A 22-year-old vendor-turned-athlete was crowned Miss Iloilo 2024.
Alexie Mae Caimoso Brooks, an American-Filipino born in Lebanon but raised in Leon, Iloilo, dedicated her win to her grandma.
“Kasi everything that I do right now or everything that I have ever done is all for her,” she told ABS-CBN News.
She added, “My grandma is my life. Without her, I don’t have this dream, or I don’t think that I will even be able to achieve the achievements that I have right now.”
Alexie is blessed with short curly hair, dark skin.
Observers believe her “exotic” looks could be a huge boon as she enters this year’s Miss Universe Philippines pageant.
But Alexie admitted the same caused her much anguish prior.
“I often get bullied for being black,” she related.
That they are also poor added to the seeming torment.
“Going to school, I remember that we don’t have money to buy rice. And the kids would always eat sa table, and I would go to the rest room and eat there. “Because I don’t want them kasi to see what I’m eating kasi they’re gonna bully you for that, e.”
She became an athlete while in college, competing in the high jump, among others, going on to win tons of medals.
She also competed at the Southeast Asian Games.
Made strong, resilient by adversity, Alexie is also smart, witty.
She is pushing for women empowerment, as made obvious in the words she shared during the tilt.
She said, “I want women to move forward. Abante, babae. This is something that comes from my heart...I want to empower women...women can be so much more, women are capable of so much more. Abante, babae...”