Meet Michele Angela Navarro Okol: Siargao Island’s first ever Miss Universe Ph bet

Michele Angela Navarro Okol

She walks, talks with grace and her petite figure and soft-spoken nature may immediately offer an impression thatbefits the shy, pretty, girl next door criterion.

She is Michele Angela Navarro Okol, a 20-year consistent 1st honor dean’s lister taking up Political Science in oneof Manila’s top universities and the first ever official representative of the Island of Siargao (dubbed the Surfing Capital of the Philippines) to enter the Miss Universe Philippines pageant.

Behind her grace (which complements her beautiful face and those expressive eyes) and approachable front, you’llstart regarding her with respect the minute she speaks up.

Angela immediately captures your attention with her unique approach in life, how she celebrates her individuality and her plans to live up her God-given mission on earth.

For one, when asked her “why” in joining the country’s Miss Universe Pageant, others may be quick to quip “world peace” or other social, political and “Mother Nature” concerns.

But Okol who experienced bullying in her teens for being “too big or healthy” for her age, is taking this big step with a mission to tell her story and be an empowering force to advocate self-acceptance and love and, like her, encourage more people to turn their life around for the better. “A better you contribute to a better world.”

Thrift-flipping stylist

If some ladies her age prefers expensive brands to wear, the official representative of Siargao Island prefers to buy clothes and accessories from thrift stores and give them new meaning and style in what is known as “thrift flip.”

Okol, channels her artistic inputs on her daily garb and wear through “thrift flipping’ or “reworking.” What started as her love for sewing (since age 12), transitioned into a passion and now a purpose because “thrift flip”– for her, “is sustainable fashion.”

“My humble contribution to curb the adverse effect of large amounts of waste and harmful gasses that factories create/emit to the environment.”

Bent to make her humble contributions to save the environment, Okol also buys deadstock fabric to make clothes.“A lot of times, what’s being mass produced isn’t completely sold; ergo, these unsold materials just end up being stocked or thrown away.”

Her take on social media

She looks at social media with both its benefits and one’s responsibility in equilibrium. She believes that as convenient as social media seems, there are, of course, also consequences when misused such as cyberbullying, invasion of privacy, “cancel culture,” and online fraud, to name a few of the internet’s dangers when not used properly.

“People need to find a balance between their social physical and social online life. Many of us have become too immersed in these gadgets to see beyond the screens and socialize how we used to. In all things, there should be balance for too much of anything will inevitably lead to poor results.

Okol, with 98 others made it to the official list of candidates vying for the Miss Universe Philippines crown.

This young lass, raised by a long line of soldiers and airmen honing discipline, is excited about her Miss Universe Philippine pageant experience.

She would like to focus more on the fun side plus the learnings and opportunities that the Miss Universe pageant experience will bring to her plate.

From Binibining Pilipinas, who holds the franchise from 1964, the Miss Universe franchise in the Philippines was officially granted to a new organizing body in 2019, with Binibining Pilipinas Universe 2011, Shamcey Supsup-Lee as its national director.

Under the new organization, a separate, standalone pageant is now responsible for the selection of the future Miss Universe Philippines titleholders from 2020 onwards.

If you wish to support Okol’s Miss Universe Journey, simply download the Miss Universe application (or Android: https://bit.ly/3rxx5pv, for iOs: https://apple.co/3i6bxNI) and vote for her.#
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