Miss Vietnam
Huyen Nguyen Thi
Age: 19Occupation: Student
Height: 172
Huyen is currently studying journalism at the Hanoi University and her ambition is to continue her education abroad. She is preparing herself for a career in which she can serve her community by writing articles and promoting charity activities through the media. She is also very interested in reporting on business matters. Her hobbies include: traveling, swimming, badminton, fishing, reading and listening to clasical music.
Where did you grow up? Tell us a little about your home town/city, and family.
I grew up in Haiphong, the third largest city of Vietnam. Known as the City of Flower Lined Streets and the second most important port in Vietnam. Haiphong also has many French colonial houses. Visitors can very easily travel around the city to shop, stopping at some famous sites along the way. Cat Ba is composed of over 360 small islands situated between Ha Long Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay to form a spectacular island scenery. The biggest among them is the Cat Ba Island, 40 kms east of Hai Phong City. Covering 10 thousand hectares of forests and 4 thousand hectares of sea water, it is of great value for its interrelated diverse ecosystems of forest and sea; Cat Ba Island has now been made a National Park. There are many limestone hills over the island, the highest one being Cao Vong rising 322m above sea level, where a lot of marvellous grottoes are found. Du Hang Pagoda is one of the most ancient pagodas in this city. It was built three centuries ago. The decorations on the pagoda are exquisite. This pagoda houses a school for monks and stores many ancient furnishings.
I am the eldest of 2 children. My brother is 4 years older than I am. My mother has always been very supportive since my dad has been away most of his time overseas (Russia). She teaches us to find joy in every facet of life and the many surprises it brings. Life is a gift, there's nothing that we don't love about it, no challenges that we would turn down, and no obstacles that we feel we can't overcome. Always do our best no matter what challenges we might face in life.
What Jobs have you done? What was the most interesting/bizarre?
When I was still in high school, I worked as a freelance journalist, writing articles for magazines and newspapers. Since my mother had to raise 2 kids alone, I tried my best to support my family both emotionally and financially. To me working as a journalist was most interesting as you deal with people from all walks of life, you develop your skills as a negotiator, valuator and salesman. You also deal with contracts and all the legal facts.
What are your career ambitions, how do you plan to realise them?
I am studying journalism at the National University of Hanoi. I love journalism, because no two days are ever the same, being a journalist is never dull and that's one of the reasons I enjoy the job. I found that television made it possible to know a great many things but not necessarily to understand the world we live in. My ambition was therefore to create a program capable of making things understood rather than making things known, and which placed the facts back into time and space. I therefore proposed a geopolitical program based solely on maps. The program is fundamentally multi-disciplinary. It brings together history, geography, military hardware, the mechanisms of diplomacy, the history of religions, demographics, etc. The field of approach is getting broader with the appearance of new issues like the question of ecosystems, bioethics and networks. I am going to write a series of program on the theme of "peoples, a common heritage of mankind" in order to try to disseminate the idea that peoples are as fragile and precious, indeed more so, than historic buildings and monuments, which are protected by Unesco. On the other hand, I was interested in showing the audience the various options possible, faced with a given geopolitical situation, their respective advantages and disadvantages, in order to restore the complexity of political decision-making.
What is the proudest moment of your life? (Not including winning your National Title)
To me the proudest moment is most definitely the day I got in the University of Hanoi, major in journalism. It was very hard to get in.
What was the funniest/most embarrassing moment of your life?
One month before the Miss Vietnam contest started, my older brother called me in the morning while I was sleeping. He said that he has sent my application for the contest and I had been qualified for the first round. I thought he was joking because I never intended to participate but when I found my pictures on the magazine, I realized that it was true and I had to go all the way along.
How has your life changed since winning your National Title?
Miss Vietnam went live for the first time on television in my country in and I became a national symbol. To some extent I become a people's princess. It means definitely an obligation to live up to the expectation of our nation.
Tell us about an interesting event you have attended, or a person that you have met.
To me it was a great experience to meet the minority ethnic people of Vietnam right after winning the national contest. It was so amazing to meet thousands of people coming out of the villages and trying to touch my clothes, especially pregnant women because they believe it will bring luck to their new born children.
What would you like to do, if you became Miss World 2004?
I would like to write a series of program on the theme of "Vietnam people, a journey through time" for our nation and beautiful country. I want the world to know about our hospitality, history, people and our rich culture. I would do my best to live up to the title and use my ability to market and develop the noble charity concept of Miss World.
If you had a personal motto what would it be?
Beauty is not only your colour, shape or size, but it is the contents of your mind and soul.
Give details of any charitable work undertaken?
During my years in high school we were supporting the "Operation smile" a leading international charity healthcare organization which helps improve the health and lives of children all over the world. Through this project we raised $12,500 conducted free surgeries for around 130 handicapped local children in the northern area in Vietnam. After becoming Miss Vietnam I worked with the Minority Fund Project. We went to the poor villages and provided children with the basic ability to read, write and understand simple mathematics. With this knowledge, the children will eventually be able to learn different occupations so that they can both support themselves and help support their families. We provided hot lunches to children who attend the schools. Without these lunches, the children will only have one meal a day because that is all their parents can afford to feed them. As a long-term project, we plan to provide funding to build an orphanage in the village.