By Cindy Tyler
When first meeting them, the newly crowned Miss Vista, 22 year old Fabiana Bommino, and Miss Teen Vista, 17 year old Belen Hernandez, may seem to have little in common. But they both vehemently agree on one thing: “I’m not a pageant girl!”
Fabiana first learned about the Miss Vista pageants at the age of 12, when she attended a Boys and Girls Club event honoring her as the Youth of the Year. The pageant director spoke with her and encouraged her to run for Miss Teen Vista. “She saw something in me that I don’t believe I saw in myself until later in life,” Fabiana says. It wasn’t until after her best friend won the title of Miss Teen Vista 2014 that Fabiana was able to push past her insecurities and sign up for the 2015 pageant. She was surprised to win second runner up in that contest, and the experience of serving as a Miss Teen Vista princess for a year had her hooked on community service and the fun that came with the crown. She returned in 2016 and won the title of Miss Teen Vista. Now, Fabiana is one of only four girls in the pageant’s history who have held both the Miss Teen Vista and Miss Vista titles.
Belen’s journey to the crown was a bit different. She first heard about the pageant through their outreach at her school. “I really enjoy challenging myself and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity,” she says. She was also intrigued by the community service opportunities. When she told a close friend that she was considering joining the pageant, the friend said, “You? In a pageant? Sure…”. Belen smiles, “That was what finally convinced me!”
Fabiana and Belen are adding the duties of Vista royalty to their already busy schedules. Fabiana currently attends Mira Costa College and had always planned to transfer to Cal State San Marcos to major in communications, but lately has felt her heart pulled toward a career in teaching. She is employed as a marketing and vacation consultant at Marriott Vacations Worldwide. Belen just began her senior year at Rancho Buena Vista High School where she is a full International Baccalaureate student and also involved in several clubs and activities, including competitive dance. She works with her mother, making and selling tamales. “But that doesn’t mean I’m any good at making them,” she adds. Belen admits that she’ll have to work on her time management skills, while Fabiana will use her past experience to help her set priorities this year. “I know that every ‘yes’ is a ‘no’ to something else, therefore I am very conscious of what and who gets my ‘yes’.”
Both queens hope to use their position to promote their chosen platform. Fabiana’s platform is domestic violence and its effect on women’s mental health, while Belen chose United We Dream, a youth led organization that advocates for immigrant rights. Both chose their platforms because of personal experiences within their own families and a desire to give a voice to those who have been silenced in the past. Belen says, “Although I don’t how yet, I’m determined to make Vista a place where all feel equal, welcomed, and most importantly, safe.”
Fabiana’s main goal for the year is “to foster strong relationships with each of the girls on court. We have a lot of younger girls this year. I want to encourage, uplift, and strengthen these girls. I want them to end their year feeling cherished and also with the understanding that they can walk into any room or environment and take up space. Not only CAN they, but they SHOULD.” Her favorite quote is from Condoleezza Rice: “We need to move beyond the idea that girls can be leaders and create the expectation that they should be leaders.”
Both have fond memories of pageant day. Fabiana remembers hearing her family cheering for her from the audience. “I just remember having this realization. I realized that it did not matter what happened that night. It did not matter if I won, or made court, or didn’t get a crown at all. All that mattered was that I was growing. In that moment I knew that my family would be proud of me no matter what, I had them beside me (along with my friends who were also very loud in their cheering and support that night) no matter what happened.” Her other favorite experience was on the big party bus that carried the ten winners to the after party at Lamppost Pizza. “It was so much fun! We got to listen to music, dance, and talk about the night together. Also, the bus had AC blasting which was very nice because it was VERY hot at the pageant venue all day. It felt like an oasis.”
Belen just remembers “When my name was announced I completely shut down! I couldn’t believe I had actually won! I felt like a robot and couldn’t quite process what had actually happened.” Belen’s cousin’s 7 year old daughter is her biggest fan. “The minute I won she stood on her chair and started stomping and flailing her arms in the air. She managed to rush to the stage after the pageant and sneak her way to where I was to hand me flowers.”
Also crowned that evening are four runner-up princesses in each division. Elena Newman, Abeeha Hussain, Irene Faciones, and Jazmyn Donato are the new Miss Vista Princesses, while Karina Rendon, Karla Martinez, Hailey Groff and Genneva Vasquez are princesses in the teen division. All of them will be involved in community service events throughout San Diego County during the coming year.
Special awards were presented to contestants prior to crowning. These awards have no effect on the judges’ decision, but honor the contestants for their accomplishments. In the Miss division, the Camila Lee Congeniality award was presented to Suzie Martinez. This award is named after a past Miss Teen Vista princess who aways displayed poise and grace, and who, unfortunately passed away at a young age. The Contestants’ Choice award was presented to Fabiana Bommino. These two awards are voted on by the contestants. The audience choice award, voted on by the audience, also went to Fabiana. Melissa Arvizo won the photogenic award and Irene Faciones was awarded Facebook Favorite for acquiring the most likes on the pageant Facebook page.
In the teen division, the Camila Lee award went to Hailey Groff. Belen Hernandez won contestants’ choice while Rylie Seymour won audience choice and Lilly Sherlock won photogenic. Karina Rendon won the Facebook favorite award.
Belen sums it up: “My dad has a motto that he told me both before and after the pageant, ‘sin miedo al éxito’ which translates to ‘Without fear of success.’ My dad’s words ground me and push me forward. They remind me of the struggles my parents have willingly faced in order for me to have a better life than the ones they had. My personal interpretation of these words is that I’ll never know how far I can go unless I try!”
Fabiana agrees, “I just want to encourage girls ages 13-25 to try this. Even if competing in a pageant is something that feels foreign and scary. Even if you are not a ‘pageant girl.’ I have a secret for you: no one is. Not the girls competing for Miss USA, not the girls competing for Miss America, not the girls competing for Miss Vista or Miss Teen Vista, and definitely not me. We are all simply women who want to try something and try our best. We simply want to grow our comfort zone, or possibly knock down its walls all together.”
Looking forward to her reign, Belen says, “I’m so excited for what’s to come!” It will indeed be exciting to see walls crumbling as these two outstanding young women serve the community together.
