BEAUTY AND BRAINS WITH A HEART
Written by Nick Glover
Meet the proud Filipino American celebrating her life as a beauty queen, model, health advocate, and humanitarian–Jane Casupanan.
Growing up in a hardworking family that valued success, Jane shares that she felt encouraged to strive for greatness despite not always knowing exactly what she wanted to pour her energy into. “Early on I knew I didn’t want to focus on a specific talent but something in me always knew that I can do anything I put my mind into.” At the age of 17, she was fully immersed in her work life and determined to build a stable future becoming a successful business banker by the age of 20. She shares that she has always been eager to push herself, so, she reorganized her commitments and switched from banking to the tech industry where she would work in Operations for four years. Currently, Jane works for a major developer in the country. She admits that when growing her career, one of the difficulties she faces is making sure she’s pouring her heart into something important. “Knowing that I can be good at anything and finding my true passion has always been a challenge.”
When we asked about her role as a beauty queen and how she entered the pageant world, she blushed, “I was simply bored!” She laughed and admitted that she was embarrassed to not have a profound reason to enter such an exciting space, but was influenced by her newfound free time. In 2021, Jane graduated from one of the world’s most prestigious universities, the University of California, Berkeley. “I’m used to waking up at 4:30AM everyday so I can get ahead of my school work. Additionally, I was working two jobs so I had to really maximize my time. I’m a proud over worker. I enjoy the burnout.” After graduating, pageantry became a focus for Jane after finding an ad for Miss California USA. She was encouraged to enter by her family and friends who enjoyed teasing her as both beauty and brains. So, she decided to join and represent the City of Sunnyvale, she was 27 with no prior experience. The pageant world is notorious for what it demands from its contestants, where the retiring age is a mere 28 years old, making Jane’s debut a statement of having nothing to prove or lose–she dove head first into the world of beauty and excellence. She entered her role as a beauty queen under the mentorship of Romyr Libo-on, the National Director of Miss Universe Cambodia. Through Libo-on, she enrolled into one of the most established pageant camps in the world, Kagandahang Flores, led by Rodgil Flores. She shares that her time spent at the camp was intense. She was at the gym by 6AM, runway walk training from 6-8PM, question and answer training from 9-10:30PM, while still working her 9-5 job. “I was working non-stop. I had no social life. I was on a very strict 300-calorie-a-day diet, and because of that, I was short-tempered. I would lash out when people asked me to eat. I hated getting text messages because I thought it was such a waste of the little time I had.” She says that the pressure she placed on herself to succeed in the pageant world made her “unrecognizable.” Jane says that she is still overwhelmed with gratitude for the unconditional love and support of her family and friends. Her sister and brother-in-law flew all the way from the Philippines to show support, bringing with them a custom gown and costume.
Four months after her first pageant, Jane entered the nationals for Miss Earth USA and represented the state of Idaho. She didn’t invite friends or family besides her mother and nephew. “Pageants are expensive,” she confesses. “I did let my friends and family know about the pageant, but I did tell them that I would rather go by myself. They spent a lot on my first pageant with the tickets, flights, and accommodations. I did not have the heart to ask them to come all the way to Florida from California and Manila.” Despite missing their presence, Jane felt the love and encouragement from all of her friends and family; she says this helped her feel confident and prepared.
We shifted our conversation with Jane towards some possible insecurities, where she shares that sometimes she’s faced with the misconception of being intimidating. How many hardworking and successful women haven’t been made to feel that before!
We then spoke about where she’s placing her energy and attention now. She opened up about some of the charities that she’s involved in. “Your body, Your Responsibility: Know Your Status and Stop the Stigma” is an Oakland based charity that Jane initiated that works with Connections Clinic to encourage the importance of regular HIV testing and body awareness. As an advocate for HIV awareness, she’s disheartened by the lack of education surrounding this epidemic. She emphasizes the dangers of being misinformed–as it leads to HIV being further stigmatized–which only reinforces negative stereotypes, homophobia, and racism. She hopes to add to the conversation on HIV by decentralizing its narrative surrounding fear, and focus the conversation on an empathic approach towards no judgement to help educate, and stop the spread of the infection. Another charity that Jane actively supports is the DuoDuo Project, a non-profit organization that aims to stop the cat and dog meat trade. She shared with us that it’s estimated that 10 million dogs and 4 million cats are slaughtered annually in the illegal meat trade, and many of them are stolen pets. Despite not being a huge animal lover, Jane tells us she felt compelled to help after the founder Andrea Gung reached out, “I knew I had to do something to help her mission. Dogs and cats are family and should be treated as such.” She hopes that working with the DuoDuo team and doing her part in spreading awareness will help decrease the unsettling amount of animal cruelty cases. Jane continues sharing her involvement in charity work and the pride she takes in working with the LGBTQ+ community as an ally. She is also a supporter of the Suarez Rainbow Society, a non-profit organization in the Philippines which helps build schools and feed children in undervalued communities. This initiative was also her inspiration to create REEP: Resilient Economy, Ecosystem, and People. “I consider myself a person who has the ability to withstand adversity and bounce back from difficult life events”, referring to her campaign–which attempts to promote resilience towards sustainable economic recovery, environmental protection, and proactive engagement within the community.
Despite being raised by a successful family in the Philippines, Jane shares her awareness of the hardships that most Filipinos are forced to endure. This is what fuels her drive towards charity work. While attending Catholic school in the Philippines, she shared that she would often offer to pay for her classmates’ school fees and expenses. “I was aware that they did not have anything. I saw the look on their faces when a school fee would come up. I always offered to pay.” She tried her best to manage her allowances to help her friends when able, and this desire to financially assist those in need pushed her into studying Environmental Economics and Policy along with Global Poverty in Practice. Jane is quite aware that her dream of ending poverty is unrealistic but she is determined to approach it as though it is possible, saying that she hopes to, one day, make any amount of impact in providing for those who are struggling to survive.
We hope that meeting Jane shows a glimpse into the life of one of many driven women determined to make a lasting impact on the world through self-improvement, resilience, and generosity.