		<div class="wpcnt">
			<div class="wpa">
				<span class="wpa-about">Advertisements</span>
				<div class="u top_amp">
							<amp-ad width="300" height="265"
		 type="pubmine"
		 data-siteid="109460728"
		 data-section="1">
		</amp-ad>
				</div>
			</div>
		</div><header class="entry-header">
<h6 class="post_title"><span style="color: #4d3232;"><strong>Random photo that went viral photo changed the course of life for turns 13-year-old beggar in four short years </strong></span></h6>
<h6 class="post_title"><span style="color: #4d3232;"><strong>Rita Gaviola’s incredible ‘rags to riches’ story began in 2016</strong></span></h6>
<h6 class="post_title"><span style="color: #4d3232;"><strong>She she was asking for alms on the streets of Lucban, to help her family make ends meet when she was she was spotted by Filipino photographer, Topher Burgos</strong></span></h6>
<h6 class="post_title"><span style="color: #4d3232;"><strong>Burgos happened to be attending the Pahiyas Festival in Lucban, in May 2016</strong></span></h6>
<h6 class="post_title"><span style="color: #4d3232;"><strong>She&#8217;s since worked with some of the world’s hottest brands as a fashion model, starred on hit reality TV shows</strong></span></h6>
<h6 class="post_title"><span style="color: #4d3232;"><strong>Gaviola has also gained over 100,000 Instagram followers </strong></span></h6>
</header>
<div class="col-md-12 col-lg-8">
<div class="row">
<div class="entry-content" data-io-article-url="https://punchng.com/viral-photo-turns-13-year-old-beggar-to-celebrity/">
<h6><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-344395" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Rita-Gaviola-8.jpg" alt="Rita Gaviola 8" width="674" height="302" />Meteoric rise:</strong> <strong>13-year-old street beggar Rita Gaviola, [Photo], went from rag to riches and fame in four years</strong></h6>
<p>Four years ago, Rita Gaviola was a 13-year-old street beggar in the Filipino town of Lucban. Since then she has worked with some of the world’s hottest brands as a fashion model, starred on hit reality TV shows and gained over 100,000 Instagram followers. It was all thanks to a random photo.<br />
Gaviola’s incredible ‘rags to riches’ story began in 2016. Back then, she was asking for alms on the streets of Lucban, to help her family make ends meet. Her father worked as a garbage collector and her mother stayed home to look after her and her five siblings.<br />
<span class="embed-youtube" style="text-align:center; display: block;"><amp-youtube data-videoid="j6ZLSaj0zBw" data-param-rel="1" data-param-showsearch="0" data-param-showinfo="1" data-param-iv_load_policy="1" data-param-fs="1" data-param-hl="en-US" data-param-autohide="2" data-param-wmode="transparent" width="560" height="315" layout="responsive"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6ZLSaj0zBw" placeholder><amp-img src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/j6ZLSaj0zBw/hqdefault.jpg" alt="YouTube Poster" layout="fill" object-fit="cover"><noscript><img src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/j6ZLSaj0zBw/hqdefault.jpg" loading="lazy" decoding="async" alt="YouTube Poster"></noscript></amp-img></a></amp-youtube></span><br />
None of the children attended school at the time and the family barely managed to put food on the table, so Gaviola often went out to beg for change or food donations. That’s how she was spotted by Filipino photographer, Topher Burgos, who happened to be attending the Pahiyas Festival in Lucban, in May 2016.He was attracted by her natural beauty and posted the photos of her on the Internet, changing the girl’s life completely with a single click of the ‘upload’ button, <em>Oddity Central</em> reported.<br />
A photo of the 13-year-old girl went viral almost immediately, with people praising her natural beauty. A member of the Badjao ethnic minority, she was nicknamed ‘Badjao Girl’ and attracted the attention of several Filipino beauty queens, all of whom did their best to help the girl crawl out of poverty.</p>
<h6><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-344392" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Rita-Gaviola-5.jpg" alt="Rita Gaviola 5" width="735" height="721" />Gaviola, [Photo, right], was a 13-year-old street beggar in the Filipino town of Lucban, in May 26 when she was discovered by photographer, Topher Burgos</strong></h6>
<p>Celebrities like Miss World Philippines 2015, Danielle Parungao; Miss International Philippines 2014, Bianca Guidotti and Miss Earth 2015, Angelia Ong, all took to social media to praise Gaviola’s model-like physique and striking facial features, and that drew even more attention to the Lucban street beggar.<br />
Before she knew it, the 13-year-old was giving interviews, modelling for various brands, landing small roles in TV series, and becoming one of the youngest people to be on international reality show, Big Brother. All the hype around Badjao Girl also helped her build an online audience, including fans from overseas, some of whom helped her and her family financially.<br />
In 2018, Gaviola uploaded a YouTube video showcasing her family’s new house and thanking a certain Grace Kreutzer, a loyal US fan, who reportedly sponsored the construction of the new home.<br />
Even though the hype around her had died down in the last couple of years, she remained popular on Filipino social media, particularly Instagram, where she has over 100,000 followers. She reportedly still models from time to time, but currently prioritizing her education.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p> ;</p>

Thanks thanks to a random photo, 13-year-old street beggar went from rags to celebrity in four years!
