Rosemary Tran

I would like to present my beautiful friend inside and out, Rosemary Tran! She is one of my girlfriends that I met a couple years ago through mutual friends. One thing we had in common was the blonde hair we both had and still kind of have. Anyways, she is an undergraduate student at UCLA and soon to be alumni!!! She was part of the Miss Vietnam of Southern California. I wanted to interview her because Asian Pacific Islander American pageants have gotten pretty popular. It takes a lot of confidence, intellect, and beauty inside and out. I asked a couple questions and I paraphrased her answers, so I hope you enjoy!!!

1. How do you identify yourself?

“Young Vietnamese woman”, not necessarily Vietnamese American, very recently she has been in touch with her Vietnamese culture and is proud to be a young Vietnamese woman.
She took a couple Asian American Studies classes at UCLA and learned a lot and related to a lot as well. One class that struck out to her was her Vietnamese American Experience class. She learned a lot and it opened her eyes about her parent’s experiences and her own experiences. She started to have a different perspective on her own experience and realized that she grew up with racial profiling and that it had occurred to other people too.

2. How/why did you get involved with the Vietnamese beauty pageant?

It is a scholarship pageant and because her vice president from her high school was involved and only had great things to say about it. She also was at a place in her life where she wanted to do something that she thought she would never do something out of the ordinary.
Although she did not win, she was in the top ten. She wanted to win, not just to win but for the scholarship and to get a chance to go visit Vietnam. By going to Vietnam, she would have been able to meet her relatives and learn more about her culture.

3. What is the goal of the beauty pageant?

In general it is to showcase your confidence and showcase how well you can carry yourself. It is not just about beauty, it is about being a woman and showcasing that confidence. It is also about how well you speak and present yourself with confidence.
The pageant helps portray how comfortable and confident you are. She learned to be more confident about herself. The beauty pageant is not just about being beautiful on the outside, in fact there are requirements before joining.

4. What are some of the requirements?

There is a GPA requirement of a minimum of 2.5
Could not be pregnant or have any children
Between the ages of 16 – 26
Currently enrolled in school or recently graduated within one year
There is a time commitment

5. Did you enjoy it? Would you do it again?

She had a lot of fun and made some best friends.
The experience alone was unforgettable and she said that she would do it all over again, but not another one.

6. What are some advices you can give to fellow young Asian Pacific Islander American
girls/women?

To take an Asian American studies class, pertaining to their particular culture. By taking a class, it allows you to respect your culture that much more and appreciate it.
Growing up she did not feel “cool” being Asian, and she wanted to be like “everybody else”, but then she got to the stage where she’s happy to be different and likes to be set apart from everybody else because that alone is a positive thing.
Another advice is to embrace yourself and your features, your most powerful features and find your most positive features about yourself and love what you got.

I want to thank Rosemary Tran!! <3