Exulting over Latina pride

Miss Columbia, Paulina Vega, has been crowned Miss Universe, beating first runner-up Miss USA, Nia Sanchez

A 22-year-old business student and model from Barranquilla, Colombia, was named Miss Universe on Sunday at the annual beauty pageant, beating out 87 other contestants from around the globe. Paulina Vega studies business administration at the Universidad Javeriana in Bogota and has been a model since she was eight years old, reported REUTERS.

Pageants and performance seem to run in Vega’s family. Her grandmother, Elvira Castillo, was Miss Atlántico 1953. The granddaughter of the legendary tenor Gastón Vega, said the contests leading to Miss Universe were the first she’d ever participated in and would be her last since she’s keen on returning to her studies in business administration, reported NBC News.



An ambitious lady, she is already planning on a bright future, saying: “I want to have my own company.”

“It will be a dream come true to represent the woman of today. A woman that not only cares about being beautiful and being glamorous, but also cares about being a professional, intelligent, hard-working person,” Vega had said earlier in the week in discussing the role of the winner. She is one of eight children, reported Fox News.

The 2015 Miss Universe pageant winner said she would sport the crown with “pride and excitement” as she heard the reports that her fans in Colombia had taken to the streets to rejoice her big win. Although she was far from home, Vega said she still felt the support and encouragement from local Latinos.

“It felt like home. I felt like I was in Colombia with my people. I felt that support in every moment of the pageant,” she said, after the competition, reported ABC News.

Real estate mogul and reality TV star Donald Trump, who also owns the pageant, said many had previously predicted Vega would take the crown home a few weeks ago when contestants had first arrived in the city of Miami for the contest festivities.

“From the minute she walked in the building, people said, ‘She’s a star,’” Trump remarked.

Trump said Colombia was in the running to host next year’s pageant but stated that China was also a strong candidate.

As Miss Universe, Vega will be given an undisclosed salary, a luxury apartment in New York, an enviable wardrobe, an endless supply of beauty products, and a one-year scholarship from the New York Film Academy.

Vega triumphed over first runner-up, Miss USA Nia Sanchez, a 4th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do from Las Vegas, Nevada, who won the US title in June. Contestants from the Netherlands, Jamaica and Ukraine rounded out the five finalists at the 63rd annual pageant. Vega is the fourth woman from South America to win the pageant in the past seven years, with contestants from Venezuela taking the title last year as well as in 2007 and 2008.

Following Sanchez, the 24-year-old Miss USA, the second runner-up was Miss Ukraine Diana Harkusha. Miss Jamaica Kaci Fennell and Miss Netherlands Yasmin Verheijen were also among the top five, emerging from the field of 88 contestants. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th,  2015.

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