Gabriella Luque finds confidence and purpose through Mrs Gibraltar journey

This is the first time that Gabriella Luque joins Mrs Gibraltar, and she is proud of herself for making what has been an incredible journey for her. 

“I am very nervous,” she admits. But the experience is being “very good”, despite her has never being on a stage before. 

Gabriella said her first steps in the pageant had helped her rebuild her confidence, reconnect with herself and realise that beauty pageants can be about far more than appearance. 

She said she was nervous about this new experience, but had found it rewarding. 

“I love it. It has been all very fluid, all very, very easy. We are like a family, really.” 

She said the contestants had become close during the three months of rehearsals, meeting four times a week and sharing both disagreements and emotional moments. 

“We fight, but then we get along, then we protect each other,” she said. 

“We argue about a joke and then we go there again, we cry. The other day, we started to cry when we realised that there is less left and we don't want it to end.” 

Luque said the end of the competition would also mark the end of a routine that had become part of their lives. 

“It was already part of our routine. Now, when I finish, it will be the mother's routine. Of course.” 

For Gabriella, however, the contest has had a deeper personal significance. 

She said she had struggled with her confidence following an incident connected to her childhood and, later, experienced further changes in her confidence and body after becoming a mother. Even when her daughter, her partner’s daughter, and kids in general are the world for her. 

“When I had my daughter, I also lost a lot of confidence in myself, in my body.” 

She said taking part in Mrs Gibraltar had given her an opportunity to challenge those feelings without seeking validation from others. 

“And it's not that I need to take someone's validation, right? But to feel confident with myself, to put myself on stage and say ‘I've done it, I don't need anything, I can do it’.” 

Luque said the support she had received during the contest had also helped her to recognise her own value. 

“It is the way the directors make you feel like you're worth it. Then, you have your partners who also make you feel like you're worth it.” 

“And then, little by little, you start to believe it and you start to get that self-esteem that you said, ‘I've always had it there, but I never believed it’.” 

“During the contest you say ‘yes, I'm really worth it, I really can do it, I don't need anyone to tell me that I'm worth it. I know that I'm worth it’.” 

While she would like to win the crown, she said simply appearing on stage would represent an achievement. 

“Yes, I would love to wear the crown, I would love to. But for me, just putting myself on a stage, for me that's already achieved what I wanted.” 

She said she had never previously felt she had the courage to put herself in that position. 

“And it's true, there are a lot of people who don't get involved because they're think more about ‘what people are going to talk about me... Or they're going to say this or that’.” 

“At the end of the day, everyone is going to talk. At the end of the day, everyone has their opinions, people are going to have their opinions, people are going to say their comments and that's fine.” 

“If you really value yourself and you think you can do it, that's what matters.” 

Ms Luque is a mother to a daughter who will turn four in October. She also considers her partner's daughter, who has been part of her life since she was around three and is now turning nine, as her own. 

She said becoming a mother had been another significant experience in her journey towards rebuilding her confidence. 

“And when I had my daughter, I got postnatal depression. And for me, it was like a little bit of everything.” 

“It was hormones; it was a new thing. I didn't feel like I could do it. I was very scared.” 

She said becoming a mother had changed her priorities, with much of her attention focused on her daughter. 

“It's not that we get lost, but we want the best for our children. We put our children first and we forget about ourselves.” 

Luque said the Mrs Gibraltar experience had served as a reminder that mothers also need to make space for themselves. 

“This is like a... reminder.” 

“Yes. That you're there too.” 

She said the lesson was an important one because women could become so focused on their families and other responsibilities that they neglected themselves. 

“The truth is yes, because the contest surprised me in a way that I didn't think it would.” 

She said she had initially looked for reasons not to enter because of the rehearsals and the difficulty of balancing the competition with work and family commitments. 

Her partner, she said, encouraged her to go ahead. 

“And until he stopped me and said ‘don't make excuses. If you're going to do it, you're going to do it because you want to, because this is going to be good for you’.” 

“’And if you want to, I'm not going to force you’. But it's the push he gave me. ‘Come on, let's go for it’.” 

Outside the pageant, Gabriella works as a Special Needs Learning Support Assistant at a school, where she said she particularly enjoys helping children. 

“I love helping people and I love the kids more. I love the kids, I love it.” 

She said she valued being someone children could approach when they were experiencing difficulties, even if they simply needed someone to listen. 

“Even if they don't want you to do anything, let them tell you so they feel better.” 

She also said her experience had changed her perception of beauty contests. 

“When I get into contests, today I think that yes, this goes beyond beauty.” 

“This goes to empowering women, that women are worth it, whatever their size, whatever their height, whatever their hair - short, long, whatever.” 

“That every woman is beautiful in her body, that we are all worth it, that we can be anything with women.” 

For Gabriella, the experience has ultimately been about finding the confidence to step forward and recognise her own worth. 

She said that, regardless of the result, she had no regrets about taking part. 

“I've had a great time, and the truth is that I don't regret anything.”