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If Virginia is the state that can do it all, from picturesque mountains to bright cities to sandy beaches, then its only fitting that Miss Virginia does it all, too, and Victoria Chuah fits the bill. The 2022 Miss Virginia winner from Ashburn, who formerly held the title of Miss Arlington, is a contestant-of-all-trades, with a diverse range of passions and talents that set her apart from the crowd and propelled her to success in pageantry.

Chuah graduated summa cum laude from University of Pittsburgh in May with her masters in computer science, completing both her undergraduate and graduate degrees in just four years. While at Pittsburgh, Chuah was involved in ballet, a lifelong passion of hers, and played the lead role of Clara in the schools performance of The Nutcracker. The NoVA native was also able to juggle her roles as class president, president of the School of Computing and Information Graduate Student Organization, president of the improv club, and host of a student-run late-night talk show. Outside of her schoolwork and extracurriculars, Chuah also advocates for support systems for adults with autism, and in her spare time, she likes to sew, making her own alterations to ballet costumes and designing clothes for fun.

And if that isnt enough, Chuah was previously an intern at Morgan Stanley. She plans to start at the company as a software engineer once shes finished with pageantry, but shes not quite done yet. As her tenure as Miss Virginia begins, Chuah will be preparing for the Miss America pageant in December.(Miss Virginia USA, Kailee Horvath, also hails from Ashburn. She will compete for Miss USA this fall.)

One of the biggest things for Miss Virginia is the Miss Virginia School Tour. Miss Virginia partners with the Virginia ABC and she goes on a school tour talking to K-8 students about making healthy choices and substance abuse. And as well, Im able to talk about my personal platform, which is awareness for autism.

I never grew up doing pageants. It was never something that was really big in my family or in my area. But I saw an ad for a local pageant and that turned out to be a Miss Virginia preliminary. So I ended up entering that sort of on a whim. And at that time, I was a junior in high school, so that was just the teen [pageant]. But through doing it that one teen year, I just saw so much growth in myself.

All the things I was doing, I did because I loved [them]. It wasnt any sort of rsum padding or anything like that. I enjoyed all the different activities I had and I wanted to make time for them. And if I didnt [make time], then I wouldnt be able to do them. And that just was unfathomable to me. There were definitely times when it was a little more stressful than others, but I did it somehow.

One thing that I do want to do for Miss America is accomplish things as Miss Virginia that I can talk about that I can say, Hey, through the six months that Ive had this platform, Ive been able to accomplish X, Y and Z. I really, really want to push women in STEM. I was the only girl at my masters graduation, so Ive seen the lack of women in STEM, particularly in tech. And I really want to push that. I think that it starts with women seeing a role model and seeing, Oh, theres someone like me that is doing this. I know that was the case for me and I just want to be able to do that for someone else.

Just be yourself. I have all these different things that I love and I have no reason to hide them. Theres no reason for me to not want to advertise that Im so involved in computer science, or that I do ballet, or that I sew. You shouldnt have to be someone youre not.

And again, every pageant is a learning experience. You dont win every time. I didnt win every time. This is the first time that Ive won this Miss Virginia and its my third year competing. But theres so much that you can learn even when you dont win. Theres really so many skills that youre gaining from this pageant, regardless of the outcome. Just enjoy it and take everything for what it is.

Feature image by Kimberly Toney Needles and Rick Myers.

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Link:

This Ashburn Native Became the First Chinese American to be Crowned Miss Virginia - Northern Virginia Magazine