Larissa (centre) receives a bouquet of flowers from her younger sister and mother (left) after the press conference yesterday.
KUCHING: Miss World Malaysia 2018 Larissa Ping Liew,19, will be leaving for China on Nov 9 to compete in the Miss World grand finals.
Speaking at a press conference at Meritin Hotel here yesterday, Larissa thanked her sponsors and trainers who have worked very hard to groom and prepare her for the world stage over a period of seven weeks.
“We have prepared in every aspect for the competition such as my outfit, catwalk and public speaking before taking to the world stage,” said Larissa of the Miss World finals to be held in Sanya, China on Dec 8.
Coming from a mixed parentage of a Chinese father and a Kenyah mother, Larissa said the most challenging aspect of her preparation was to become a ‘Beauty with a purpose’ which is the motto of the Miss World competition.
For her project, Larissa visited Long Seridan in Baram where she managed to touch the lives of the children there by helping to improve their school’s library and computer lab.
The project she said cost about RM50,000 which she and her team managed to raise together with Yayasan Sarawak which supplied the computers for the computer lab.
“We also came up with a dream wall where the children will be able to write down their dreams which they would like to pursue in the future,” she said adding the project will be a continuous one until the desired results have been achieved.
During the press conference, Larissa also showed her sape and singing skills which she will be performing during the Miss World grand finals.
Prior to the Miss World Malaysia 2018 pageant, she has competed in an ethnic beauty contest in Miri where she won the Miss Keligit title for the Orang Ulu category.
Also present was her manager Kelvin Chan and the Miss World Malaysia 2018 organiser representative Dr George Ngui.