Ahtisa Manalo shares how a mindset shift shaped her Miss Universe PH 2025 journey

May 9 ------ Miss Universe Philippines 2025 Ahtisa Manalo opened up about the shift in mindset she brought to this year's pageant, reflecting on how it differed from her approach the previous year and how it may have contributed to her success. In an interview with Boy Abunda, Ahtisa recalled how she found herself overthinking during the 2024 pageant. "This year I made sure I wasn't in my head. [In] 2024 I was overthinking everything. I had a plan a year before it even happened. Every single move, every single decision, I overthink, I plan it," she recalled. 

This time around, Ahtisa embraced a more spontaneous and grounded mindset. "For this year it was sudden that I joined. I wasn't even supposed to be here but the opportunity came, a lot of doors open for me so I was like why not take it? I was more feeling, I was more experiencing than thinking and planning," she highlighted. She emphasized that stepping on stage felt more natural this time. "You've practiced for it so many times, you already know what to do. It's muscle memory, so at that time you just got to experience it and like hear people shouting for you, and like living in it." 

In the same interview, Ahtisa also spoke about a brief mishap when she lost her footing during the long gown segment of the competition. "There were stairs and then I think the dulo of the gown flipped and then got caught in my heel," she recounted. Despite the fall, she turned the moment into a powerful message during the Q&A portion where she was asked with the question: "They say that a good leader leads by example. Tell us one event in your life when you led by example and the impact it made." 

Ahtisa recalled: "I was speaking what's in my heart... Everyone witnessed it. They were there. I thought that when they asked what is that thing that I could show to everyone, I thought that they were all there to witness my fall and if it's not enough that they saw me fall and stood up and still fought for what I wanted, what better answer could I have given, at least that what was going in my head."   

Source: news.abs.cbn.com