Miss Rotorua 2021 crowned: Immigrant Kogi So takes the title

Kogi So was crowned Miss Rotorua 2021. Photo / David Rowe Photography

Five months ago Kogi So knew little about beauty pageants, now she has become the first Chinese woman to win the Miss Rotorua Pageant in its history.

So, 37, was born and raised in Hong Kong and on Friday she was named Miss Congeniality and Miss Rotorua after strutting in dreamlike gowns, dancing her native dance and answering questions gracefully.

Twenty-five women competed for the title of Miss Rotorua 2021, a pageant first held in 1947. Through the fashion, talent, Q&A section and judges interview, So came out on top.

When she first signed up, So had no idea what pageants were about apart from "being pretty". She admits she "was totally wrong, it is all about women empowerment".

So moved to Aotearoa in 2015 with her Korean husband and young daughters. She works as a real estate agent at Rotorua First National.

So said winning the pageant as a Chinese immigrant meant a lot to the Asian community.

"It's about the acceptance from the country.

"This is not our land but you welcome us to be our home."

She felt nervous about facing racism when moving to Aotearoa but learnt throughout the pageant her own Chinese culture was not so different from Māori culture.

"We both really value the elderly, relationships and treating friends with food."

The pageant winner's main reason for joining the competition was "to be a role model for my two little girls".

Her 8- and 4-year-old daughters often went to pageant training with her.

So said her daughters were very excited and had been addressing her by her prestigious title since the crowning saying "Miss Rotorua, Mummy, I'm proud of you".

So wanted to inspire her daughters throughout the pageant to never, "judge people by who they are, where they're from, what language they speak, we are human".

So has many plans for her reign as Miss Rotorua, "I want to inspire the Chinese community, Asian community and migrants."

In the lead up to the pageant So raised $4300 for the New Zealand sexual violence charity, Brave, and she wants to continue to spread awareness and fundraise throughout her reign.

Miss Rotorua managing director Kharl WiRepa said So was "fantastic".

"The world is a racist place during and post Covid, it's important for Kogi to be able to bring peace among people and to create unity in diverse places."

WiRepa said the Miss Rotorua Pageant was significantly different from other "superficial" beauty pageants around the world.

"We include a diverse group of women, to have the ability to enter where other pageants would not."

This diverse group included women with disabilities, older women, mothers and plus size women. Some contestants have been prostitutes, prisoners and methamphetamine addicts.

"We've been able to include all women as a part of our programme to allow them the opportunity to prove that they are Miss Rotorua," WiRepa said.

Miss Rotorua "celebrates elegance and grace, which is something that the community is lacking in these days..."

The competition is also the only Māori owned and operated pageant in the world, it honours Te Arawa's rich culture of pageantry and beauty, WiRepa said.

The pageant was filmed by Te Noni Productions to be turned into an eight-part series called Gowns and Geysers, which will be streamed on TVNZ On Demand and Māori Television.

The series will show the "behind the scenes drama and upsets and tears," WiRepa said.

"It's always entertaining" when lots of women with high energy come together.

WiRepa could not confirm if there would be a second season of Gowns and Geysers but said, "producers are extremely interested already in season two".

- Samantha Carter is a journalism student at Massey University