WHO IS VENUS RAJ?

Maria Venus Bayonito Raj, was born in Doha, Qatar on July 7, 1988. Her father was an Indian and  her mother was a Filipina, She was the youngest among 5 children. She was raced in Bato, Camarines Sur, Bicol Philippines. She was brought up by her mother who works as a dressmaker and a farmer as well. She spent her life living with her mother in a simple nipa hut in Bato, Camarines Sur.without electricity.
At a very young age of 4, she started to join beauty and oratorical contest. She was able to buy land though on installment basis through her winnings on major contests this is for her mother, to be able to improve their livelihood. Through the help of her scholarship from Francis Papica foundation, she studied in Bicol University, where she achieved her bachelors degree in Communication Arts major in Journalism with Cum Laude honor.
She joined Miss Bicolandia in 2007 and won the title. She then competed in Ms. Philippines-Earth 2008 representing Legazpi City where she was crowned as Ms. Philippines Earth Eco Tourism 2008. She joined Binibining Pilipinas beauty pageant in 2010 where she was crowned as Binibining Pilipinas Universe. Due to alleged inconsistencies on her birth certificate, Binibining Pilipinas Charities Inc, decided to dethroned her a few weeks after the coronation. This gathered negative reactions from her supporters. In April of 2010, the Binibining Pilipinas Charities Inc. decided to give her crown back.
A few weeks ago, this 5'9" tall beauty from Bicol, Philippines went to the United States to compete for the Miss Universe Pageant 2010. She became one of the crowd's favorite together with Ms. Haiti, Ms. Canada, Ms. Australia, Ms. USA, Ms. Mexico and Ms. Puerto Rico. On the preliminary judging,  Filipinos were glad to hear the name of Philippines' representative, Ms. Venus Raj as one of the top 15 contestants among the 83 equally beautiful candidates.

On August 24,  the day that spectators are waiting for, the final 10 were chosen by the judges after the swimsuit competition and Ms. Venus Raj was one of them. The final 5 were chosen and the Philippines made it again on the slot. On the question and answer portion, Ms. Raj was asked by judge actor William Baldwin. Baldwin asked her what major mistakes that she had made in life and what she did to make it right and she replied: " You know what sir, in my 22 years of existence I can say that there's nothing major, major problem that I've done in my life because I'm very confident with my family with the love they are giving to me. so thank you so much that I'm here. Thank you, thank you so much!"
The question that was asked to Ms. Raj was indeed a killer question and was not that easy to answer. On my personal opinion, if only the question that what asked to her was those of her fellow contestants, she could have answered very well and clearly and would make it on higher place. According to reports, same question was asked by a journalist to former US president George W. Bush that was aired on ABC World News and all he could answer was just “Hmm.......wish I, you would have given me a, this written, a question ahead of time,”
Anyway, Ms. Venus Raj was proclaimed as the 4th runner up in the 2010 Ms. Universe Pageant.
Congratulations Ms. Venus Raj!!!