Filipino-Australian Alexa Roder is back at the beauty pageant spotlight, but this time on a much bigger stage, as she competes at Miss Earth, which will be on 5 November, representing Australia.
The 24-year-old law student residing in Queensland has previous competed at the Miss Philippines Earth 2025 on 10 August, representing the Filipino community in Melbourne. After the competition, she entered Queens of Australia pageant on 7 September, where she was crowned Miss Earth Australia, succeeding Jessica Lane, who won the Miss Earth 2024 title.
While, following the footsteps on Lane, who is the first Australian winner of Miss Earth, can be daunting, Roder said she is “confident that Australia can have a back-to-back win.”
“Jessica Lane has been such an inspiration, and I’m ready to fill those shoes and I’m ready to keep on going sharing our passions and our advocacies from Australia,” she added.
She shared her thoughts and advocacies on her Miss Earth journey during a meet-and-greet with the local press recently:
What inspired you to join beauty pageants?
“Joining beauty pageants what inspired me was actually my mom. Growing up as a little Filipina girl — I’m sure that many Filipinos can relate — you grow up looking up at beauty queens and wanting to be like them. They were my role models growing up, and I would practice my pasarela in the kitchen, dance my talent for my mom, practice question-and-answer at dinner. It’s always been a childhood dream of mine but joining Miss Earth specifically aligned with me because of the way that I was brought up in Australia and the way that my dad showed me to live.”
Who among the beauty queens do you look up to?
“So, I am a little bit biased, but she is half Australian, half Filipina, and it is Catriona Gray. She resonates with me because she entered beauty pageants over and over again because she knew that she wanted to do this and she had a bigger purpose. And she succeeded. So, her resilience is really something that inspires me.”
How does it feel that Australians as well as many Filipinos, especially Davaoeños, are supporting you?
“Davao is my second home. I was born in Davao but grew up in Australia. So I’m a proud Filipino-Australian, and I’m so excited to support Australians and Davaoeños and Filipinos in my journey, and to share my advocacy with them.
“I had the most beautiful opportunity in Davao. I got to go visit a local indigenous tribe, and they shared to me the importance of looking after nature. I asked the chief if he had any sentiments about my advocacy and about the importance of connecting to nature. And he shared with me, when nature dies, so does our tribe. And that really touched deep inside me because that’s what my advocacy is all about. When nature dies, our health dies, our community dies, and our deep roots to the earth dies with it.”
What is your advocacy and can you tell us more about it?
“So I previously entered Miss Philippines Earth. It was my first ever pageant in June this year, and my campaign was One Switch A Day. My advocacy centered on sharing the impacts of microplastics because I found out that I unfortunately have cancer cells in my body. And I’m quite young; I’m 24 years old. So it was quite a scare to hear that I have cancer cells. But after doing a deep dive into what causes them and exacerbates them, I found out how bad microplastics are, yet how prevalent they are in our waterways, in our food, and just in our everyday life. So I wanted to share that during my experience with Miss Philippines Earth.
“However, during the Miss Earth competition, my advocacy stays the same about wanting to connect health and our environment and our need to preserve our environment. Because it keeps us healthy and keeps us connected to the body. But my advocacy focuses on more of my experience growing up in Australia. So I would love to share my advocacy. It has slightly changed.
“So in Australia, 8.4 million tons of food is wasted per year. Food waste is rampant, causing hunger and environmental harm. And I grew up with a father who was a farmer. Unfortunately, he passed away when I was young. But before he passed away, he showed me the importance of how our First Nations people in Australia have practices that look after our earth, connect with the seasons, and also respect our environment.
“And so that’s a part of my advocacy right now. Because when we deeply connect with where our food comes from and how it’s produced, we can heal our bodies, and we can heal our community. There’s a long list of resources that show that this is true, and I want to share that with the world.
“Because when we reconnect with our farmers and where our food comes from and with our indigenous practices, we can heal communities not only physically but spiritually and also heal our earth at the same time.”
If you will be Miss Earth, will you be an outspoken queen or will you be silent to protect image?
“I think there is a time and a place to say what needs to be said. And there’s also a way in delivering it that is important. But at my core, I am an advocate. At my core, I am going to be a lawyer. So, I stand for the voiceless and I stand for those who cannot speak for themselves. And so, I will always be an advocate.”
What can you say about the Philippines’ corruption controversy on flood control projects?
“First, I would want to put out my heart to anyone that has experienced the disasters of flooding. I was also here during the flooding of Manila this year and it was so disheartening to learn about how there has been a budget to help rebuild and provide infrastructure for Filipinos and that hasn’t been actioned, and so what I would want to say is that Filipinos, please keep going. It’s not fair that this is something that you are experiencing as a community and it’s not fair that your government isn’t standing up for you. As a law student, I understand that governments are meant to be there to be the voice for community and for society, and that they’re letting you down isn’t fair. So I really hope that you continue to advocate for your right to have a safe home to have security and to have infrastructure that helps prevent flooding in your home. Please keep going, and I hope that I see change soon.”
Why you should be the next Miss Earth winner?
“As a law graduate, I — who deeply cares about in the environment — I will bring advocacy and action to the Miss Earth platform. My dad, growing up, was a farmer and he taught me the importance of caring for our environment. So I have a personal connection to the land and understand the respect that needs to be given to our land. My advocacy centers on food waste reduction, sustainable practices and sustainable agriculture, and honoring our indigenous peoples because recognizing their knowledge is understanding their vital importance to preserving our environment. Through my law degree, I understand the importance of policy and education and how they can create lasting change. And so as your Miss Earth I want to inspire action. I want to advocate for sustainable equality for everyone and I want to promote a healthy and sustainable earth for not only our health and ourselves and our community but for our environment.”