DUBAI: Miss Universe Lebanon 2023 Maya Aboul Hosn may not have placed in the top 10 at the pageant in El Salvador on Nov. 18, but she was handpicked by the organizers to jet to Mexico straight after the competition for a round of media interviews.
Aboul Hosn appeared alongside contestants from the Philippines, Germany, Venezuela, the US, Columbia and Thailand on Mexican morning show “Venga La Alegría.”
The group were on hand to promote Olivia Quido’s Skin Med Spa skincare brand, with Aboul Hosn also appearing in a number of Instagram posts by Quido herself.
Born and raised in a small village in Lebanon, Aboul Hosn has always been drawn to the spotlight.
“Ever since I was young I would use my parents flip-phone to take photos and make short videos documenting my days. Back then there was no social media so I was living in my own world, but when I was 19-years-old, social media took off and I decided to pursue it more seriously,” she told Arab News in a previous interview.
Working two jobs while attending university full time proved to be a challenge for Aboul Hosn, but she had a goal and wanted to prove herself.
“I graduated university in 2019 and it was very difficult for me to find a job at first and in October there was a Lebanese revolution, which led us to go into an economic crisis and a few months later … COVID-19 happened,” she said.
“When COVID hit, many Lebanese people moved to the mountains; that’s when I started to really document my day-to-day life on Instagram and people loved it. I was able to accumulate more than 100,000 followers before participating in Miss Lebanon,” she said.
After being named first runner-up in the Miss Lebanon 2022 competition, Maya joined the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International channel as a morning-show host.
She told Arab News about her least-favorite aspect of the pageant process: “The idea that judges rate our looks, our answers and our beauty, I don’t like this part of pageants because there are no standards for beauty. I believe there is no right or wrong. There’s no pretty or ugly. But things are changing. The standards for beauty pageants are different now. There’s no age limit. They teach women how to embrace their uniqueness. And that’s why I want to inspire girls to always embrace — their uniqueness. You are pretty just the way you are. You don’t have to be perfect.”
Beyond the pageant, Aboul Hoson hopes to use her platform to be a role model in the Arab world.
“My main cause is to be a role model for every girl. I come from a very humble family. I’m not a wealthy princess. I worked hard to achieve what I want. And that’s what I want every girl to know. If you work hard, you can achieve your dreams and goals,” she said.
