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'I just want to try'
Angela Perez Baraquio is all about Hawaii, but the former Miss America is heading to Southern California.
The move next year, she says, is primarily to be closer to her husband's family, but while she's there she wants to see if there's a place for her in the entertainment business.
Baraquio, best known recently as the spokeswoman for First Hawaiian Bank, has formed her own company, Angela Perez Baraquio Grey LLC.
Building on the recognition she received in 2001 as the first Asian and school teacher to win the national scholarship pageant, Baraquio is determined to try her hand in television hosting (think of a local-style "Oprah") and to possibly seek acting roles in sitcoms or even movies.
"I've always wanted to get into the entertainment industry and this is just a great time to do it," said Baraquio, 29, who recently gave birth to a son, Isaiah. "There's only so much you can do locally in terms of entertainment broadcasting."
But in an era when Paris Hilton and gross-out reality shows pull big ratings, the cheerful sincerity and folksy aura that have endeared Baraquio to Hawaii may be a tough sell to national audiences.
"Whether that will translate into Hollywood I don't know, it just depends on what's in the pipeline," said Margaret Doversola, a long-time Hawaii casting director for TV and film productions including "Lost" and "50 First Dates."
Doversola said Baraquio could have been cast in a number of locally produced TV shows, such as "North Shore," but she refused because they were essentially decorative roles.
Indeed, Baraquio is clear that she is not chasing stardom, but is looking for a broader platform from which to talk about the importance of character, family and self-assurance, from the classroom to the boardroom. She has been selective in her speaking appearances and business ventures, a cautious approach she says she will continue.
"Because I have branded myself and I've worked hard to get to where I am as far as building my reputation, if people want to use me as their spokesperson then my values have to be in line with their values," she said.
"If somebody asks you to do a swimsuit calendar, right off the bat for me it's not a priority because it doesn't say character education. It was a stepping stone to where I wanted to be and now that I'm here if I don't ever want to wear a swimsuit again I don't have to."
Other Hawaii pageant winners have found the journey to Hollywood disappointing. Brook Lee, the 1997 Miss Universe, tried unsuccessfully to start a TV career.
Carolyn Sapp, the 1992 Miss America who starred in a movie portraying her own struggle against domestic abuse in "Miss America: Behind the Crown," became a stuntwoman and a motivational speaker.
It's unclear what will happen to the chatty talk show, "Living Local with the Baraquios," Angela and her three sisters host on OC16 once she moves to California.
Baraquio recently hired a local agent, Ryan Brown of ADR Agency, to launch a marketing campaign for speaking appearances and she is working on a business plan to promote herself.
"It's been five years [since Miss America] so I need to start a strategy," Baraquio said, adding that she recently finished a demo reel of her hosting highlights, which she is using to shop for national hosting gigs.
She is looking for a literary agent to work on a book as well and is working with an entertainment lawyer in Los Angeles to find a Hollywood agent who specializes in talk shows and hosting.
A former physical education teacher at Holy Family Catholic Academy near Pearl Harbor, Baraquio found a niche during her year as Miss America. Embarking on a 20,000-mile-a-month speaking tour, she found her talks on building character and values in the classroom struck a chord with audiences, and it was the platform that helped her win the scholarship pageant.
"It was really Miss America that catapulted me into the speaking career," she said. "I was in a different city every 18 to 36 hours. Being the first anything really helps the marketing especially for the Miss America Organization."
Even after her year, Baraquio continued to attract offers from hundreds of ethnic, religious and educational groups as well as private companies that wanted to hear her talks on promoting character in the workplace. Some talks were free, while some groups paid up to $6,000 to hear her speak.
Her marketability as a Filipino teacher from Hawaii who made it big in the national arena also helped her build contacts. In 2003, President Bush invited Baraquio and her husband to a state dinner at the White House with the Philippine president.
"My husband and I were sitting next to him and Mrs. Bush and the Philippine president and her husband," Baraquio said. "It was 150 people he hand-picked, his closest friends, and we're there."
Baraquio, who married Tinifuloa Grey in 2002, completed a master's degree in educational administration from the University of Hawaii-Manoa. She also started the Angela Perez Baraquio Education Foundation, which promotes character education and provides scholarships and grants to students and teachers.
She has been the First Hawaiian Bank spokeswoman since 2002 and will complete her contract with the bank in December.
Breaking into entertainment is just one of her goals. She and her husband, a loan officer, are studying the mortgage business to eventually become real estate investors.
"I just want to try my hand at [entertainment] and if it works, great, and if it doesn't work at least I can say I tried," Baraquio said. "I've tried planning out my life -- when I was a teacher at Holy Family I thought I was going to be there forever until I retired as a teacher. I could never have planned what I've already done."
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