At first glance, Sophia Ng has all the hallmarks of a typical pageant queen: She has beauty, brains and charisma.

But last August, when Ng, 27, competed in San Francisco’s Miss Asian Global & Miss Asian America pageant, the longest-running Asian beauty pageant in the nation, she surprised her audience with what she revealed on stage.

“I was once in a suicide depression, and in my hour of darkness, I believed I was worthless and that life was not worth living,” she told the crowd at Herbst Theatre in San Francisco. The audience that night was mostly Asian.

Later that evening, Ng was crowned Miss Asian America. It was the first pageant she had ever competed in.

At 5 foot 9 inches tall, Ng never used to wear high heels. But now, she is a pro. Since she has entered the pageant world, she regularly dons a gown, sash and crown to attend charity and community events, like this year’s Lunar New Year Parade in San Francisco.

But along with the networking and modeling opportunities, Ng spends her time doing what inspired her to compete in pageants in the first place: raising awareness about mental health, particularly among the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.