It was with much fanfare that Ginebra announced that their 2019 Calendar Girl is Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach. The big reveal happened on October 23 at the EDSA Shangri-La, where Pia stepped out onstage clad in a sparkling, striking long red gown while reenacting her Miss U catwalk.
When she sat down with Ginebra Marketing Manager Ron Molina, they flashed her calendar photos on screen. There are pressing reasons why they said Pia was perfect for the role: They talked about how she embodies the brand's battle cry of "Never Say Die," as she kept going until that ultimate beauty queen crown was hers.
It was also noted that both the queen and the beverage are of iconic status representative of the country. Ginebra turns 185 next year, while Pia's win for the Philippines and her announcement mishap firmly placed the country on the pageant circuit map.
There are five iterations of the calendar, with her posing for BJ Pascual in varied swimwear of solid colors rumored to have been custom-fitted for her body. Here, one notices that the photos, while highlighting her winning physique, is not entirely meant to just entice: Pia looked every bit as regal and confident as she did in her pageant swimwear competition.
She acknowledged that it took her a few weeks to whip her body back into fighting form, but that it was worth every drop of sweat to produce the calendars that she is very proud of. "This is the first time that I had a swimsuit shoot outside of the pageants," she revealed.
In an exclusive interview, she told Cosmopolitan Philippines that she had an underlying motivation to look fierce and strong in her photos. "I knew it was easy to look overly sexy. Ayaw ko naman to look payat lang or sexy lang para matapos na yung shoot. I wanted to show people that I can still do it. I want them to think 'Kaya pa rin ni Pia kahit na 2015 siya nanalo tapos 2019 na.'"
Her message with her calendars is to empower people to keep reaching for that dream—and when they reach it, to reach for the next one. "With this shoot, I want to say, tuluy-tuloy ito, lumalaban pa rin ako, kaya yung laban ninyo kaya niyo rin. Kaya nung shoot ko, gusto ko talagang mukha akong malakas at matapang."
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