Basta Cebuana, gwapa! Get to know newly crowned Miss World Philippines 2021 Tracy Maureen Perez
The first few minutes of newly crowned Miss World Philippines 2021 Tracy Maureen Perez’s reign proved why she’s a true queen. After tripping on her first walk as winner—her second fall of the night—she simply laughed it off and gracefully stood back up.
The 28-year-old Cebuana bested 44 candidates at the pageant held in Subic Special Economic and Freeport Zone, Zambales. She is the first Miss World Philippines winner since 2019’s Michelle Dee, as there was no pageant held in 2020.
Alongside Perez, nine other women were crowned during the pageant. Kathleen Paton, who is of Australian and Filipino descent, is Miss Eco Philippines; and Emmanuelle Vera is Reinahispanoamericana Filipinas.
Meanwhile, Trisha Martinez is Miss Tourism Philippines, Michelle Arceo is Miss Environment Philippines, Shaila Roberta is Miss Multinational Philippines, and Tatyana Austria is Miss Eco Teen Philippines.
On the other hand, Riana Agatha Pangindian of Pasig City is 1st Princess, while Ganiel Krishnan is the pageant’s 2nd Princess.
Dindi Pajares, who finished as a top 12 semifinalist in the Miss Supranational pageant, was also crowned at the pageant’s coronation night.
The Miss World Philippines 2021 coronation night, originally scheduled for July 2021, moved at least four times due to the COVID-19 pandemic: first to July 25, second to August 8, third to Sept. 19, and finally to Oct. 3.
Perez, an industrial engineer by profession, stood out among her fellow candidates in the Q&A portion, where she was asked about the lessons to learn from the pandemic.
She answered: “After this pandemic, I hope that we never take for granted the family that we have, taking care of our health, and taking care of the people that protect us like our leaders, our front liners. We should always give importance to those people. We may not see the efforts that they give out, but most definitely they are our modern heroes. For that, we should always be grateful, and that we should always stick with them and pray for them.”
Before being crowned, Perez was among the pageant’s frontrunners. She also received five awards: Best in Swimsuit, Miss Bluewater Day spa, Miss Artopian International, Miss Bench, and Miss Derma Fix.
Get to know more about the newly crowned queen Tracy Maureen Perez, who is set to represent the country in the 70th edition of Miss World in Puerto Rico in December.
She tried her luck at various pageants
Perez is no pageant patty. The Miss World Philippines 2021 pageant is actually her second attempt to clinch the coveted crown. In her first attempt, she finished in the top 12 of the 2019 pageant where she also represented Cebu City.
The Cebuana beauty queen also competed at the Miss Universe Philippines 2020 pageant, where she finished in the top 16. She was also awarded Miss Photogenic.
Perez was also crowned Binibining Cebu Charity 2018, and finished sixth at the Binibining Cebu 2017 pageant where she represented Argao.
After several tries, the stars finally aligned for Perez when she won the Miss World Philippines crown on Oct. 4.
Her mother was a former beauty queen
One look at Perez and you would easily know that being a beauty queen runs in the family.
An article in The Freeman says Perez’s mother, Chona Perez, was oncea finalist in the Binibining Cebu pageant where she was named among the Cebu’s Five Prettiest.
Tracy was a miracle baby
Perez revealed in the Miss Universe Philippines 2020 preliminary interviews that she was a miracle baby.
“An interesting fact about myself that I’m very proud of is that I’m a miracle baby. Life has been an absolute blessing for me. And I take every chance that I get to learn from every experience, both good and bad so that I can live my life to the fullest,” she said.
The beauty queen also mentioned that her mother Chona is a single mother.
She’s an industrial engineer by profession
Aside from being a beauty queen and a model, Perez is an industrial engineer by profession. She earned her bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering at the University of San Carlos in Cebu City.
The Cebuana works as an associate software engineer in the IT services and consulting company Accenture.
Banner and thumbnail photos from @tracymaureenperez and @jonunson’s Instagram accounts