Diana Sunshine Rademann
Beauty never takes a break. Even during Christmas. ESPECIALLY during Christmas, I should say. The same goes for beauty pageants! ABQ is keeping an eye on two pageants that run through the Christmas season and culminate in the last week of December: The Miss Tourism Queen International 2011 in China (which Isabella Manjon is going to) and the Miss Tourism International 2011 in Malaysia – the beauty pageant that our subject, Diana Sunshine Rademann is competing in as I type out this blog post.
Diana is taking the place of the original Mutya ng Pilipinas International 2011 winner Vickie Rushton. Vickie reportedly has requirements at school that she needs to meet. Click here for the story.
DISNEY PRINCESS
If Mutya ng Pilipinas had a Disney Princess special award, Diana Rademann would win it, without a question. My daughter Diandra, who covered Mutya ng Pilipinas 2011 for me said that she moved like Cinderella, smiled like Snow White and had the perfect looks of Belle in Beauty and the Beast!
Do you see the resemblance? Not the guy to Beast okay, but Diana to Belle...
Diana Rademann can thank the brilliant mix of her parents’ genes for such sparkling beauty – her Dad, Frank Rademann is German and her Mom, Maria Anne is a Cebuana. But home for the Rademann family is Puerto Princesa in Palawan where Diana is a 3rd year student of Biology (at Palawan State University) with plans to pursue Medicine.
Since I have never gone to the famous Underground River in Palawan, I asked Diana Rademann if it was really spectacularly beautiful and she said YES! She’s gone there many times to gather scientific information for her Biology classes. Hmmm… I’m getting a picture of Princess Jasmine culling shrimp in a dark, wet cave. What a thought!
But while Diana looks like she wears gowns and glass slippers everyday, she can be as rough and tough as Pocahontas – she was a varsity Volleyball player in elementary and then in high school, she shifted to Filipino Folk Dance. In fact, when she represented the Philippines in the Miss Princess of the World 2011 beauty pageant last October in the Czech Republic, she was a nominee for the Best in Talent award for her performance of a Filipino Dance (that I can’t pronounce OR dance.) Although Diana Sunshine Rademann did not win the Talent Award, she did live up to her middle name bringing sunshine to all the other beauty contestants and winning the Miss Sympathy (Friendship) Award.
Diana Rademann, Miss Sympatie 2011 winner at the Miss Princess of the World 2011 beauty pageant
Of all the awards, the only one you can trust to be honest and true is the Miss Friendship award because all the contestants vote for this, and who on earth would try to use politics or influence to win Miss Friendship? It’s the ‘cleanest’ award given in any pageant. Just a thought…
And Diana Rademann really deserved that friendship award. I hardly know the girl but there were two things that showed me just how Congenial she was:
1) She took my call in the middle of a Christmas Party of one of the sponsors of Mutya ng Pilipinas. She actually found a quiet corner where she could answer all my questions.
2) Diana Rademann blasted out a farewell text, right before she boarded her flight to Malaysia last night saying,
“Bye-bye Philippines, thank you for all your love and support, let us all pray for the Lord’s blessing and guidance for me in this pageant. Hope to be back bringing honor and glory to our country. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!
She is the first ever beauty queen to text me a farewell message. I usually send the farewell message to them. LOL!
THE PAINFUL LOSS OF A BROTHER
Phillip - Missing You...
Underneath all that glitz and glam, a big part of Diana Rademann is in mourning. Earlier this year, her 15-year-old brother Philip died due to Cardiac Arrest. He was just two days away from celebrating his birthday when the tragedy occurred. It came as a shock to the family, even if they knew he had congenital heart problems and had been battling them with him for a while. Although I was taken aback by her revelation, I did not hear any weakness in Diana’s voice. I think her brother’s death has only made her stronger and as she carries the Philippine title in Miss Tourism International 2011 in Malaysia, she’ll also be carrying his memory in her heart.
And she’ll also be missing her family A LOT! This is her first time to be away from them during Christmas but she’s trying not too hard to think about it. Instead, she’s focusing on competing and enjoying the three weeks she has in Malaysia. Miss Tourism International’s coronation night is on New Year’s Eve and she had very little time to prepare, just under two weeks, to get ready for it. Diana Rademann admits that her weakness is speaking in English. At home, she says, they just speak Tagalog/Taglish/Filipino. So she spent four days in intensive Q&A training for the pageant.
I told her that the most important thing is for her to be able to express herself with intelligence and sensitivity. When you reach the international platform, judges understand that not all candidates speak English well (or even speak it at all) and give lots of leeway for that.
Diana Rademann in swimsuit
GETTING INTO PAGEANT FORM
Since Diana Rademann is a Folk Dancer at her school, she’s pretty fit. Last year, her weight was 55 kilos (121 lbs) – just right for her height of 5’5″. But she wanted to get leaner so she cut back on her carbs and stopped eating rice regularly and stopped drinking softdrinks completely. With those two changes in her eating lifestyle, she was able to get down to a lighter 47 kilos (103.5 lbs), her weight as of now.
Losing weight also gave her the confidence to try competing in pageants. Her first attempt was at the baranggay level. Diana Rademann won the Miss Baranggay Siksikan title (no sniggering please..) and then she competed in the Miss Puerto Princesa 2011 where she placed 3rd. Diana Rademann also competed in the Miss Casino Filipino 2011 where she entered the semi-finals and won Best in Long Gown and two other awards. Then she got hand-picked to represent the Philippines in October at the Miss Princess of the World 2011 beauty pageant where she won Miss Sympatie, as I mentioned earlier in this blog post. Diana Rademann has racked up much experience in pageant competition – experience that will hopefully boost her chances of winning in Malaysia.
Mutya ng Pilipinas 2011 Court of Winners - Diana Rademann, the 1st Runner-up is on the far left...
CHRISTMAS MESSAGE TO SUPPORTERS
As Dianda Rademann competes in her second international beauty tilt, she sends her gratitude to all of those who supported her, from her family to her handler, Rogil and to the staff of Mutya ng Pilipinas. To her sponsors and to Mama Renee Salud who is handling her wardrobe needs and to all pageant fans who are praying for her victory – she hopes to return from Malaysia with great news to welcome 2012!!!
She is SO pretty. I wished, though, that they had changed the title to either Miss “Friendship” or “Congeniality.” The title Miss “Sympathy” just does not sound right (somebody needs to tell this to the Miss Princess of the World organizers…). Looking at her photos, Diana certainly looks like “sympathy” is the last thing she needs! : )
I wish her all the luck in Malaysia!
Maybe in the country where the pageant was held, Sympathy is similar to the French term Sympa – which means very likeable.
Just a guess 
I met her in G hotel in penang malaysia,where i am staying and the same time they also stayed for 1 night. We studied in the same school during our high school,The Sisters of Mary School Girlstown,a congregation runned by the nuns were we studied and lived for almost 4 years,and as i can see she never change. She is still the Diana i met during our high school life. A simple,talker,noisy and polite girl,she is also a member of rondalla as she is a drummer..a pefect drummer i can say.
I wish her the best..and hope she gets the crown for MissTourism International,recently she just won a Miss Personality sponsored by SPEC.
Go Diana..our school are so proud of you…
Thanks for supporting Diana… she needs all the prayers she can get… her pageant is coming up soon!
[...] the Miss Spec Personality award in the Miss Tourism International 2011 in Malaysia! Diana Sunshine Rademann was Mutya ng Pilipinas’ 1st Runner-up this year, but due to schedule problems with their two main winners, Mutya ended up sending Diana. Read my article on her here! [...]