Miss USA R’Bonnie Gabrielle became the 71st Miss Universe after making history twice in 2022.

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana. Congratulations to R’Bonnie Gabrielle of Texas on winning Miss Universe 2023! She made history twice last year when she became the first Asian American to win the Miss Texas USA title in June and then the first Filipina to win Miss USA in October.

The video above is taken from a previous report.

Gabrielle spoke to our sister station, ABC13, before leaving for New Orleans two weeks ago and shared that her national win was a dream come true. By that point, it had been 14 years since Texas had taken home the Miss USA crown.

“Everything happened so quickly. When they called my name, I did not realize that I had won. It was probably about five seconds and I didn’t react. feelings and I tell people you’re passing out because there’s so much going on. It was actually just pure, total shock,” she said.

Her mother is from Beaumont and her father is an immigrant from the Philippines. For Gabriel, preserving and celebrating her culture has always been a priority. Although she had never seen a state title holder who looked like her, she never let that shake her confidence.

“I took this win home for my family, for my community, for Houston, for Texas, and for the Asian American community,” Gabriel said.

The Houston native dazzled judges and fans alike with her unique and stylish wardrobe, taking home the state’s best costume award in a Texas blue hat-inspired outfit. Her national costume, called Woman on the Moon, is a tribute to NASA’s Space Center in Houston, which is working to send the first woman to the moon.

She is known for her passion for sustainability in the fashion industry. Her biography on the Miss Universe website states that she was a high school volleyball player who became fascinated with fashion and quickly fell in love with making fabric and textile designs at the age of 15. She received her bachelor’s degree in fashion design from the University of the North. Texas in 2018.

She currently works as a lead sewing instructor for Magpies and Peacocks in the EaDo area, teaching sewing lessons to victims of domestic violence and human trafficking. The non-profit design house aims to use “fashion as a force for good” through sustainability and impact on society.

“I think when people think about fashion, they think about the superficial level — beautiful clothes and beautiful people. But much more can be done in this industry. This industry is the second largest polluting industry in the world,” she said. .

Gabriel added: “When you think about how a shirt is made, you realize that a lot of the extra fabric just ends up in the landfill. Therefore, my mission is to use this extra fabric or recycle and recycle different fabrics and make beautiful new things out of them. to combat the problem of pollution in my industry.”

Usually Miss USA resides in Los Angeles for her year of service, but Gabrielle said she spent most of the last three months in Houston preparing for the Miss Universe Pageant. Gabriel competed with 83 others in New Orleans on Saturday.

She is the first Miss USA to win an international title in over a decade and moved to Thailand for a year of service. She also plans to continue her own clothing brand “R’Bonney Nola” and act as an ambassador for her platform.

“I want to be remembered as a very hardworking, unique woman who really shared my passion for fashion. I want to be remembered for accepting who I was and really just doing my best by embracing my culture and owning who I am. I hope this will inspire everyone else as well,” Gabriel said.

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