In the 100-year history of Miss America, 19-year-old Brían Nguyen has become the first transgender contestant to win a local Miss America Organization beauty pageant, Miss Greater Derry 2023.

The teenager from New Hampshire won a crown, title, and scholarship. She ecstatically wrote on her Instagram, “No words can describe the feeling of having the opportunity to serve my community and represent my community for the very first time at Miss New Hampshire.” 

Nguyen continued, “I am so honored to be crowned your new Miss Greater Derry 2023, and I am thrilled to show you all what I have up my sleeves. This will be an amazing year.”

Founded in 1986, the Miss Greater Derry Scholarship Program awards scholarships to young women in the Greater Derry area for academic skills, talent, character, community service, and poise.

The Miss Greater Derry Scholarship Pageant is also a preliminary event for the Miss New Hampshire Pageant and, ultimately, the Miss America Pageant.

As the new Miss Greater Derry, she recently attended the annual Best Buddies Champion Gala to support those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. $150,000 was raised over that night to help out their champion nominees. She will be working with Best Buddies New Hampshire throughout her reign.

“Growing the future has only just started. This industry will continue to surprise people,” says Philip Ross, co-founder of MycoWorks, a mycelium material founder and producer.

As the innovator of high-quality mushroom “leather” for the luxurious Hermes bags, the business acquired $187 million from Natalie Portman, John Legend, and General Motors and will soon cover the latter’s electric car interiors.

Ross unintentionally discovered leather-like material in reishi mushrooms, a fungus he farmed for his cancer and AIDS more than four decades ago. He then became a mycelium artist and featured his fungus-based works at famous museums.

According to Sophia Wang, co-founder of MycoWorks whom Phil met six years before they founded the firm while working together on art ventures, Ross’s discovery marked the “leather’s” birth to the globe.

Wang and Ross continued to discover more about mycelium and later realized that the material is enticing to buyers who don’t like synthesized contaminants and materials which are produced from animals.

Alongside raising their funding source, the company also conducted a groundbreaking at South Carolina Factory with the aim of attaining a sufficient supply of their fancy product.

With about 200 employees, Matt Scullin, the company’s CEO, said that the “Brands are making very significant changes to address what is really a growing demographic of people who want to buy sustainable products that have provenance and traceability and a lower carbon footprint, lower water use—and mycelium does all of those things.”

Compared to animal leather, the mushroom leather-like material is far more environmentally friendly as the former adds up to about a million tons of carbon dioxide which is tantamount to 30 million cars’ yearly emissions.

Despite environmental and animal issues, people prefer biomaterials or “next-gen” materials over the past decade making it in-demand as multi-billion dollars are invested in the industry.

Nonetheless, Hermes’ firm in France is soon to release its $4,200-worth “Victoria” bag made from MycoWorks’ amber-hued exquisite mycelium.

Despite having zero experience in baking, this mom entrepreneur was able to give birth to Ricci Chocolates, now branded as the “Home of the Best Tasting Truffles in Baguio City, Philippines” 

Mitchiko Liquete clarified that she is a dessert lover but never a chocolate fanatic. Initially having no interest in making desserts nor in cooking, she capitalized on believing in herself with the vision of making her products look off-the-peg.

To better her craft, Mitchicko heeded the DTI’s Kapatid Mentor ME (KMME) free online training program in September 2022 to learn about branding and marketing while in a ‘hit and miss’ process in chocolate-making, which she considered as a great help for business-starters like her. 

Mitchiko’s 100% homemade premium chocolates got 20 to 30 boxes of sales per day that eventually reached over and above 2,000 to 3,000 packs weekly and enabled the company to supply more than 100 resellers and distributors nationwide.

The success of Mitchicko’s purely hand-crafted, first-class, and domestically produced chocolates paved the way for opening four stores and actualized $17,000 income in one year alone making Mitchiko more than proud.

She plans to expand her sweet business by making Ricci Chocolates visible in every mall in the Philippines.

Nothing is impossible for this 21-year-old Filipino who engaged in modern farming with only $20 as a starting capital.

Despite being dissuaded by his grandfather who wanted him to become an engineer, Harold Zapata was determined to uplift farming, recognize farmers, and attest that farmers are the providers of our staple food and without them, it would be challenging for us to live.

As a farmer, his grandfather believed that farming is tantamount to poverty which made him influence his grandson to pursue a different profession.

However, the farmer’s blood runs in Harold’s veins, with Harold’s minimal capital and resourcefulness, he initially started hydroponics farming using used styrofoams which he asked from vendors in their local market.

Unlike traditional farming, hydroponics farming is cheaper as it is a type of farming where plants are grown in water and not in soil and a farmer would spend money only on styro cups, coco peat, feeds, and nutrients.

As a beginner, he only had a miniature greenhouse that could hold 80 pieces of lettuce and made him earn as much as $300 a month, which gradually allowed him to expand his business.

Harold’s hobby-turned-business serves him as a source of income not only from the harvests but from offering for-sale seedlings, building greenhouses, and providing consultations with his customers.

He also exclaimed that pursuing one’s interest unlocks many possibilities and that farming also teaches life lessons.