For Sydneysider Susana Downes, music has always been a big part of her life. It was an interest that was passed on from her mother and has continued for most of her life.
“I pretty much could sing as soon as I could talk. My mum would sing ‘You are my sunshine’ to me as a little kid. And when I was two, I started singing it back and then she could never shut me up.”
“From that point on, I was singing around the house and then I’d sing in school. And granted, I did get bullied for being a singer,” she shares.
Source: Susana Downes Instagram
Reflecting on her experience at primary school, she felt she was different from the other kids because she loves being in the spotlight.
“I’d be the lead in the choir, I’d sing at assembly. I’d always sing the national anthem at every sporting event,” she says.
Source: Susana Downes Instagram
“At a primary school, that wasn’t about performing arts or anything like that.”
A balancing act
Susana admits she is always passionate about music and performing. When she was in Year 8, she fell in love with musical theatre. She did her first musical with Sydney Musical theatre, where she played the lead in the show.
From 2007 up until 2010, she kept herself busy doing musicals. But when she was about to start Year 12, her mum had to intervene because she wanted her to prioritise her studies.
“You need to focus on schoolwork,” her mum told her.
“Lucky that schoolwork means I get to do musicals within the school and I was also singing in my church, had a band called Harvest Youth and we’d sing at different events.”
Beauty for a cause
Source: Susana Downes Instagram
Apart from singing and performing, Susana also loves joining beauty pageant competitions. Having won beauty competition titles, she says it is her way of giving back to the community.
The 25-year-old says she did a lot of charity work ever since. She took part in walkathons at school and raised money for the homeless people and less fortunate children.
But the one that is very close to her heart is the dance troupe from the Philippines called Hiyas ng Pilipinas, a group that provides dance education for kids that don’t have the means to enrol in dance schools.
“They got teachers who were once like them-who couldn’t afford the education but now they’re giving back,” she says.
Whenever she visits the Philippines to see their relatives, she mentioned she would always make time to see them.
She recalls in one of her visits when she joined one of their dance sessions, she was so amazed at the talent of those young kids.
A day before flew back home, she pop by their dance studio for a dance session. Source: Hiyas ng Pilipinas Facebook
“I taught them a routine from the musical I was doing at that time. For the choreography that we found difficult, they picked it up in about 30 minutes, which was insane!”
Miss Earth pageant
Source: Susana Downes Instagram
On October 26, Susana will be representing Australia, competing against 95 women from around the world for the Miss Earth 2019 title. The 2019 Miss Earth pageant will hold its coronation ceremonies in Manila, Philippines
If she wins, she will be the beauty pageant’s first titleholder from Australia.
