Miss Los Angeles Chinatown Queen Reflects on Crown

At a young age, Saerlaith Anying Dunn was surrounded by women who had a strong sense of self. They served as her role models, and it was in them that she was able to see pieces of her own identity reflected back to her.

Those women still have a special place in Dunn’s heart, with many of them being former queens and princesses of the Miss Los Angeles Chinatown Pageant, which selects young women from the Greater Los Angeles area to serve as cultural ambassadors for the Chinese American community. It was established in 1963. 

Dunn, who was crowned the 2024 Miss Los Angeles Chinatown Queen, said this close-knit network of women has lifted her up with their support and words of wisdom.

Her self image was largely shaped by the confidently authentic women she admired. 

“Miss Chinatown was a huge reason why I felt like Asian women were beautiful growing up,” Dunn said. “Now, the tide is changing with all these K-pop and C-pop stars, but when I was a kid, being Asian wasn’t synonymous with beauty.”

In addition to being Chinese, Dunn is also of Irish descent on her father’s side, which she would later find added a layer of complexity to her pageant experience.

Pageantry has preceded Dunn’s 2024 crown with a long and storied history.

In 1982, Dunn’s mother, Sepherteen Kwan Jew, owner of Swirlz Soft Serve Parlor in San Marino, won the same pageant title. This connection has made them the first mother-daughter duo to earn their crowns, and the first immediate family to hold three queen titles, which includes Dunn’s 2006 Little Queen crown she donned at 5 years old.

Other family members who have stepped into the tradition of being in the spotlight are Dunn’s aunts, one of whom placed as a second princess on the Miss Los Angeles Chinatown court and the other winning Miss San Francisco Chinatown in the Miss Chinatown USA Pageant.

Dunn’s roots in San Marino, where she grew up and still lives, seem to be just as deep as that of her family. She went through K-12 schooling in the San Marino Unified School District.

As a kindergartner at Valentine Elementary School, Dunn shared a glimpse of the pageant world with her fellow classmates for a show-and-tell presentation. Her guests were 2006 Miss Los Angeles Chinatown Queen Melody Chi Cheng and third Princess Angela Chao Roberson, who both spoke about their public-facing roles in the community.

That same year, Dunn was named Little Queen, an accomplishment that SMUSD made sure to recognize alongside Little Prince Spencer Mar, who also attended schools locally.

Dunn attributes her public speaking skills and drive to be a community leader to her experience at SMUSD and educators like Peter Paccone, a San Marino High School government teacher who encouraged her to join the mock trial team.

Nineteen years after being lauded by SMUSD for her Little Queen title, Dunn was honored by her hometown once more, this time by the San Marino City Council for becoming “Big Queen,” bringing her back to where this journey all began.

“It definitely felt like a full-circle moment,” Dunn said. “As a kid, you can feel very special, and I think that was just amplified because of my experience as Little Queen.”

Like Chinatown, San Marino is home to a vibrant Chinese community. Dunn said its impact beyond city limits is evident in the connections and outreach that exists.

Dunn has found San Marino to be the hub for cultural engagement, evidenced in the Chinese Club of San Marino and its Chinese school, where she used to take classes, and events that connect Asians near and far.

When Dunn was little, her dream was to one day upgrade her crown and follow in the footsteps of the many women who had left a positive impression on her. One childhood memory that Dunn reminisces on is coming up with questions and answers that she would practice for being queen while her mom would curl her hair.

Reflecting on her younger self, Dunn admits that she didn’t fully grasp the concept of pageants and winning the title of queen until she was older.

After graduating from SMHS, Dunn went to college in New York, where she studied political science at St. Joseph's University in Brooklyn. 

Dunn had always thought she was going to participate in the Miss Los Angeles Chinatown Pageant at the same age as her mother, 19, but the pandemic deferred this dream until 2024.

By this time, she was older than she had always imagined. As an adult, Dunn said her insecurities started to set in, but she found strength in moving through the process as authentically as she could, modeling herself after the queens that came before her. It was a strategy that would eventually pay off, though the crown came with challenges that were out of her control.

Though Dunn said San Marino has been a motivating force behind her, the way that she has been embraced hasn't been as welcoming. In some cases, she encountered fierce criticism, sexism and racism. However, she never let the critics tarnish her reign.

“Once you have that title, you go out and meet people and they will tell you their honest opinions of you and face scrutiny in the real world,” said Dunn, who added that the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles, despite its best efforts, can’t shield the queen and court from all negativity. 

Dunn said there have been instances where she had felt sexualized because of her beauty queen status, with people only valuing her based on her appearance, and is seen as someone who should line up and take photos for extended periods of time for the satisfaction of others.

Another aspect that she has had to grapple with is her dual heritage. Dunn recalled being confronted by people who have questioned why she feels comfortable representing the Chinese community as a Chinese Irish individual who doesn’t speak Mandarin.

“With all things that are good, there comes some bad, and I think it’s so much more important for me to advocate for young women and leaders,” Dunn said. “Also, as women, I think we all experience these things whether or not you are in a pageant. I can’t complain too much, but it was definitely a wake-up call.”

Moments like those, however, don’t dampen her spirit. In her youth, she was able to witness one of the most racially diverse courts the Miss Los Angeles Chinatown Pageant has assembled, with the second and third princesses being the first Indian and Black members, respectively.

Since then, the pageant has seen its first mixed-race queen in 2012, Lauren Zhou Weinberger, who is Chinese and Jewish.

“She was a great source of inspiration for me in my own experience,” Dunn said of Weinberger. “I held onto her win a lot as a precedent, proving that even a mixed girl could win.”

As fate would have it, Weinberger emceed the pageant the same year Dunn was a contestant.

Dunn also noted that the 2025 Little Queen, Leena Babtiwale, is Chinese and Indian.

“When I saw her being crowned, I was so excited, because I know for mixed kids, it can be hard to figure out your identity,” Dunn said. “It assured me that, if anything, at least this little girl will feel proud and secure with being Chinese, because this is something that the same title did for me as a kid.”

As Dunn’s reign comes to a close, she said her community service has been a highlight.

She proactively reached out to various cities with ties to her princesses and also local organizations to extend their collective reach and visibility.

“It was not only important to me that I had a fulfilling experience, but my entire court did as well, which is why I not only went out of my way to interact with my own community but also theirs,” Dunn said. “I wanted them to feel like their time on the court was meaningful. … I genuinely feel we’ve made a difference.”

Dunn is a member of the Chinese Club of San Marino, where she attends meetings and builds relationships with the board members. At the club’s annual Lunar New Year Festival, she invited her court to greet children and pass out red envelopes. Dunn also organized a fundraiser at Swirlz Soft Serve Parlor, among other acts of service.

Beyond San Marino, Dunn and the princesses attended various volunteer opportunities and events, including Lunar New Year festivals across the Greater Los Angeles area.

After she passes the baton to the next generation of Miss Los Angeles Chinatown royalty, Dunn said she will forever be a part of the organization’s network and support others like the many past queens and princesses did for her. 

In the 2025 pageant, San Marino will be represented by contestant Nina Koh, who grew up there.

LIFE AFTER THE CROWN

Dunn said she is considering entering more pageants, but also has other plans in store.

Dunn, a member of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, has a strong interest in public service. No matter where she lands, she hopes to represent the Asian American community.

Rep. Judy Chu, who she has met on multiple occasions, is a woman she draws inspiration from.

“During the Altadena fires, Judy Chu didn’t miss a single Lunar New Year celebration,” Dunn said. “She could’ve cancelled and everyone would've understood, but she came anyway, even if it was just briefly. This was noted and made a big impression on me. I observed this in her and tried to emulate it as much as possible myself. There were a lot of moments this year where I felt like I was too ‘late’ for something or was too tired to go to an event, but I showed up anyway. I found the truth in this concept through experience.”

In the arts, Dunn would like to explore performing through song and potentially acting. She picked up taking voice lessons, an activity she had enjoyed in her youth, but stopped when her parents divorced and her mother could no longer afford it.

“Whatever I do — in the arts or public service — I want to make it a point to be a symbol for women and Asian Americans,” Dun said. “I have the confidence, language and social skills to advocate for these communities. If there is an opportunity for me to do that, I will take it.”

Dunn said continuing to honor her childhood self is a priority.

“I thank myself for dreaming big,” Dunn said. “I’m always thinking about my younger self. … I often look to her for advice. The way I’m choosing to live now is a lot more aligned with my younger self than I’ve ever been.”