Miss Earth 2022, the 22nd edition of the Miss Earth pageant, was held on 29th November 2022 at Okada Manila in the Philippines where Mina Sue Choi of South Korea made history by becoming the first ever South Korean delegate to win the coveted crown. Not only that, she has become the first ever South Korean woman to win a Big-4 international beauty pageant. She succeeds and was crowned by Miss Earth 2021 Destiny Wagner of Belize.
Mina Sue was a favourite for the crown ever since the beginning of the competition. She impressed everyone with her poise and her confidence at the pageant. At the pre-pageant activities as well, Mina won Miss Mexico Pampanga 2022 award from the Air group, bronze medal in the air group at Resort Wear competition, gold medal in the Air group at Long Gown competition, gold medal in the air group at Beach Wear competition, gold medal in the Asia & Oceania group at Swimsuit competition. Mina was a part of our favourites for the Miss Earth 2022 crown as well.
Mina began in her journey in Miss Korea 2021 where she was placed as the first runner-up and began her journey towards representing her country at Miss Earth 2022. She is 23 years of age studying Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. During the competition as well, she wished to challenge the status-quo and inspire others through her work.
Representing a country known for its rich and dynamic culture, Mina focused on the nature’s richness in her country throughout the competition. Mina hails from Incheon, South Korea but she was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Having travelled the world, Mina speaks fluent and impressive English which gave her an advantage as well.
Mina Sue Choi, as Miss Earth 2022, travelled all over the world through the year. Being the first Korean winner to win an international pageant was a responsibility for her. Since pageantry is not so popular in Korea, Mina had to contact a lot of people on her own working with Carousel Productions for ecological activities. Her journey broke a lot of stereotypes as she worked with her batch queens in their countries as well, promoting and advocating about her advocacy as well. As Miss Earth 2022, Mina worked on promoting reduction of carbon footprints in cities with sustainable mobility and encouraging lifestyles that will help reduce carbon emission in the daily lives.
Miss Earth 2022 Mina Sue Choi’s elemental court included Miss Earth-Air 2022 – Sheridan Mortlock of Australia, Miss Earth-Water 2022 – Nadeen Ayoub of Palestine and Miss Earth Fire 2022 – Andrea Aguilera of Colombia. 2022 marked the return of its live competition following two virtual editions in 2020 and 2021. The finale show was hosted by Filipino-British television host and automotive journalist James Deakin. Co-hosts included former winners consisting of Miss Earth 2015 Angelia Ong, Miss Earth 2017 Karen Ibasco, and Miss Earth 2019 Nellys Pimentel.
Angelopedia would like to wish heartiest congratulations to Mina Sue Choi for a successful reign and wish her best of luck for her future endeavours.