H'Hen Niê

Biography

H'Hen Niê (pronounced [həːhɛnnieɪ] hə-HEN-nee-EH; born 15 May 1992) is a Vietnamese model and beauty pageant titleholder. She is an ethnic Rade. After winning Miss Universe Vietnam 2017, she represented Vietnam at Miss Universe 2018, and reached the Top 5 finalist, the current best placement for Vietnam. She was the first Miss Universe participant from Vietnam to be from an ethnic minority group. She is also a commissioner in the Vietnam Youth Federation.

== Early life == H'Hen Niê was born in Cư M’gar, Đắk Lắk Province to parents Y'Krin Êban and H'Ngơn Niê. She comes from the Rade ethnic minority, and she speaks the Rade language as her native language. H'Hen did not learn Vietnamese until eighth grade. H'Hen is the third oldest out of six children, and during her youth, she worked on a coffee farm to assist her family. Rade matrilineal customs state that Rade women traditionally tend to start a family at a young age. However, H'Hen decided to break from this tradition and continue her studies throughout high school. After graduating from high school, H'Hen studied for a year at Nha Trang National Ethnic Community College before moving to Ho Chi Minh City to study corporate finance at the College of Foreign Economic Relations. She worked as a domestic worker for a year to pay her bills while she was in college. While H'Hen worked as an intern at a bank, she began to consider a career in modelling. In 2014, shortly after graduating from college, she was discovered by Đỗ Mạnh Cường while beginning her modelling career. In 2015, she auditioned for Vietnam's Next Top Model season 6, where she finished in top 8-9.

== Career ==

=== Pageantry ===

==== Miss Universe Vietnam 2017 ====

H'Hen competed in and won Miss Universe Vietnam 2017. As a Rade person, H'Hen is currently the first and only Miss Universe Vietnam titleholder to be from an ethnic minority group, other than Kinh.

==== Miss Universe 2018 ====

She represented Vietnam at Miss Universe 2018 in Bangkok, Thailand. In the months leading up to the pageant, H'Hen's training and preparation was documented and aired as a YouTube series called Road to Miss Universe 2018. The Miss Universe Vietnam Organization held a contest to find the Vietnamese national costume that H'Hen would wear for the national costume competition at the pageant. Six designs made it to the final round. After a nationwide vote, the top three designs were selected: Bánh Mì (inspired by the Vietnamese sandwich bánh mì), Phố cổ (inspired by the ancient town of Hội An), and Ngũ hổ (inspired by the classical Hàng Trống painting and Vietnamese opera). In the end, Bánh Mì was selected to be Vietnam's national costume at Miss Universe 2018. In the finale held at Impact Arena on December 17 in Bangkok, H'Hen finished as a top five finalist. In her top five interview, H'Hen received a question about whether the #MeToo movement has gone too far, for which she answered: