History will be made this coming Saturday night at the Miss Universe competition in the U.S. city of New Orleans. For the very first time, a Filipina-American will represent the United States. R’Bonney Gabriel won the Miss USA pageant last October, just two years after entering her first competition. 

Toni Waterman recently caught up with Gabriel at her Houston studio, where she’s been prepping for Miss Universe, to talk fashion, pageants and the power of representing the Asian American community.