Katrina Anne Johnson

 A dying mother's promise

By Earl D.C. Bracamonte

When Katrina Anne Johnson competed in the recent Binibining Pilipinas pageant, as representative of Davao del Sur, she wore, as part of her ensemble, a symbol of the butterfly; however small. This is because, before her mom passed away, she promised her only daughter that should she be competing in another pageant, she would be there with her as a butterfly! And, in one way or another, her mother kept her word!

At the age of 20,  she lost her mom to a bout with Stage 4 lung cancer. In January 2020, months before the global pandemic struck, her mom passed on. As an only child, her mom's loss made the lockdowns that followed almost unbearable. She missed her not only as a parent but also because she happened to be her very first patient! She was by her lonesome because her dad was in the US, by himself too, as travel restrictions were now in place.

Katrina's sporadic pageant journey started in 2015 when, as a freshman Pharmacy student at the University of Immaculate Conception, she was prodded by her teachers to join the school pageant to represent their department. Luckily, she won the school's beauty title. Unbeknownst to her, the said crown required her to represent their school in the inter-school pageant from all over Davao. As luck would have it, she won again.

As she wanted to join a national pageant like the Binibini, her handler-cum-makeup artist suggested that she join a pageant that was not confined to the scholastic system. So she joined Miss Silka 2016 and won, again! To date, she's the only winner from that search who hails from Mindanao!

It was in winning the school-based pageants that she got involved with the Maharlika Charity Foundation - as a beauty titlist who pursued a science-related course. 

The said organization reached out to indigents in the far-flung areas of Mindanao. It was through the many medical missions that Katrina saw how pageantry could be a platform to touch the lives of many.

After she relinquished her Silka crown, her mom asked her about her foray into the national stage. When her mom got sick, those plans were held  in abeyance as she had to take care of her; til the very end.

After her mom left, it took her three more years to be certain. It was only when Binibining Pilipinas Supranational 2018 Jessa Juelar prodded her that she finally decided to embark on her Binibini journey. And the rest is history.

Prior to her Binibini journey, Katrina finished her master's equivalent of a Clinical Pharmacy degree. Should she continue this line of study, it would only take her a year to write her dissertation and get a doctorate degree. The good thing is that the said degree is recognized in the US.

Katrina is 25 years old now. But should she decide to join another national pageant after completing her contractual obligations with BPCI as Binibining Pilipinas 2023 1st runner-up, I'm pretty sure her mom's presence will still be with her in one butterfly form or another.

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Fashion/Styling: Joseph Palma