Gwen Tuaitanu wins the first Miss Samoa USA Pageant

(Salt Lake City, Utah) The title of Miss Samoa USA went to the hometown girl, Gwendolyn Pona Tuaitanu, a 23 year old university student from West Jordan, Utah.

Gwen, sponsored by Serenitycare of Utah, won nearly every category to become the first Miss Samoa USA. She went on to the Miss Teuila Pageant in Apia, Samoa and won outright the Miss Samoa 2008 title. Gwen won Best Talent, Interview, Personality, Internet and the Tourism Award.

Next up was the Miss South Pacific 2008 Pageant, where she barely missed the title but won three of the big prizes - Best Talent, Miss Tourism Award and Miss Internet. For our very first Miss Samoa USA, Miss Tuaitanu has made quite an impressive run in such a short amount of time!

Miss Tuaitanu was born in Kahuku, Hawaii and is the second oldest out of five children. She has three brothers and one sister. Her mother hails from the Fuimaono family from Nuuuli, American Samoa and her father hails from Savaii, Western Samoa.

She graduated from Copper Hills High School, Utah and was studying Microbiology at Utah Valley University. As the current Miss Samoa, she decided to put her studies on hold and moved to Apia, Samoa to fulfill her obligations to her title. In the near future, Gwen plans to finish her studies and be a Pharmacy Technician. She also served a Spanish-speaking mission in Arcadia, California for the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter day Saints. She love sports, any sport - volleyball, basketball, tennis, racquetball, soccer, and love being outdoors. She loves hanging out with friends and family.

"If you were to ask me what my usual plans would be for the day, I'd most likely say that I'd be with my family or at home doing feau's," she laughs. "I absolutely love being with my family. Not only do they strengthen me, but we help strengthen eachother when were together, its great for all of us."

She also loves to perform. "I love to dance and sing. My aunt told me that when I was a little girl I used to cry alot. She said she knew when she heard me yell and scream that I would have strong vocal chords and I've been singing ever since, " she said.