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Miss Earth, Air 2013, Katia Wagner says...:

Let us love Mother Nature

By Anuradha Kodagoda

She was the first Austrian to win a main title in the Miss Earth competition. Besides being extremely beautiful, Katia Wagner, the reigning Miss Earth, Air 2013 is a linguist, with fluency in German, English, French, Russian, Bahasa Indonesia and has also studied Latin. Before walking into the Miss Earth beauty pageant arena, her first experience in life, Katia obtained her degree at the University of Vienna by doing three years in General Medicine and another three for dentistry. At the time of her entry into the Miss Earth competition, she was writing her thesis on Implant systems in dentistry. Apart from her job at a dental hospital in Vienna, she also serves as CEO of a well-known beauty spa in Vienna.

Katia, born to an Austrian mother and an Indonesian father is in Sri Lanka now on a special invitation from TV Derana, for the Derana-Veet Miss Sri Lanka for Miss Earth 2014, held yesterday at the Citrus, Waskaduwa.

As the print media partner the Sunday Observer got the opportunity to have a chit-chat with gorgeous Katia Wagner.

Q: Hi Katia, welcome to Sri Lanka. How's the experience so far being in a tropical island?

Katia: Wow! It's great. I have heard about Sri Lanka a lot and especially about the beaches as I love surfing. So, as soon as I got the invitation from TV Derana the first thing I checked with them was whether I can extend my stay for another two weeks where I can spend more time on the beaches and do a bit of surfing. So I'm pretty excited about my stay in this beautiful island.

Q: What inspired you to plunge into a beauty pageant?

Katia: It was by accident, because I never had any interest in beauty pageants as they are not my type of thing. However, there was a friend of mine, who's the National Director for Miss Earth Organisation.

She was pestering me for some time to take part in the international pageant. Initially though I didn't show any interest, when she explained to me what Miss Earth is all about that and that it is something more than a beauty pageant and it is about environment and mother nature-which made me to look at a different angle when and I felt it could be interesting.

Q: What was the feeling when you won the Miss Earth, Air 2013 title?

Katia: Actually, it was quite unexpected because Miss Earth 2013 was my first beauty pageant experience and my primary intention was to take part and meet nice people from various countries.

I didn't expect anything more at all because Austria is a very small country and in her history very few could make a name. It was all unexpected. I had made a funny face when my name was announced as the winner of Miss Earth Air 2013. I didn't expect it at all.

Q: In which way has your life changed with the crown?

Katia: It got busier. I travel a lot. I'm getting used to it with jetlags. However, it's a nice feeling to know that I'm contributing to the mother nature and doing something to protect it.

Q: Tell us about the environmental projects that you've been involved in so far.

Katia: Our main project is to build solar energy panels in a rural village in the Philippines.

We were there last March and it's a village which do not have electricity. We brought them sustainable energy through solar panels and I'm quite thrilled that I got the opportunity to take part in that marvellous project. We keep on receiving mails from other countries to facilitate them with solar energy. We are working on it and hope to expand our projects to other countries as well.

Q: You said you were not that pleased with the idea of beauty pageants before you took part in the Miss Earth 2013. Now what is your opinion about beauty pageants?

Katia: It has actually changed me when I came over to Manila to take part in the Miss Earth 2013 competition where I met so many intelligent, inspiring and passionate young ladies, who were not mere pretty faces. That's something beyond what I had expected. It changed my perception of beauty pageants entirely.

Q: It is an obvious fact that to be a beauty queen there's always a certain body type, height and colour required. Don't you think it's too stereotyped?

Katia: It's true that it's too much of a stereotype. But in beauty pageants such as Miss Earth they are always ready to challenge those stereotypes. The best example is me. I'm not a typical beauty pageant girl but an exception.

However, it is important to have a nice personality while being intelligent and passionate in what you are doing. It is possible to make a beauty queen out of everyone, with the right makeup, exercise and catwalk-training. But it's equally important to have the right attitude towards what you are doing.

Q: Can you name five things that you cannot live without?

Katia: I think I cannot live without the basic things such as my friends, work, good food, my interests - music, surfing, love and passion.

Q: What's your message to the world as Miss Earth Air 2013?

Katia: Miss Earth is all about nature and throughout the year we've been involved with various projects to enhance the consciousness of protecting the nature for future generations. So my message is simple, let's love our mother nature.