Ms. Flerida Rizza Convite-Antonov From Beauty Pageants to Ballroom Dancing

By Ting Joven Giovanelli

She’s got style. She’s got class. And she has beauty and brains. She is in a league of her own – apart from the other ladies we’ve met in the Filipino community here in Chicago.
When she competed and won the title Mrs. Philippines in 2006, the Filipino American Council of Greater Chicago, Inc. (FACC) knew that she will carry her title with grace and dignity. She will go down in history as the longest reigning Mrs. Philippines of FACC. Rizza was the last to be crowned as Mrs. Philippines under the banner of FACC.
Born and raised in one of the beautiful islands of the Philippines, Rizza has moved on and followed her first love – Ballroom Dancing. Her love affair with dancing started in her early years in life. By the time she was in high school, she has traveled to different cities in the Philippines as a member of a Dance Troupe, performing Cultural and Jazz dances with a variety of audiences, including TV shows.
When she migrated to the United States, her passion for dancing only intensified with the different ballroom competitions that she used to watch on TV. In 2008, she met a friend who shared her passion for dancing and convinced her to start taking ballroom dancing seriously. In no time, Rizza started participating in different competitions around the nation and won most of them.
Again, it was time to move on. In October 2010, she approached Greg Rykowski, to become her new dance mentor. Since then, Rizza and Greg have competed at the Crystal Ball Dance competitions and won first place with scholarship, in spite of her undergoing a foot surgery only 3 months before the competition. In September 2011, Rizza and Greg again competed and became the Champion in The Silver Rhythm at the Windy City Open Dancesport Competion in Chicago. In October of the same year, Rizza and Greg were again the Champions in The Silver Rhythm at the North American Imperial Star Championship held in Indianapolis.

In the year 2012, she competed four times. Rizza and Greg were Champions in Silver American Rhythm in Michigan. She also won a scholarship in the same competition. They were again Champions in the Crystal Ball competition held in Chicago and won another scholarship award. They were finalists in the United States Dance Championship – United Sates Pro/Am, held in Orlando, Florida. They were Champions again in the Harvest Moon Festival Ball – Silver American Rythm and placed second in Smooth and Top Student – both held in Chicago.
Indeed, Greg is the right partner for Rizza. She is looking forward to joining more dance competitions in the future.
Meanwhile, Rizza has not forgotten her community. She is always willing to lend a hand when asked to be involved in fundraising events in our community . She has supported several fundraising events for several causes here and in the Philippines. She was a recipient of the Elegant Women Award by Fashion N Fashion. She has done voice-over commercials for Voices In Chicago, aired on WJJG-AM. Her voice was also featured on one of the local TV programs, the Korean Broadcasting Network (KBC).
Rizza is the Vice President of Finance of 3 Affiliate Companies of a Desktop Publishing Company.