{"id":401815,"date":"2023-11-28T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=401815"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Torres-Dela-Cruz-Jones-win-Most-Badass-Awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Torres-Dela-Cruz-Jones-win-Most-Badass-Awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Torres, Dela Cruz, Jones win Most Badass Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three out of 12 nominees won the most badass people 2023 title during Tyler\u2019s Gelatte Stone\u2019s first Most Badass People award ceremony on Nov. 17 at the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan in Garapan.<\/p>\n

Kagman High School principal Benjamin Jones Jr., Run Saipan president and ARFF firefighter Edward Dela Cruz Jr., and makeup artist and \u201cLP Beauty\u201d brand founder and owner Lara Torres were three of the 12 trailblazing nominees that were recognized as the Marianas\u2019 most badass in 2023.<\/p>\n

Jones Jr. was unable to be present at the event as he is in the Solomon Islands for the 2023 Pacific Games, so his wife received the award for him. Jones Jr. did send a previous video thanking the people who nominated him.<\/p>\n

In his remarks, Dela Cruz extended his warmest thanks to the sponsors and staff of Tyler\u2019s Gelatte Stone. \u201cI know how much hard work it is to coordinate this…,\u201d said Dela Cruz. In addressing his fellow nominees, he said, \u201cYour hard work is so amazing and inspiring, so thank you, guys, for all your hard work…,\u201d adding he\u2019s already excited to see what his fellow nominees will do next year.<\/p>\n

Along with being awarded as one of the most badass people, Torres was also the recipient of the People\u2019s Choice Award. The makeup artist was surprised and touched at the same time. In addressing the audience, she said, \u201cI was so blown away when I saw the nominees list. I\u2019m badass? I mean I\u2019m just doing what I love to do, honestly. \u2026I\u2019m at a loss for words, but I\u2019m very grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is amazing, I\u2019m just excited to put this at my shop. There are so many things I\u2019m planning for 2024, I\u2019m just getting started. But honestly, everybody is badass. I feel like they all won tonight regardless of who got a trophy or not. …We\u2019re all winners,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The other nominees were Rep. Joel Camacho (Ind-Saipan), Juan Camacho, Palm Trio, Jocelyn Itibus, Cherese Palacios, Bonny Grow, Samantha Salamon, Ashley Pangelinan, and Elina Chhetri.<\/p>\n

The event was the very first of its kind.<\/p>\n

Tyler\u2019s Gelatte Stone\u2019s Ben Babauta Jr. said they wanted to recognize the CNMI\u2019s hardworking professionals \u201cto keep them motivated, to keep them passionate, to keep them moving our community so we can grow and prosper together.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I see how hard these people work, I see the behind-the-scenes effort that they are putting in to get things done…,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Babauta noted that, while celebrating these individuals, profits made from the event will go toward funding scholarships at Northern Marianas College and Northern Marianas Technical Institute.<\/p>\n

He said they had originally received over 40 nominations for the award and they narrowed it down to 12. The public was then encouraged to vote for the nominees online.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so happy for all the nominees and they are all deserving their nominations.\u201d said Babauta.<\/p>\n

He also thanked the event\u2019s 38 sponsors \u201cAll of them are small businesses and we want to keep our small businesses growing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

From left, Tyler\u2019s Gelatte Stone owner Ben Babauta, with Most Badass People awardees Lara Torres, Edward Dela Cruz Jr., and Benjamin Jones Jr.\u2019s wife, Lenette Jones, at the event\u2019s awarding ceremony last Nov. 17 at the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan in Garapan.<\/p>\n

-CHRYSTAL MARINO
<\/figcaption><\/figure>

<\/p>\n

Tyler\u2019s Gelatte Stone owner Ben Babauta, with the 10 of the 12 Most Badass People nominees at the Most Badass People awarding ceremony last Nov. 17 at the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan in Garapan.<\/p>\n

-CHRYSTAL MARINO
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three out of 12 nominees won the most badass people 2023 title during Tyler\u2019s Gelatte…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-401815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401815\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}