Jamie Herrell to promote ‘Think Twice’ campaign

CEBU, Philippines – After Jamie Herrell shakes off all her overhelmed feelings for besting 83 other beauties from around the globe (gotta love that reaction upon her announcement as winner – still beautiful in all her emotional glory, almost down to her knees in tearful joy!), the Fil-Am charmer vows to buckle down to environmental-saving work.

“The first thing that I’m going to do is to push for my advocacy which is the Think Twice campaign that I started during Miss Philippines Earth wherein we go to schools for seminars and teach people to think twice and save our mother earth,” Jamie said in an interview with ABS-CBN.com.

According to her Miss Earth profile, Think Twice is a “communications campaign that teaches people to think twice in finding alternatives in our everyday lives to protect and help Mother Nature.”

The 14th Miss Earth title-holder is the second Filipina and second Cebu representative to snag the crown after Karla Henry’s win in 2008.

From 84, the candidates were trimmed down to 16. The semifinalists then strutted on stage in bikinis and in evening gowns, to determine the top eight who will hurdle the final battle which was the question and answer round.

Aside from the title, Jamie collected pre-pageant medals for Darling of the Press, Best in Swimsuit, and Miss Earth Hannah’s Beach Resort.

Also crowned elemental winners Saturday night at the University of the Philippines Theater in Quezon City were Miss Earth Air Andrea Neu of the USA, Miss Earth Water Maira Alexandra Rodriguez of Venezuela, and Miss Earth Fire Anastasia Trusova of Russia.

Dispelling the notion of a few that her victory was a hometown decision and she was favored for being a host delegate, Jamie told ABS-CBN.com, “Everybody has their own opinion, but at the end of the day, it’s the choice of the judges. It’s only our second crown for Miss Earth and it just shows that it’s not a hometown decision. At the end of the day, the past beauty queens who won the crown were very deserving and I know that the people who were watching thinks that I’m deserving too, and the judges who chose me think that I’m deserving.”

Jamie, 20, was born in California, later on moving to her mother’s hometown in Placer, Masbate. The family eventually packed their bags for Cebu, where they have since settled, and formed a dance company in Lapu-Lapu City called Mactan Dynamics.

The five-foot-seven stunner is skillful in contemporary, ballet, jazz, cultural, Hawaiian and Tahitian dances. She had performed with the Sandiego Dance Company during Sinulog 2012.

Jamie began her pageant journey with Miss Lapu-Lapu 2012, where she placed first runner-up. The year 2013 was hers for the taking, bagging the titles of Sinulog Festival Queen, Mega Cebu Ambassadress, and Reyna ng Aliwan 2013.

Before joining Miss Philippines Earth 2014, Jamie participated in the Miss Resorts World Manila 2013 pageant, where she went home unplaced.

The beauty queen took up Mass Communications at the University of San Jose-Recoletos before accepting an acting scholarship at the International Academy of Film and Television in Mactan.

In her Miss Earth 2014 profile, Jaime shares that she lives by the “three F’s and one H” her parents inculcated upon her: “To have Faith, to Focus, to Fight for what I believe in, and when I become successful I must have Humility because we must always remember where we came from. I want to add one more F though...to have Fun!”

She further relates growing up in “one big noisy and weird family. If you get to know us more, it’s like you are in a comedy sketch mixed with dramatic scenes. But I absolutely love them. For me, family is number one and that is one thing that will never change.”

While her Saturday night triumph would surely be top of the list in her most memorable moments, she shared in the Miss Earth website one other evening of her life she’ll always hold dear:

“Nothing can beat the moment when I danced with my father during my 18th birthday. He was on a wheelchair and he was going on the stage to hand me the rose and I danced with him a little bit and it was perfect. It made some of the people in my party cry.” — VAB