Excitement and determination for Solomons queen ahead of Miss Pacific pageant

Miss Pacific Islands pageant will be held in two months’ time in Honiara and Miss Solomon Islands Elsie Polosovai says she is excited about her journey in the competition and as part of the host nation.

Polosovai, 23, hails from Choiseul and Malaita provinces, and says home has not always been in the Solomon Islands for her.

For most of her early life, Polosavai lived in the Solomons and Fiji and moved to Auckland with her family in 2014.

Miss Solomon Islands Elsie Polosovai grew up in the Solomon Islands and Fiji in her earlier life. Photo/Facebook/Elsie Polosovai-Miss Solomon Islands

In 2021, she moved to Dunedin where she currently resides, to pursue her Bachelor of Sciences degree in Human Nutrition at the University of Otago.

Polosovai says she never seriously thought about entering a beauty pageant before but is grateful she took that “leap of faith”.

“I'm feeling nervous but also very excited because I feel like we have a lot to offer and we just hosted the Pacific Games last year, so it should be good momentum to carry on to the Pacific pageant,” Polosovai told Pacific Days’ host Nemai Tagicakibau.

“I never saw myself on this stage … but if there's something that your heart's worth, there's definitely a way.

“I didn't think about doing a pageant. I always saw it as like something that's like not for girls that look like me.

“So it was a big step to jump into pageantry. But I think it's influence of like collective influence of all the places that I grew up in. I'm kind of glad I stepped into it.”

A leap of faith led Miss Solomon Islands to pageantry. Photo/Kev Daily

A big source of inspiration in life for Polosovai is her grandmother.

“My dad's mum and she's my only grandmother that is living to this day and everything that I've done, I sort of always remember her little voice in my head talking about how she started off and how she struggled to look after four kids and it's just all these stories.

“I'm sure everyone can relate to the voices of their grandmother but it's always been a guiding sort of light for me and she's been quite influential even if I don't see her often.

“She's always been someone that I would think of when I'm like trying to look for inspiration or something to get me going.”

Miss Solomon Islands in Dunedin with her two university friends welcoming the Solomon Islands Language Week 2024. Photo/Facebook/Elsie Polosovai-Miss Solomon Islands.

When asked what beauty means to her, Polosovai says it’s what’s offered from within.

“To me, beauty I think means more than just, it's more than skin deep.

“It is more than physical. It's about what's inside and how you can be empathetic with people and how you can understand what people are feeling.

“It's more about what you have to offer from the inside.”

Polosovai says entering the pageant has really been a big step outside of her comfort zone.

Elsie Polosovai and her mother Mary Polosovai. Photo/Facebook/Miss Solomon Islands Pageant

But she adds that it is something she is willing to do to inspire others especially young girls in similar situations.

Polosovai said if she could change something in the world, it would be the beauty standards of such pageants.

“It’s such a broad thing to talk about beauty, but I think it has a lot of influence in little girls' confidence.

“I think if you don't see yourself that much represented on global stages or on like bigger platforms, you will naturally tend to hold back and you won't be able to push to your limit.

“I think how I'm doing that is stepping out of my comfort zone. Like it's uncomfortable for me to be always putting myself out there always in the public eye.

Announcing the Awards at University of Otago Pacific Islands Students Association (UOPISA) Pacific Awards Night in September. Photo/Facebook/Elsie Polosovai-Miss Solomon Islands.

“It's really uncomfortable and you're really putting yourself up for criticism and everything but in doing that I hope that one other little girl that is growing up and is my age…I was 10 [years old] at one point and I hope that it can touch her and she too can feel confident enough to step up and do whatever she feels like doing.

Whenever she is faced with challenges and setbacks, Polosovai’s go-to cure is to try “new” and “extraordinary” things that push her out of her comfort zone.

“I think surprising yourself with something that you wouldn't normally do is a really good way to shake up things for yourself and like snap out of a setback or snap out of a slump where you're like I don't know what to do next.”

Click here Miss Solomon Islands to follow for more updates.

Watch the full interview below.

The reigning Miss Pacific Islands is Moemoana Safa’ato’a Shwenke.

The pageant will be held from 28 January to 5 February 2025 in Honiara.

Contestants include Miss Tonga Racheal Guttenbeil, Miss Samoa Litara Loma Leilani Ieremia-Allan, Miss American Samoa Pauliana Angel and Miss Solomon Islands Elsie Polosovai.

For more details on the Miss Pacific Islands pageant, visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/misspacificislands2025/