Miss Tiffany Universe, Beauty Re’al

Transgenders have been in the news a lot lately. American Bruce Jenner, once known as the World’s greatest athlete, recently came out fully as a woman and is now known as Catilyn. Many news sources have described her as the most famous openly transgender person in the world.

That could be so based on Twitter. In about four hours after Caitlyn opened her new Twitter account it became the fastest growing account ever to reach 1 million followers. Not only did Caitlyn reach new heights in followers, her name quickly became a top trending topic on Twitter. The previous record holder for this milestone of fastest growing Twitter account was President Barack Obama, who began tweeting from his account on May 18. It took POTUS about five hours to reach 1 million followers.

In Thailand the most famous beauty contest for Transgenders is the Miss Tiffany’s Universe contest which was held on May 8th at the Tiffany’s Show Theater in Pattaya. Broadcast live on National Thai television, the beauty pageant captures the attention of the south-east Asian kingdom every year, with winners often going on to careers in television or modelling.

After 3 hours of competition to narrow down the field of 30, this year’s winner was announced to an excited and appreciative audience. Twenty-two year old Sophida Siriwatananukul, Nicknamed Nong Bai Mon, a student at the Rachapat University in the Ayutthaya Province was crowned Miss Tiffany Universe 2015.
“I feel very happy for winning the title,” she said through a translator. “My life is forever changed.
The biggest blessing is I always had the full support from my family, who also came to support me in the competition,” “All transgender people deserve to live the life they want and I feel proud to represent them.”
Khun Sophida said that when she was young she was always quiet. She was gentle, unlike other boys in kindergarten and she could never play with them. Instead she felt comfortable playing with girls at her age.
In her first year of college, she started dressing like a girl despite several restrictions from school but in the end they allowed her to do so due to her good behaviour. From that day, Sophida Siriwatananukul never looked back. She started to lead what she calls a “normal life” and the only difference was that she was a transgender. Her journey to becoming a woman began.

In addition to the title “Miss Tiffany’s Universe 2015” Ms Sophida won 120,000 Thai Baht, a car, a sash, a crown and a trophy. She will also enjoy her official suite at Woodlands Hotel & Resort every time she comes to Pattaya City during her reign of 1 year.

One of Khun Sophida’s official duties as Miss Tiffany’s Universe 2015 is to represent Thailand at the Miss International Queen pageant, the world’s largest international transgender Beauty Contest which will be held again in Pattaya later this year.