Runner-up Phuong Anh: The pressure of Miss is not only a university degree but a spirit of daily progress

The Miss Vietnam 2024 contest is starting with many potential candidates. Looking at the contestants, Phuong Anh will definitely not forget her first step on her journey to become Runner-up. What is the biggest change since you were in the Top 3 highest titles of Miss Vietnam 2020?

- When accompanying the competition in the Southern preliminary round, I really felt refreshed and remembered the time when I was a contestant, also nervously entering the humanometric round and interviewing.

This year, when I returned, I was in another position, I was lucky to participate as a member of the preliminary round judges of Miss Vietnam 2024 and had direct contact with the contestants.

For me, Miss Vietnam is always something very special, a memorable milestone in my life. Because this is where I have grown up and have many opportunities to be exposed to art, helping me build an image in the public's heart and have more opportunities in life.

Before becoming the runner-up, you also had an impressive list of achievements. After coming out of the competition, you are one of the runners-up who received a lot of compliments for continuing to pursue the path of knowledge. How does studying mean to you?

- I think studying has changed my life. When I was a student majoring in French at Le Hong Phong High School for the Gifted, I received a full scholarship at RMIT University and that was almost a turning point for me.

When studying in an international environment, I feel much more mature. My personality has also changed towards being more open, bold and proactive in life.

That change has followed me until today so that when I return, I can continue to contribute to the educational environment.

For me, education is the key to success and can help me change into a better and more perfect version than ever.

How does studying help you change your perspective, how you feel about life or meet people with the same frequency?

- When I was in school, I used to think that the knowledge I learned in books was dry and too much theoretical matter. However, it turned out that my thinking was wrong, especially when I pursued an education.

What we learn will help us develop soft skills such as presentation skills, communication skills, teamwork, etc.

Those are the things that make me change from thinking to being open, always being proactive in seeking opportunities and always diligently improving myself every day.

Since I was a child, I have loved learning foreign languages, so RMIT University is an ideal environment for me to promote my strengths with an open spirit, always accepting new things and learning from those around me.

I think it is that change that has helped me to be what I am today, to have career and family opportunities that are very valuable.

What do you think about the lifelong learning that everyone needs? Is that the ideal you pursue?

- I think for me, studying will be lifelong and the phrase "study" has many aspects. We can learn from schools and also from the lives around us.

We can learn from teachers but can also learn from friends and sponsors who passed on experiences so that we can overcome difficulties in life or help us achieve our dreams and goals.

When I came out of Miss Vietnam 2020, I had many more friends, brothers and sisters and met extremely talented people who inspired me. I think I really appreciate it and will accept every opportunity to learn from better people to motivate me on my future development path.

If we consider the academic aspect, I am an educational environment, so I will have to study more. It is necessary to update useful knowledge, new knowledge to be able to incorporate into their lectures and help students also acquired that knowledge.

Beauty and intellectuals are often mentioned by the public after each Miss contest as a way to measure the message. Is the audience always using these two keywords as a factor to evaluate Misses a pressure for the beauties to try to aim for the knowledge image?

- I think for those who are known as Miss, the runner-up will of course have more pressure than others.

But perhaps the pressure comes not only from the need for a university degree but also the need to have a spirit of progress and progress every day.

Currently, audiences can follow the Misses and Runners-up through social networks and will follow her entire journey until the future.

I think the most important thing about a beauty queen or runner-up is that after many years of being crowned, the audience still feels the effort to develop more and more, improve more and more and always contribute to the community.

For me, since coming out of Miss Vietnam 2020, I have accepted that studying is what I do best, so I will always try to develop it every day and express that spirit well to those who follow me.

Up to now, studying has been almost a passion, a daily habit of mine. I will always try to learn new things every quarter and every year.

That is the spirit I always try to towards and hope the audience will welcome and always support me in this journey.

As you say studying is a passion, that is definitely Phuong Anh's strength. What are the additional opportunities that being fluent in foreign languages such as English and French will give you?

- As I shared above, I love the language very much and have been lucky enough to learn French since I was a child. After that, when I became fluent in French, I began to approach English and develop both languages.

When we know a new language, it means we are somewhat exposed to that culture. As for me, the benefits of learning two languages help me have a difference compared to many people. It helps me score points in interviews and gives me many opportunities in life. As soon as I competed in Miss Vietnam 2020, this was also considered a strength and helped me create an impression in the eyes of the judges.

Recently, I have been trying to learn more Spanish, because that language is quite similar to French, so learning is not too difficult. And because there are Spanish relatives in my family, I also want to study more to communicate with them.

And also because the journey of learning continues, will Phuong Anh's plan to study for a PhD be implemented soon?

- Actually, I am in the process of preparing the documents and waiting for the next steps. However, as someone quite afraid of "taking advantage of the situation" I allow myself not to share too much detail about this. At the present time, I am trying to complete my application and will look for opportunities that suit my abilities. When there is good news, I will definitely share it with readers of Lao Dong Newspaper.