Pia Wurtzbach to auction memorabilia for 10th anniversary as Miss Universe

MANILA, Philippines — It has been almost 10 years since Pia Wurtzbach ended the Philippines’ 42-year drought for a Miss Universe crown, but no matter how big an achievement it was, Pia did not want to be remembered only as Miss Universe 2015.

“That was one of my fears is to make or to let Miss Universe be the peak of my career,” she admitted in a speech last week for L’Oreal Paris’ “Sayang? No, I’m worth it” campaign launch in Manila for which she was among the endorsers.

“But to me, (Miss Universe) was a stepping stone, a platform into other things that I could do. It was a place for me to have opportunities and have a platform… After I won Miss Universe, yes, I got the recognition, I got the work. And you know, it was a big celebration in the Philippines. But there's always that question of what's next and it's a question of like, what else can I offer to others? And how else can I be of service to others? So that was a real challenge honestly, because I had a lot of people telling me na ang beauty queen, usually three years ang shelf life, then laos ka na.”

Thus, this year, in preparation for her 10th anniversary as Miss Universe next year, Pia wanted to do something out of the box. 

“There's so many things that I still wanted to do… this negative thought is actually motivation for us. Like we use this as fuel to prove people wrong and prove ourselves wrong that we can do more and be more.”

Shortly even after winning Miss Universe, Pia said she knew that one day she would sell her pageant memorabilia for a good cause.

“After winning Miss Universe… I had an idea about my Miss Universe memorabilia. I have so much at home. I don't have everything because you know, some of the clothes I have to return to the designers. But whatever I have at home, I have the opening dress, the Sherri Hill opening dress. I have all the shoes, I have the earrings, accessories. I have some of the gowns. I have the sashes, I have a tiara… I have my books, I have memorabilia and I'm still going through my storage right now. I have 30 pieces already, but those are just from the ones I have at home, wala pa ‘yung nasa bodega. So I'm really trying to collect more and more from the time