|
Interest in Chinese Kailua resident Kuuleialoha Chun never imagined her interest in her Chinese roots would lead her to win her first beauty pageant.
roots spurred
Narcissus queen
The pageant was the first for
new queen Kuuleialoha ChunBy Rosemarie Bernardo
rbernardo@starbulletin.com"I was still in disbelief," said Chun, 25, after she was crowned the 53rd Narcissus Queen more than a week ago.
"The cultural aspect intrigued me. Had it not been for that, I would not have done it," she said.
The pageant was held at the Blaisdell Concert Hall on Jan. 12.
Before entering the contest, Chun felt beauty pageants portrayed women "like a Barbie doll."
Her perspective changed after entering the Narcissus pageant.
"I didn't realize there was so much involved, especially since it was a cultural pageant," she said. "I hope I make the community proud."
In 1950, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce created the Narcissus Festival to preserve Chinese art and culture. The festival and beauty pageant was named after a flower called sui sin fah in Chinese that bloomed in the spring and symbolized the lunar new year.
Since she was 5 years old, Chun spent most of her time learning hula and the Hawaiian language. She was selected for the Miss Aloha Hula Contest in 2000.
When she spotted a poster promoting the Narcissus pageant in Chinatown last year, Chun thought it would be an opportunity to learn about her Chinese background. Her father, Patrick, is Chinese and her mother, Theresa, is half-Russian, quarter-Chinese and quarter-Hawaiian.
The competition included Chinese culture classes twice a week on history, cooking, martial arts and calligraphy. Through the classes, she learned about her Chinese genealogy that traced back to her great-grandfather, Martin Chin Kim from Toisan, China. Chun said he started a laundry business in Hilo and later moved to Oahu, where he became a cook at the Halekulani hotel.
Chun's prizes included a silver 2002 Toyota Echo for a year, a $10,000 scholarship to Hawaii Pacific University, a $5,000 scholarship to Hawaii Business College and her first-ever trip to China.
Chun is a 1994 graduate of Kamehameha Schools. She obtained a bachelor's degree in zoology from the University of Washington in 1998. After college, Chun was a flight attendant for American and Hawaiian Airlines. She currently works as a registered sales assistant at the Honolulu financial firm Salomon Smith Barney Inc.
Entering the pageant "has enriched my life and my family's lives," said Chun, who is the youngest of four. "They learned through me. ... It brought our family closer together."