‘Love and explore one’s own culture’
Jamie Herrell’s first morning in Sri Lanka is a flurry of interviews and photo shoots, and countless photos with eager fans. Here for the crowning of the Derana Goya Miss Sri Lanka for Miss Earth 2015, Jamie, the current Miss Earth hardly seemed to be intimidated by the buzz surrounding her. “So how’s your day today?” she asked us, her friendly, sunshiny personality radiating beyond the glamour and cameras.
A smile for the Sunday Times. Pic by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
Gregarious and outgoing with a love for community work and the environment, the Miss Earth pageant seems the ideal stage for Jamie. Hailing from Cebu, Philippines, she admits “I wasn’t really into pageants” – having a very stereotyped notion of the competitions she assumed were about makeup and pretty clothes. One day while watching TV she chanced upon a replay of Miss Earth 2012 which sparked her interest. “Till then, I had only heard of one pageant,” she says, confessing she never thought she could do it, describing herself as having been a “chubby, short haired girl with a love for elephant pants.”
Having won the title of Miss Philippines at only 19, left Jamie wondering if she had made a mistake. “I wondered if I should have joined now.” Very much aware that she was one of the youngest to win the title, “I had to prove myself during the pre-judging” she explained, and proceeded to arm herself with a determined mindset and drive.
Having excelled in maths and science in school her passion though was for the arts. Now a dancer with her own dance company for children, she has dabbled in marketing and even worked for a time at a construction company. “My parents wanted me to do something more stable,” she explained. Growing up in both the USA and then the Philippines found her constantly restless and adventurous. “Always moving around wasn’t easy, but you get used to it,” she told us and cannot picture herself settling down in one place for long.
Established in 2001, the Miss Earth pageant focuses on environmental protection with its candidates and winners taking an active role in promoting and protecting the environment. The past year has found Jamie travelling around her beloved homeland promoting the Miss Philippines Earth ‘Think Twice’ campaign, which educates people on living an environmentally friendly lifestyle. She promotes eco tourism, and campaigns for the preservation of cultural sites in the Philippines. “When I was getting ready to come here I was looking forward to seeing the beaches and temples,” she said. “No matter how modernized we become, we will always come back to our culture.” It’s why she loved coming back to live in the Philippines as a teenager. “You must love and explore your country before seeing another.”
Here on her first international trip as Miss Earth, her wanderlust along with the heat and humidity (not as bad as the Philippines, she assured us) left no room for homesickness or fatigue.
At the end of this year, Jamie will pass on her crown to another young woman who will continue the work of the Miss Earth Foundation. Hoping to wrap up her studies by next February, it’ll be a whole different world, for the beauty queen whose passion for activism is only growing. Continuing to do what she loves; working with people and the environment Jamie hopes to follow her role model Audrey Hepburn and work for UNICEF. “For me she was the whole package of beauty; both outside and inside,” she says.