Ms. Hawaii Petite sendoff to Nationals!

I will be competing for the national title of Ms. USA Petite, in March. As many may not know, pageants require contestants to have a platform. An issue that we personally choose to bring awareness to.

I thought long and hard about this and decided to finally #Breakthesilence✊ against sexual abuse, using MY STORY as a way to help others know that they are not alone and we can overcome this, together. Please keep in mind that this is my first time publicly speaking about this subject- this may make some feel uncomfortable but CHANGE isn’t brought up in the comfort zone.

Everyone, including myself, thought this was a “taboo subject”..... until it started also happening to the people I love. I realized that I can’t help anyone unless I was HONEST with myself and brave enough to accept what happened and move on. I needed to be strong for those who also needed strength.

Since as little as 4 years old, I was molested by a man who I saw almost everyday- who was a family friend. This went on for at least 10 years. I faced more traumatic incidents while I was in high school and I stayed quiet about all of this up until 2 years ago. (R and AR). I suffered a lot of psychological damage and developed anger issues and a lack of trust in men. 

I want people to know that whether you are a woman or a man or a child (as I was)- ALL ABUSE IS ABUSE. We need to stop being ashamed of our hardships and instead embrace them because they give us a VOICE to speak up and HELP OTHERS. We need to stop normalizing sexual abuse and be a listening ear for these victims. With sexual abuse happening every 73seconds in the United States, we as a society, need to take action and stand up to our abusers. If we don’t #Breakthesilence, who will? If we don’t take action, we are only becoming by standers to the next victims. 

-Ms. Hawaii Petite 2020