Hamilton woman hopes to become Miss Universe 2014

Hamilton woman, Brenna Watson-Paul, is in the top 25  girls battling it out in hopes to represent New Zealand at the Miss Universe competition later in the year.

Tomorrow night, Watson-Paul, 19, a student at the University of Waikato, will take centre stage in front of a live studio audience televised nationally, when the grand final top 12 women will be announced.

Although  excited  and battling nerves about the upcoming event, Watson-Paul has an additional hurdle to overcome – she  is  still recovering from surgery after a hockey-accident  left her with a broken nose.

“I don’t want to admit that I’m worried, but I am.  I have never had a broken bone before and three weeks before the competition I break my nose, that’s not ideal but it could have been worse,”  Watson-Paul said.

Modeling since she was 13, Watson-Paul decided to jump into beauty competitions this year, after returning from the United Kingdom.

“I thought it [Miss Universe] would be a nice platform for me, and my great-grandmother won Miss Yorkshire and my mum won Miss Te Kauwhata, so it is a family connection,”  Watson-Paul said.

Miss Universe, founded in 1952, is an international beauty contest held annually. The contest is one of the largest in the world and the pageant is currently own by Donald Trump.

“I was selected to go to the Stiletto Camp, which was a boot camp held in Auckland over a weekend.  We had photo shoots; media training, dance training, catwalk practices, and different industry experts came to speak with us. It was really awesome but a bit overwhelming.

“We also got to meet Holly Cassidy, who represented New Zealand last year and  heard all about her journey. I think that was the moment when I decided I really wanted to be in this competition.”

After taking part in the boot camp the participants were cut from 40 girls to 25. The successful Watson-Paul  headed to Thailand for a further week of  training.

“Thailand was jam-packed full of meet and greets, photo shoots, filming for our television show and also promoting Miss Universe New Zealand,” said Watson-Paul.

“But my favourite part was visiting Father Ray’s orphanage, it was a nice moment meeting the children it was just an eye opening, touching experience.  The people of Thailand were so welcoming and everywhere we went we received the most amazing hospitality.”

Since returning from Thailand, Watson-Paul has been active on social media, putting herself out to the public as well as actively raising money for the charity Variety, something she feels passionate about.

Watson-Paul will find out her fate on September 18, in front of a live audience and on national television, when the top 12 New Zealand girls are announced.

Regardless of the outcome, Watson-Paul says the experience so far has been a positive one, learning lessons that she will carry with her in the years to come.

“I have definitely learnt that not everything will always go to plan, you can’t control everything but more seriously I have gained a lot of confidence within myself while being a part of Miss Universe.  It has been hard putting myself out there but I would love for this to open new doors and opportunities.  I know I can’t save the world but it is worth trying.”

You can follow Brenna Watson-Paul’s journey on facebook here.