KUCHING: The Grand Winner of I Am Model Search International 2024 Nur Qamarina Syafira stated she did not expect to win the beauty pageant competition in the first place.
Since it was the first competition she participated ever since she entered the beauty pageant industry, the 14-year-old Malay girl from here said she was truly happy she managed to wow the judges during the event.
“I was truly happy and excited when I was announced as the grand winner. And at the same time, I managed to make so many friends, mostly contestants from Indonesia, during the competition
“I was inspired to join this competition because of my mentor, Viviana Lin Winston who have been teaching me a lot about beauty pageants since I was nine years old,” she said.
Nur Qamarina said this when met by reporters during her homecoming arrival at Kuching International Airport on Thursday (January 18).
She revealed she would continue to participate in more beauty pageants in the future.
Meanwhile, Viviana, her mentor, said she had been teaching Nur Qamarina for over five years.
“Right now, she is under our agency called Angel Impact Model Management and to be honest, I was not able to accompany her to Kuala Lumpur because I was having my final examination.
“So I watched the competition through Youtube livestream and when she was announced as the grand winner, I was so happy I screamed in front of my computer screen.
“For the record, Nur Qamarina is the first female contestant in the competition to be placed in top three; this makes me truly proud as her mentor.
“It took me three months to fully train her for the competition from head to toe,” she stated.
Viviana also explained that not only would she like to see Nur Qamarina compete in more beauty competitions but see several of her mentees participate in the competitions in the future.
“This is because it is their interest since they were children. So our job is to really nurture and teach them well from young until they are grown up.
“My hope is to see my other mentees glorify Sarawak at the global stage,” she added.
