Up Close and Personal with Julia Saubier
In my four years of covering events, I met with several beauty
pageant contestants and winners along the way. There are some whose just like
every other girl you know save for the sash and the tiara and there are some
like Pia Wurtzbach who can totally captivate you while talking to her up close.
But last April 27, 2019 in an intimate gathering one hot afternoon, we were
charmed by this beautiful, intelligent and very eloquent girl who will
represent Daraga, Albay in this year’s Binibining Pilipinas – meet Julia
Eugénie Augustias Calleja Saubier. Julia Saubier for short, and like
every Julia I know she is simply lovely and quite adorable.
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| Official Julia FB |
Standing at nearly six feet tall, 5’11” to be exact, this
Filipina-French beauty (she was born in Lyon France but she grew up and spent
most of her life in the Philippines) is a multi-talented and as
quintessential Filipina as you can get. She loves to study (currently
completing her Masters in China Studies with concentration on Economics and
Management),
an athlete, a firm believer of Asian pride, and an avid motorcycle rider among so
many others.
It
is through her love of motorcycle riding that she was discovered by her Fairy
Godmother of sort, the legendary Ms. Melanie Marquez and persuade her to join
the Binibining Pilipinas beauty pageant.
It
is a fact that we know very little about Julia as the pageant started. She
doesn’t have any modeling or pageant experience unlike many of her
co-competitors. But armed with her dream to join one and believing that she can
best represent the country in the Miss Universe, she is no longer testing the
waters but is diving totally to be in the competition. As she said during the
intimate gathering, she always felt that, “in most, this is all I was ever
meant to do.”
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| Modern Moms World |
Julia may appear “too strong” or “impressive” to some but like any
other who personally came to know her, she is now revealing her persona to be
that of the next Miss Universe that we need.
Julia have always led an unconventional life and have taken many
unusual paths in her lifetime and this year she has chosen to take in the
pageantry life. As a Saubier Soldier convert, I have become a fan and is marching
with her on the road to Miss Universe!
But first, here
are some of the things you should know about Julia Saubier.
Julia has a very
long name: Julia Eugénie Augustias Calleja Saubier.
She’s a product of globalization. Her father is French who came to
the Philippines on a work assignment and met a lovely Filipina.
Julia lived for
two years in Australia with her family then returned to the Philippines before
moving away again for her undergraduate and graduate education.
At a young age, Julia learned how to compromise with the
intersection of two cultures, being Filipino and French, and learned what it
meant to work across differences, maneuver cultural boundaries, and lead a life
philosophy grounded in mutual respect.
Julia knows what
it feels to live a well-off and comfortable life and how fleeting it could be
when in the wake of the 2007 financial crisis her dad lost his job and struggled
to find work while her mom continued to be a stay-at-home mom.
When her father suffered a heart attack on the 14-hour flight on
their way to France but thankfully survived, Julia had a transformation then
and keep recalling her conversation with her father. According to him, “looking
at death eye-to-eye, it transforms how you think. He asked himself, “is what
I’m doing with my life meaningful?” Her father taught her that service to
others and to your country should be at the center of everything you do.
Julia knows that
a good education, is a privilege, and not a right, though it should be.
Julia learned all about how to be flexible, resilient, dependable
and humility with grace from her Mother who serve as her inspiration.
In the 8th grade,
Julia secured a scholarship to attend the international school of Manila. She
was a consistent 4.0 student, three-season varsity captain and athlete, actor
in the school play, anchor for the school news site. This is what anchored her
in her quest to study abroad.
Julia got the opportunity to represent the Philippines across
South and Southeast Asia for soccer, basketball, track, and theatre.
Julia was among
the first Filipino scholars at NYU Abu Dhabi where she graduated Magna cum
Laude and on full scholarship.
She majored in Social Research and Public Policy (a mix of
history, demography, political science) and minors in film and new media
production and political science.
A very creative
person, Julia love the process of bringing a static idea to life, and of using
your craft to inspire change. She started working with film as a producer and
eventually acted in and directed a couple of shorts. She envisions a film world
where there is an empowering and inclusive representations and a supporting
female talent on-and-off screen.
Before joining Binibining Pilipinas Julia rarely wore make-up.
Julia loves Martial
Arts. She started learning kung-fu, specifically in Shaolin Kung Fu, because
she was inspired by Chinese cinema. She began studying kung-fu at a monastery
and later a Chinese military school for upwards of 8 hours/day. She said that It
was an intense and very different kind of Binibini training.
Julia consistently saw Asian women as the image of strength and
leadership and she was inspired and empowered by it.
Although not much
into make-up and didn’t really own any, she ended up spending a quarter of her
monthly scholarship stipend on just 5 items of makeup during the start of the
pageant.
She is inspired how Everbilena has some great quality,
competitively priced products that is made with Filipinas in mind
Julia believes that power, strength, and
achievement are womanly, beautiful, and very Filipina.
Julia is into Filipino martial art called Pekiti-Tersia Kali. With
its movement-based practices, it uses the body in a powerful and expressive
way.
Julia loves world
literature and cinema, learning about ancient spiritual and movement-based
practices, and Filipino culture.
Julia speaks fluent English, with conversational facility in
French, Mandarin, Hungarian, Spanish and of course Filipino.
Julia is currently
completing her Masters in China Studies (with concentration on Economics and
Management) at Peking University.
Julia has interned with Becky Anderson for CNN International and
Hollywood Director Wes Anderson as well as with the BAFTA (British Academy of
Film and Television Arts).
Julia is very
athletic and in the varsity level of soccer, track-and-field, basketball and
softball.
And one very, very interesting fact, Julia rides ANGKAS!
And to leave you with some thought provoking statement from the
future Miss Universe, she shares, “To me, people’s initial assessment shows
that we have a narrow understanding of what it means to be a woman and what it
means to be beautiful. Why can’t women be successful, strong, AND beautiful?
Why are women who are athletic automatically masculine? Why do we take issue
with seeing women as powerful and empowered?”
That. Ladies and gentlemen is Miss Julia Saubier.
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| SHE IS SO TALL! |
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