BUKIT MERTAJAM: A Penang-born student pursuing her diploma in business studies at INTI College Penang wants to promote Malaysia's diverse cultures when she represents the country as a finalist at the 2021 Miss Teen Universe.
Dheper Reshaa Teh, 19, said she aims to highlight Malaysia's beauty and make Malaysians proud when she heads for Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Oct 25 to compete in the international pageant there on Nov 6.
"I hope that my four years of pageantry experience will lead to my success in being crowned as Miss Teen Universe for this year. Those who wish to support me representing Malaysia can visit the Miss Teen Universe's Instagram page (@missteenuniversepageants) and vote for me there," she told Bernama.
Recalling her experience, Dheper said she started to show interest in pageantry and aspired to become Miss Universe at the age of four as she was inspired by other Miss Universe around that time.
Her ambition to be in the pageantry industry grew, from learning to catwalk by herself at home to enrolling in a modelling academy in Penang and receiving her diploma there.
She wore her first tiara when she won her first ever pageantry in Miss Teen International Malaysia 2018/2019 and since then, she has competed at two international-level pageants, namely Miss Teen Universe 2019 in New Delhi, India, as well as Miss Tourism Global City, held in Guangdong, China this year.
She made it into the finals of the 2019 Miss Teen Universe and was ranked within the Top 20 under the Miss Tourism Global City.
"International level pageants are far different from national level ones. There were a lot of aspects I was not aware of such as issues on racism, politics and lots of culture shock … and here I was, being young and naive," she said, but further added that the contestants she had met had taken great care of her during her lone travels.
She hoped that she could use her hands-on experiences in pageantry at the international level and represent Malaysia to compete in the Miss Universe pageants in the future.
"It is my dream to be Miss Universe one day and to be able to see myself being featured in publications like Vogue magazine as well as on billboards," she added.--BERNAMA