Dawn Images

“I think I still haven’t wrapped my head around everything that’s happened this year. It’s been very fast moving and my whole world has been changed.” That’s what reigning Miss Universe Pakistan Roma Riaz told me when I asked how it felt to be on the tail-end of an eventful year with the crown.

Only the third beauty queen to represent Pakistan at Miss Universe, Riaz is currently in the process of helping choose her successor. So, I sat down with her to ask what exactly she’s looking for.

Riaz is heading to the Philippines to crown the next Miss Universe Pakistan. The organisation has already shortlisted 10 contenders from a large pool of applicants. The finalists include one contestant chosen by the Miss Universe organisation, six chosen by a panel of judges — which Riaz is a part of — and three chosen by the public. The winner will get to represent Pakistan at the 75th Miss Universe pageant in Puerto Rico later this year.

“We are just looking for a good girl with a good heart and passion for the progress of Pakistan,” she said, adding she was surprised by just how much of the emphasis was on beauty on the inside.

“When I won, the first thing I asked my national director was, why me? And his words have always stuck with me because he said to me, ‘You can teach a girl how to walk, you can teach a girl how to wear dresses and put on heels, but you can’t teach her how to have a good heart.’ So above everything, that is true beauty and that is what Miss Universe always looks for.”

Friendship was the real prize

At the competition, she said, she was fortunate enough to meet and bond with many amazing women from around the world. “I just look back and I think about all the time I spent with my sisters and I feel so happy to think I have a sister in every country now.”

She said taking part in the Miss Universe pageant was a life-changing, once-in-a-lifetime experience, advising her successor to not get too lost in the competitive aspect. “You can never do this ever again. So I would always remind her to make these friendships. There is nothing more important than them.”

Heavy is the head that wears the crown

I asked Riaz whether the crown she wore as Miss Universe Pakistan was heavy; she said it had weight “not because it’s made out of metal, but because the responsibility that comes with it is so heavy”. She said representing Pakistan on the global stage was “the biggest honour and responsibility of my life”.

The pressure, of course, isn’t just from the responsibilities that come with the title. Riaz said the public nature of the job got her a lot of criticism and backlash. “So a lot of thick skin is needed for this.”

And she has faced her fair share of backlash. During the competition, she addressed criticism for “not looking Pakistani enough,” vowing she would not “apologise for looking like my people”. Arguing at the time that this criticism was rooted in colourism, she said she proudly represents Pakistan, and “a new generation of South Asian women who don’t fit into the narrow boxes of what society thinks we should look like”.

When I asked how she chose to deal with all the hate being sent her way — especially by internet trolls — she said she had a purpose in her role as Miss Universe Pakistan and the comments only fuelled it.

“[They] made me realise that there is a bigger impact in this than I had initially thought. These are the conversations Pakistan needs to have. I’m happy to suffer if it makes it easier for the girl who comes after me.”

Later, Riaz shared one particular fan interaction that made the whole journey worth it.

“During my training in the Philippines, we had a little group of schoolgirls come out and they had obviously seen us with our sashes and were really excited that these are Miss Universe girls… They had taken pictures with all of us and this little girl came up to me and she was like, ‘All the Miss Universe queens are so beautiful, but you are the most beautiful to me because you have the same skin colour as me.’”

That made Riaz tear up and realise that this competition and her role in it were bigger than just herself and her feelings.

Bringing positive attention to Pakistan

For the future, the outgoing queen said she hoped beauty pageants would continue to expand in Pakistan, because they bring with them the positive light that the country needs. “I think, through this competition, we can bring a lot more attention to Pakistan and the creativity and talent that is within it.”

That creativity, she said, was the one thing she felt the world needed to know more about.

“That is kind of an umbrella term for everything we do… our food, our lorry art, even our songs, music. Everything is just so incredibly well done and there is so much thought that goes into this that often cannot be translated into other languages. So I would just love for people to see Pakistan as the creative and talented country that it is.”

Who is Roma Riaz?

Lastly, I had to ask who Riaz was when she took off the crown and sash. The answer, unsurprisingly, was a young girl who loves spending time with her family, going to church, doing pilates and drinking matcha.

She’s also a bona-fide Pakistani, attested to by the fact that her favourite food is biryani and she knows exactly how she likes it — handmade by her mum.

What did surprise me a little was the beauty queen’s last job before taking on the Miss Universe Pakistan crown. She was a full-fledged corporate girlie with a job in sales analysis.

Riaz said that although she can’t clock out at 5pm like she used to at her old job, she doesn’t regret it. “This is just a more meaningful and purposeful path. And I think, now that I’ve taken this step, nothing makes more sense for me than this.”