How Venus Raj conquered bullying

CEBU, Philippines – Venus Raj is now known as the beauty queen who placed fourth runner-up in the Miss Universe pageant in 2010.

But with her dusky complexion and towering height, the 27-year-old stunner has always been an open book about being bullied as a child.

In an interview during the Miss Possibilities pageant, Venus said she was called names by her peers growing up.

“They used to call me kapre, aswang, ganyan, because I am tall. And those factors really affected my self-confidence when I was growing up,” she shared.

Venus said that there are many factors why people are not confident about themselves. For her, the teasing that she received when she was young was the main reason why she initially did not want to venture into beauty pageants.

She said she learned to shut down the negativity by listening to people who only has something good to say about her and by “raising her self-awareness.”

Venus attended the Miss Possibilities pageant to raise awareness on the important roles of people with special needs and to show her support for young girls who struggle with self confidence.

Being an advocate of redefining true beauty, she commended the organizers for having a pageant that is very different from the usual ones.

"We have a lot of beauty pageants in the Philippines...pero, we only judge the physical appearance, how they walk, how they carry their gowns. But do we really have the criteria where we can really see how beautiful their inner beauty is? Wala eh. So, I am just so happy to be a part of this," she said. — Philstar News Service