Charmie Joy Pagulong - The Philippine Star
January 29, 2024 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Newly-crowned Miss Iloilo 2024 Alexie Brooks is poised to represent Iloilo City in this year’s Miss Universe Philippines (MUPH) pageant competition. But as early as now, her name is already popular among pageant enthusiasts following her stunning win at the local pageant.
The Ilongga athlete and LGBTQ member, who dreamed of becoming a beauty queen since she was 12, felt “great and amazing” after her recent feat in Philippine pageantry.
Speaking to The STAR in an exclusive Zoom chat, she said, “I feel really grateful that I won knowing that at the same time, I put in so much effort and sacrifices into winning the crown. And not just only me, my team, the people around me, even my family and friends, they put in all so much effort to help me win the crown (Miss Iloilo 2024).”
Alexie, a student, athlete, and LGBTQ member, has dreamed of becoming a beauty queen since she was 12. — Photo from Alexie’s Facebook page
At 10, she was exposed to the world of sports. “Boyish” and labeled by some as “tomboy,” no one expected her to join pageantry until she was 12.
“I had these two friends, they were part of my team when I was 12 years old, they pushed me to join this local pageant (Mutya ng Buga). They would go to my house, where I was literally wearing a jersey, basketball shirt, and basketball shorts, and push me to join the pageantry. I kept saying no, ‘I don’t wanna join because look at me, do I look like a pageant girl to you?’” she asked them.
Newly-crowned Miss Iloilo 2024 Alexie Brooks is poised to represent Iloilo City in this year’s Miss Universe Philippines competition.
“I don’t know what they saw until they convinced me and I actually did join when I was 12 and won my first-ever pageant. It started there.”
The first beauty queen she saw on TV was Venus Raj. “(Seeing) someone close to the skin tone that I have, it gives you this power or hope knowing that where I came from, I’m the only black kid in (school)… I’ve often been bullied for being black.
“So seeing someone as a representation of who you are, it gives you a hope that if she can do that, ‘Why can’t I?’”
The Ilongga beauty celebrates her win with her grandmother who raised her.
She started dreaming big, she said. “And God knows what happened next… I joined four times in pageants but ever since I was 12, the dream was there. It has always been there,” she said.
“That’s why when people compared me to Zozibini, it kinda makes me feel bad because I started the dream ever since even (before) I joined the pageant. I’m not trying to be a nobody. I’m not trying to be somebody. I just wanna be my own self and express myself in my own ways.”
Alexie was referring to Zozibini Tunzi, a model-actress who won the Miss Universe crown in 2019. She was likened by some netizens to the black, South African beauty queen.
“(It’s) good because people saw a potential in you and compared you to someone you know is exceptional. They compared you to someone who did something in their lives. Obviously, who wouldn’t like that you know. Someone compared you to all those big people, that feels great. It feels amazing,” Alexie reacted.
“And at the same time, it is also not good in the sense that I’m doing my very best (to be) my own person and to be authentic.
“I am an athlete, I am a student, (and) I have my own struggles in life. So basically if you wanna be someone one day, you don’t wanna be a copycat of something. You wanna be authentic. You wanna be your own person. I mean, I don’t mind people complimenting me (and comparing) me (to) her, but I really hope people stop calling me Zozibini because at the end of the day, I am Alexie. I struggled my way up to become my own person.”
The beauty queen that she admired most is Pia Wurtzbach for being a “transformational woman” who used her advocacy to change other people’s lives for the better.
Alexie ventured into athletics when she was in third grade. She studied at Buga Elementary School in Leon, Iloilo until high school and spent her senior high days at Iloilo National High School. She is currently a fourth year student at the National University in Manila taking up Business Marketing course and is part of the university’s track and field team where she was named University Athletic Association of the Philippines’ Most Valuable Player in 2022.
“I would always skip classes to play high jump in the mini-forest,” she recalled her elementary days. “And my teacher would get so mad at me because obviously we had class.
“And because it was a betting game, at lunch time, we would bet P5 to compete with the rest of the group. I had one teacher who saw me and she was like you could actually join sports and you could one day get a scholarship and travel somewhere else. You know, make a good name out of yourself.”
When she was in her fourth grade, she started joining competitions, went on to clinch silver and gold medals in various track and field events, became Palarong Pambansa long jump record holder, and represented the Philippines in Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam in 2022 in the heptathlon event.
Born in Lebanon to a Black American father whom she never met and to an overseas Filipino worker mother, Alexie was raised by her grandparents in Iloilo. Her grandfather passed away when she was young and had her grandmother, Lola Basing, by her side growing up.
She met her biological mom at least three times. “My grandma would always tell me that at the end of the day, she is still your mom. If it wasn’t because of her, you wouldn’t be in this universe right now.
“I’m thankful and grateful that she put me in this life and that is beautiful. It might be rocky but life is beautiful. So I still wish her well regardless of what she is doing in her life, where she’s at or who she’s with.”
As a black kid with curly hair, she was often called “aeta” or “ati” by some people. “As much as I am smiling right now, the bullying experience was really horrible,” she expressed.
She would hear words, such as, “kulot salot” and “putok sa kawayan.” “Because I really don’t have my parents growing up,” stated Alexie.
Often bullied for being half-black, she hated her skin color and curly hair. “I hated being who I am because people hated me for that. They hurt me for that. They made me cry. They gave me so much trauma that until right now, it is still there,” she said.
“But then one thing about me is I really have changed my perspective. I really have toughened my mental health (and) my mindset. That instead of me looking at it, ‘Oh yeah, I am black though and they hate me for being black so what am I gonna do?’ I just look at it as, ‘Yeah, I am black. So what?’
“‘What has my color to do with what I can offer to the world? The color of my skin, my identity, my gender, my hair, what has to do with who I am as a person?” she mused.
She realized that if they hate her for being black, there’s probably a lot of black kids in the country going through the same thing. “If I’m gonna cry about it then I let them win. So why not create it into something different, transformational? So I transformed my life,” she said.
“I created (turned) all those hurting, bullying, traumas into something great, something bigger. So, when I say that I’m doing this for a bigger cause, it’s really for a bigger cause. (It’s) not just about winning the crown or just being who I am right now. It’s so much more than that.”
On what her message is to people who bullied her, “I hope that they really think before they speak” and “be more cautious and just really spread love.”
“I wanna thank them ‘coz if it wasn’t for all those things, I wouldn’t be the person that I am right now. But at the same time, I don’t think I deserve to really go through that just to be at where I am.”
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