Beauty with braces smiles her way to Miss Singapore title

It was impossible to tell offstage, but Miss Singapore Beauty Pageant finalist Miss Hashiena Ayub was sporting grey braces at the finals on Saturday at Orchid Country Club.

The 22-year-old freelance speech and drama teacher and part-time English and psychology undergrad at SIM University went on to surprise the audience by winning Miss Singapore Global Queen 2015 - one of the three major titles of the night.

"I hesitated to enter the pageant at first, and I was not confident of my chances because of my braces," Miss Hashiena told The New Paper after the event.

"But my mother encouraged me to call the organisers to find out if I could still apply. To my surprise, they said yes, and added that even past winners had worn braces so it was not an issue.

"During the interview, one of the organisers said she liked my confidence and even told me she could see me going straight to the finals."

Miss Hashiena added: "I wasn't expecting to win, because halfway through the pageant, I realised I was one of the 23 finalists who hadn't won any subsidiary awards.

"I started to feel disheartened, and even texted my sister that I didn't think I had done very well in the competition. She responded by telling me to remain confident and keep smiling.

"It turned out to be good advice, because I made it to the top 10 afterwards."

Miss Hashiena has been wearing braces for the past year to correct a minor misalignment in the bottom row of her teeth.

She will continue wearing them for another eight months, and they will be removed in time for her to represent Singapore at the international Global Beauty Queen pageant in South Korea next October.

"In the meantime, I'll continue working on my fitness. I've been working out more since joining the competition and been more careful to eat clean and watch my diet."

Miss Singapore Beauty Pageant has been known for crowning unconventional beauty queens in past years.

One of its previous winners, Miss Singapore International Model of the Year 2013 Andrea Che, also donned braces before her international competition.

And in the same year, Miss Chui Yee Shia, who has 80 per cent hearing loss in both ears, ending up winning Miss Singapore Friendship International.

DIFFERENCES

"Despite their differences, these contestants still had equal chances of competing in the international pageant afterwards," a spokesman for ERM Singapore, which organises Miss Singapore Beauty Pageant, told TNP.

Another Miss Singapore Beauty Pageant title-holder was technology entrepreneur Jojo Tan, who was crowned Miss Singapore Tourism Queen.

"I wanted to show people that beauty queens aren't just (stereotypes); we can have beauty, brains and a heart," said Miss Tan who turned 25 yesterday. She is the co-owner of Instagram marketing company Shopwith.

"Winning and getting to represent Singapore internationally (at the Miss Tourism Queen International pageant in China) is one of the best (birthday) gifts I've had in my life."

She also took home the subsidiary titles of Miss Bikini Babe, Miss Elegance and Miss Motoworld.

Another big winner was Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts student Vanessa Tiara Tay, 18, who won Miss Singapore Chinatown and will go on to compete at Hong Kong's TVB channel's Miss Chinese International.

She also won the subsidiary titles Miss Vintage Studio, Miss Kira Singapore and Miss Beautiful Smile 2015.

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