February 6, 2024
BANGKOK – A flight attendant from Tak is flying high after finally achieving her dream of being crowned Thailand’s most beautiful transgender woman.
Saruda “Pimai” Panyakham collapsed to the floor and shed tears of joy after she was announced the winner of the 25th Miss Tiffany pageant held at the Tiffany Show Theatre in Pattaya on Sunday night.
Saruda triumphed after failing to catch the judges’ eye on four previous appearances as a Miss Tiffany contestant.
“The Future is Yours” was this year’s Tiffany theme, a nod to the pageant’s original goal of promoting human rights and equality for transgender people in Thailand and around the world.
The pageant was inaugurated in 1998 to showcase the beauty, talent and diversity of transgender women and also attract more tourists to Thailand.
Saruda, 29, graduated from the Faculty of Education at Rajaphat Chiang Mai University and currently works as an airline flight attendant.
She won thundering applause with her answer to the judges’ final question of why she had entered the race.
She said her goal was to become a role model and help steer Thai society towards equal rights for all people, no matter their gender or background. She said she would campaign to help build a society that judges people on their merits and capabilities.
Second place in the contest went to Kachisara “Bruce” Sridakote while Jessilin “Jessy” Nakprasit was third.