Phuket’s ‘Nita’ crowned Miss Thailand

The Phuket News Com Monday 7 February 2022, 01:18PM

PHUKET: Manita ‘Nita’ Duangkham Farmer, 25, who was born and raised in Phuket, has been crowned Miss Thailand 2022.

Miss Manita was bestowed the title at the grand finale of the Miss Thailand 2022 pageant held at the CentralWorld Live venue in Bangkok last night (Feb 6).

Present to crown Miss Manita the 53rd Miss Thailand winner was Miss Thailand 2021 Nattapat ‘May’ Pongpraphan.

Miss Manita bested 24 other contestants to win the title. Anphat Pitiprajakwat of Nakhon Pathom placed 1st runner-up, Vanida Rose of Bangkok placed 2nd runner-up, Athicha Rennie of Kanchanaburi placed 3rd runner-up and Sornson Wittayaruengsuk of Bangkok placed 4th runner-up.

A Thai-American with a first-class honours bachelor’s degree Faculty of Communication Arts from Bangkok University International College, MIss Manita is a sales manager and a volunteer teacher as a special lecturer promoting the use of English for communication at Wat Bang-phai-nat School in Bang Len, Nakhon Pathom.

Phuket residents might remember that Miss Manita placed first runner-up in Miss Grand Phuket 2017.

Miss Manita also participated in the Miss World Thailand pageant in 2018. She lost 40kg to enter the pageant. Manita used to weigh 90kg.

Although she did not win, placing in the Top 12, she continued to strive to exercise and take care of herself, Miss Manita explained in her video interview to viewers of the pageant.

Miss Manita credited her win to strong support from Phuket and her experience as a volunteer teacher. Her passion matched the concept of this year’s competition, “Revival of the Original”, allowing her to win the crown, she said.

“In education, being a volunteer teacher made me feel very respectful of real teachers because you have to prepare a lot of documents, especially during COVID-19," she said.

"If education can be accessed by children everywhere in Thailand, including in needy areas, I’m very happy for the children," she said.

"If children have good teaching materials and have access to the Internet, they will have more opportunities to develop themselves, not just learn in the school area. Children will have more ideas and be able to bring knowledge back to develop their homeland," Nita continued.

Miss Manita also noted that while she is of two nationalities through her parentage, she is also of two cultures within Thailand. Her mother is from Chiang Mai, but Manita grew up in Phuket.

Yet being a child of two worlds does continue to present its challenges, she said.

“No matter what country we are from, we should be more focused on what culture we grow up in, rather than race,” she said, in fluent Thai.

“I have no choice in what my face looks like, and when people look at my face, they do not speak Thai to me,” she said.

“I always tell them right away, ‘I’m Thai, I can speak Thai," she said, confidently with both a smile and laughter.

https://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-nita-crowned-miss-thailand-83001.php