Miss Universe Celeste Cortesi reveals Rabiya Mateo convinced her to join beauty pageant

Filipino-Italian beauty Celeste Cortesi was crowned Mis Universe Philippines 2022 in the pageant that took place at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila on Saturday, April 30. Now, in a recent virtual interview, Miss Universe Philippines 2022 revealed that she had no plans of joining the beauty contest. However, it was her close confidante and Miss Universe Philippines 2020, Rabiya Mateo, who convinced her to submit her application.

Celeste Cortesi reveals reason behind signing up for Miss Universe Pageant

For the unversed, Celeste Cortesi initially had plans to join the national pageant next year to be '100% prepared' for the Miss Universe contest. Later, it was her close friend Rabiya Mateo who pushed her to join the competition. In a virtual media briefing that was organised on Friday by PLDT Home, Cortesi opened up about her candid conversation with the Miss Universe Philippines 2020. Cortesi recalled Mateo motivating her to 'just go for it.'

She said, "Me and Rabiya are very close, and I remember that before submitting my application for Miss Universe Philippines, I was talking to her and I was opening up about me wanting to join next year, not this year. I was telling her that I just want to prepare and be ready 100%. If there is something that Rabiya really told me, it's you will never be 100% prepared."

Cortesi further called Rabiya a 'straightforward' person and added, "She really told me just go for it, don't think about it too much. She said, 'You will never be prepared, you just have to send the application and everything will follow'". Cortesi recalled, "So it was one of the best pieces of advice because I was really listening to her and she's also one of the reasons why I decided to go for it"

The 24-year-old, a representative for Pasay City, defeated 31 others including the top five contenders Katrina Llegado from Taguig, Annabelle McDonnell from Misamis Oriental, Pauline Amelinckx from Bohol and Michelle Dee from Makati. The event was hosted by Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach, Miss Universe 2016 Iris Mittenaere and Miss Universe 2017 Demi Leigh Nel-Peters Tebow. Also attending the event were Miss Universe 2021 Harnaaz Sandhu and Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray.

Image: Instagram/@rabiyamateo/@celeste_cortesi