SINGAPORE - Head over heels. That was the strategy that Miss Liyann Seet employed at the finals of the Miss Petite World 2013 international pageant held on Aug 3 in Connecticut, in the US.

And that was how our first Singaporean representative for it managed to score top honours - she was first runner-up in the competition and also won the Miss Asia Pacific Petite World 2013 title.

Miss Seet, 22, who stands at 1.58m, was the shortest among the 25 finalists.

Participants have to be below 1.67m to qualify for the pageant.

The Harvard University student, who is currently on holiday on her summer break, told The New Paper over the phone from Miami: "The girls at the pageant were gorgeous, many were just barely under the height limit, thus in their high heels, they were all so tall.

"So in a sense, it didn't resemble a petite pageant at all.

"I knew I couldn't beat them in terms of stature and I was also so unpolished on the catwalk so I decided to try to win the only way I knew how.

"I used my brains, and for that I have my father to thank because he did everything he could to make sure that I received the best education possible."

In Singapore, she attended Princess Elizabeth Primary School, Bukit Batok Secondary School, Pioneer Junior College and Singapore Management University, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in business management.

Earlier this year, Miss Seet - the middle of three sisters - was accepted into the prestigious Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to do graduate coursework in finance.

When she found out that almost half the scoring weightage was based on the pageant's pre-finals closed-door interviews, she went for the jugular in the smarts department.

The judges had posed difficult questions to the girls.

It wasn't clear if some of the questions asked were a deliberate attempt to test the contestants' ability to think on their feet.

One question posed to her was: "What do you think of the sex trade in Singapore?"

Said Miss Seet, who is dyslexic: "I was really shocked when asked that because that suggested that Singapore was a developing country.

"So I answered and I told them that Singapore has the fourth best economy in the world in terms of its financial district.

"I also informed them that unlike some of our neighbouring countries who face issues of sex trafficking, the laws are really strict here.

"I told them we hang people for smuggling in drugs and we have also banned chewing gum."

The budding investor was featured last month in The Straits Times for having a five-figure stock portfolio.

She added that the judges seemed particularly impressed that she spoke fluent English.

She said: "Perhaps they thought I was Asian and (they weren't) expecting that from me.

She added: "You'd be surprised. I have a university mate who is an American-born Chinese whose parents are from China. She thought that Singapore was part of China.

"Since I came here to study in April, I have been showing pictures of Singapore to the people here and they comment that Singapore is so beautiful.

"After which they will ask, 'Are you sure that such a country exists?'"

After the results of Miss Petite World 2013 were announced - Miss Puerto Rico Noeli Perez was the winner and Miss America Kelly McIntosh came in third - Miss Seet said that the director of the pageant had told her she had lost by a few points.

But Miss Seet was already delighted that she had made it this far as she had no previous pageant experience.

While the other finalists were winners of their respective country's Petite World pageants, Miss Seet was scouted in the US and aced the auditions to become our first Singaporean representative there.

According to the judges, Miss Seet lost the crown due to her catwalk performance.

'Too short'

She admitted that she never learnt how to work the runway because she was "too short" and that ever since she started modelling at 16, her agency had always told her they would never put her on the catwalk because of her height.

Her print advertisement and television commercial portfolio includes Taka Jewellery and Sony.

Now, one of the things on her to-do list is to master the runway.

Said Miss Seet: "As a child, I was pretty upset that I was short. The toughest part was dealing with people calling me a hobbit.

"They think that it's funny, but it actually hurts. But I realised that no one is perfect and it's more important to embrace my shortcomings.

"Though I may be small in size, I can be larger than life through my voice.

"Height is just superficial.Viewpoints are not."

She decided to take part in Miss Petite World 2013 because she wants to draw attention to her cause as an advocate for education for underprivileged children in developing countries.

Her area of interest is the Philippines, where children often live off toxic trash in a landfill known as the Smokey Mountain.

Said Miss Seet: "I believe that education is key to breaking them out of the poverty cycle."

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