Woman eyes Miss Texas Latina title

LONGVIEW, Texas (KSLA) — Michelle Gamboa is blazing her own path to Miss Texas Latina.

She’s leaning on her faith to get her there, and she plans to inspire others along the way.

“When I realized there were a lot of East Texas women, I wanted to give those Latina women the courage to know that they’re beautiful — not only on the outside but on the inside.”

Below is Michelle Gamboa’s raw interview with KSLA News 12′s Destinee Patterson:

Gamboa is the first to represent the city of Longview in the pageant.

“I’m looking forward to 100 more Miss Longviews to come, hopefully, some Miss Marshalls, more East Texas women,” she told KSLA News 12.

Gamboa said she almost opted not to compete.

“I put it away for a lot of years,” she explained. “Like a lot of women, I was listening to the voices that were telling me I wasn’t good enough, or that I wasn’t “model skinny” or that I wasn’t super tall.”

Now she has a message for women.

“Being yourself is enough.”

Beginning Monday, Oct. 4, people can start voting for Gamboa by clicking here. In order to do so, people must like the Facebook page and her image once it is posted. She said it will help her advance as a finalist.

“MISS TEXAS LATINA is the Official City Preliminary Pageant for the state pageant of MISS US LATINA™, competition established since 1983 to the International MISS LATIN AMERICA® OF THE WORLD pageant,” according to the website. “The Winner of the MISS TEXAS LATINA will continue on to participate and represent TEXAS at the national MISS US LATINA.”

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