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| 1/16/2007 | Email this article • Print this article | Gao Nou Vue Crowned Miss Hmong American 2007
By Pa Lee
Newly crowned Miss Hmong American, Gao Nou Vue, is not one of the typical Hmong-American past pageant winners. She traveled half way around the world from China to compete in this year's pageant. She did not grow up in the United States like previous winners. Instead, her family lives in China and she is currently still living there. She is only here to compete in this year's pageant for the Miss Hmong American title. So, it will be interesting to see what she will do during her reign for the Hmong community.
Gao Nou was born December 31st, 1984 in Wenshan in the province of Yunnan in southwestern China. Yunnan is bordered by Vietnam in the southeast, Laos in the south, and Myanmar in the west. She is the only daughter of Nom Kav Vwj and Mim Vaj. Gao Nou has only one seven-year old brother, no sisters. She is currently a senior pursuing her Medical Doctor Degree at Beijing Herbal Medicine University studying acupuncture, herbal medicine, and massage therapy. She has been accepted into the Masters Program there and will not be finished for another three and a half years. She is currently doing an internship at Yunnan Natural Medicine Hospital in Kunming. Gao Nou likes to travel, play tennis, run and take pictures. She is involved in the Photography Club at school. Most of her time is spent at the hospital. She wants to obtain her Medical Doctor's Degree so she will be able to further help Hmong people.
Gao Nou was not surprised when she was named Miss Hmong American 2007. She felt she was very well prepared for the pageant and came expecting to win. Gao Nou had only decided to compete in this year's pageant in November 2006 after her Visa was approved. With her parents full support and approval, she entered the pageant to see "seb muaj peev xwm npaum li cas." Her parents "tso cai txhua yam" for her to compete in this pageant. Gao Nou stated that it was a test "rau tus kheej". She had never competed in a pageant prior to this one. She arrived in Minnesota on December 2nd, 2006 and has been staying with her cousin Wang-Yu Vu, one of her sponsors, in Lino Lakes. Along with the scheduled practices every weekend and some nights with the pageant coordinators, she also practiced playing her flute daily for the talent competition. Every morning, she practiced going over the questions given all the contestants for the final round. She diligently practiced speaking with her uncle Txos Vwj and her cousin Wang-Yu. She even rehearsed how she would walk on stage so things would go smoothly during the competition. With all this hard work, it is no wonder she felt she would win.
As Miss Hmong American 2007, Gao Nou won a cash prize of $4,800 along with the crown and title. Of that, three thousand eight hundred was given to her right away and the last thousand would be given upon completion of one hundred hours of community service. As a result of last year's winners' inability to fulfill their commitment, the Hmong American New Year Organization implemented a new stipulation stating that the winner would have to pay back the prize money if she was unable to fulfill her commitment. For instance, if she were to get married before her one-year reign is over, she would forfeit all her winnings and have to pay back the three thousand eight hundred she initially received. Gao Nou plans on doing her community service in China. She will then put something together, with photos that she would be taking, into a presentation for the Hmong American New Year Organization to see what she had accomplished during her reign. She wants to be a good role model for all Hmong people both in China and in the United States. She wants to show the Hmong people in China that Hmong people in the United States "muaj kev txawj ntse yog vim hais tias lawv rau siab kawm ntawv thiab rau siab mus ua hauj lwm". She feels the Hmong of China "poob qab heev" from the ones here. In the United States, "muaj Hmoob ua nom ua tswv, muaj Hmoob kawm ntawv siab, muaj Hmoob ua laj ua luam coob heev" whereas in China, "feem ntau tseem ua liaj ua teb, khwv noj khwv haus, ces poob qab heev." Gao Nou thinks beauty is important, but not to every single person, saying, "qhov zoo nkauj ces yog ntawm koj lub siab, yog koj yog ib tug neeg paub tab, coj kev cai zoo thiab koj yog ib tug neeg txawj hais lus zoo, qhov zoo nkauj yuav tawm ntawm koj lub siab tag nrho kom koj haj yam zoo nkauj".
Miss Vue would like to thank her sponsors Wang-Yu Vu of Wang-Yu Realty, Choua and Monica Vu of Action Home Health Care, and Lo Vu of Vu Contractor for sponsoring her to compete in this year's competition. She also wants to thank "cov coj noj coj ua rau lub tsiab peb caug es tau ua ntaub ntawv" for her to compete for the Miss Hmong American 2007 title at the Hmong American New Year held at the Minneapolis Metrodome on December 23rd and 24th, 2006.
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St. Paul, MN
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