult for me to think about the future outside my country. And this is what I want to express, I want you to see an Ecuadorian woman willing to fight for her dreams, who has big projects and who is also willing to lend a helping hand.

What is the best advice you received in preparation for this competition?

I don’t know if I should call it advice, but I think it helps a lot to know what goal you want from working on a beauty pageant. That’s why my mother, who is my producer in this case, asked me this question: “Do you want to win or do you want to live the experience?” When they ask you that question, you’re being real with yourself, because that’s what you’re working on. I want to win and at that moment I’m working to win, not to be just another candidate. The focus is completely different, your mind expands.

Another tip, which is super cliche, is to be yourself. But that’s the reality, when you’re honest with yourself, you’re honest with others, you can connect and people start seeing you differently. Then you really have support. I think a lot of people tend to pretend or lie about their reason for participating, so they don’t really connect with their audience. I think I’ve always presented myself as I am. I proved to be superhuman, and I’m very young, I’m currently 21 years old, I applied for Miss Ecuador when I was 19. With my transparency, by showing my past, I think that many identified with me and that’s why I got the necessary support.

After Japan, what are your plans for life?

I will continue with my studies, because I have stopped them now because of the government issue. I want to graduate in psychology, it’s my passion. I’m finishing Japan, I’m starting to study again and I’m starting to give strength to my project. And if the question is whether I will be in another reign, then rejected.

Why not go back to rule?

It’s a full-time job, even if people don’t see it. It wasn’t even my life’s dream, it was something that happened to me along the way, but like I said it was an amazing platform. I am very grateful for the opportunity. Sometimes you don’t have to do exactly what you love, but you do other things to get to what you love. In my case it was Miss Ecuador. With this, I also discovered that I really like the topic of communication, news, and I would like to work on something like that in the future. (AND)