GMA Brandtalk
Tracking
Archives
Fil-Am beauty queen Ki'ilani Arruda is the new Miss Teen USA 2020
FIlipino-American teen beauty queen Ki'ilani Arruda has been crowned as Miss Teen USA 2020.
Hailing from Hawaii, she was crowned the new queen at the pageant's grand coronation night on Saturday, November 7 (US time) in Tennessee.
In the Q&A portion, Arruda was asked, “What has experiencing a global pandemic taught you about life?”
To which she answered:
Well, of course this global pandemic is very unprecedented and has taught me a lot about life. For me, it has especially taught me how to appreciate my family. I got to spend so much time with my family, my little sister, my little brother. I love them dearly, and I know that soon, in spring, I will be going into college, and I won’t have those precious moments to share with them. So really, it’s just to cherish those moments. And it’s so honorable I get to represent my home of Hawai’i, so just being at home is so wonderful.
Arruda is only the second representative from Hawaii to win the title after Kelly Hu in 1985.
Miss Oregon Shayla Montgomery was first runner-up while Miss Georgia Shayla Jackson was placed as the second runner-up.
According to PEP.ph, Arruda revealed in an interview after the pageant that Catriona Gray is her favorite Miss Universe queen because, she is partly Filipino.
"I'm a little biased. Of course, Catriona because I am half Filipino myself and her reign was so amazing, and I've always looked up to her as a role model," she said.
— Jannielyn Ann Bigtas/LA, GMA News
