HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Beauty pageants are not just for women. A Hawaii man earned the title of beauty king.

Jake Acedo of Kunia was crowned the very first Misters of Filipinas America winner. He will represent the United States in the popular male pageant in the Philippines next month.

He performed the hula for his talent and honored his Polynesian roots in his cultural costume.

As a hair stylist and private chef, Acedo said he’s usually behind the scenes but has always been near the pageant world.

“I’ve actually worked with a lot of our Miss Hawaii USA women, starting with Chelsea Hardin, who came all the way up to first runner up, and that was my little taste of pageantry. But I did see the opportunity, especially going out to the community and being able to serve,” Acedo said.

Acedo said he joined the competition to raise awareness and teach youth about preventing domestic violence in the Filipino American community,

“Here in Hawaii, I’m a part of WSO which is Women Speaking Out is our nonprofit organization. And we go out and teach the youth about domestic violence. And it gave me the idea of ​​like, you know, in my Filipino community , we don’t have this program, and I wanted to take this as my advocacy and just educate my community,” he said.

“It’s very rare for men to go into pageants, it’s normally bodybuilding or you know, that kind of competitions but just getting out of this stigma. It’s just for women. I think men are now, especially in America are now getting into, you know, being able to represent themselves in that way,” Acedo added.

The Farrington High School graduate will compete against 34 other contenders for the chance to represent the Philippines in international pageants.

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