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'Beauty queen maker' Jonas Gaffud announces departure from Aces and Queens
Beauty queen maker Jonas Gaffud took to Facebook to announce his exit from Aces and Queens, a beauty camp he co-founded 18 years ago, in 2001.
“When my friends and I founded Aces and Queens, our intention is to prepare young women to be queens for national and international pageants," Jonas began, adding they never expected for their camp to become big.
"Our group got bigger, as the number of girls we train or who asked to be trained by us, also grew. And we have trained them with passion, love and dedication without asking anything in return.
"Though we have permanent jobs, our only reward was to see them grow as persons, and bring honor to our country. We never knew it would be this big."
According to Jonas, he is leaving Aces and Queens to pursue other endeavors which involve his advocacies.
“As much as I would love to continue training girls as head of Aces and Queens, I believe it is time for me to leave the group to pursue other endeavors.
"As such, I will focus on developing and sustaining advocacies which are close to our hearts: education of children, and raising funds for their causes, LGBTQIA rights & awareness, tourism for the Philippines and women empowerment.
Jonas thanked all the beauty queens who have trusted him, his whole team and pageant organizations whom he supported in his career as a beauty queen mentor.
“I thank Aces and Queens, all the girls we have trained since 2001, everyone who has trusted me and above all, Filipino pageant lovers and supporters, without which we would not have achieved our successes in international pageantry.
“Huge thanks to all camps, mentors, teams, groups, glam teams, designers for making the beauty pageant industry alive. I salute how the camps brought out the best in the Filipina. No one can take that away from them - their hardwork and dedication.
“And many thanks to local and international organizations specially BbPilipinas Charities Inc and the Miss Universe Organization."
Gaffud was a mentor to competitive Filipina beauty queens who took home international crowns including Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach, Miss International 2016 Kylie Verzosa and Miss World 2013 Megan Young.
On Instagram, Jonas posted a photo with his Aces and Queens team members, Arnold Mercado and Nad Bronce, and thanked them as well. "I love you both so much. Thank you for the love, passion, dedication and most specially our friendship. You have been my rock, my core, to continue," he said. — LA, GMA News
