MIAMI, Florida – Marianela Ancheta, the first Miss Cuba in almost six decades, told EFE that she was 13 years old when she left the island accompanied by her mother to arrive in the United States across the border with Mexico.
Ancheta, who will represent Cuba in the Miss Universe beauty pageant, was crowned in Miami last Thursday in a contest in which thousands of contestants in exile registered.
“It was a dream that was born when I saw the coronation of the Mexican Andrea Meza (Winner of Miss Universe 2020). At that moment I thought, why can’t she be a Cuban?” he expressed.
Thanks to the iron discipline that she claims to have, Ancheta, 31, will wear the Miss Cuba sash in the pageant that will be held on November 16 in Mexico City. There the current queen, the Nicaraguan Sheynnis Palacios, will hand over the crown.
Born in the city of Villa Clara, Ancheta represented the “Central Region.”
“My inspiration is my grandmothers, who are in Cuba, they call me every day. If I don’t believe I’m here, they don’t believe it either. But they and my entire family send me beautiful messages. It helps me to have them for support, even though they are so far away,” he continued.
We congratulate Miss Universe Nicaragua who has achieved this great achievement representing her country.
The (beauty) queen is convinced of the importance of mental health for success, due to situations that happened in her family, but which she declined to comment on.
In her mind she saw herself winning the crown of her country. “I wake up at 4:00 am thinking about everything I have to do, about how to prepare better, not only for myself, but for all those girls and young people who see me and who feel hope,” she says.
Although she believes that the fact that the first Miss Universe Cuba has been held in 57 years contributes to the island’s continued creation of the “awareness that the possibilities can be infinite,” Ancheta also thinks about the young women who would like to be models or develop themselves. in the world of show business.
These are the initiatives of the Miss Universe candidate.
From cleaning bathrooms to queen
“I come from a very humble family, with few possibilities and my inner child cannot believe what she is experiencing,” she confesses. That is why she has a message for those who are now, like her in her childhood, in the city of Villa Clara.
“We Cubans who dream of being models know that the possibilities are very limited. If we manage to develop the profession there, there are also many obstacles to making our way internationally. This contest and other opportunities like these show them that there are possibilities,” she says.
Ancheta knew that by winning the crown her mind would return to a particularly hard end of the year. “I was 19 years old and I spent the nights of December 24 and 31 cleaning the bathrooms of a Walgreens (a pharmacy chain). It was very sad, but look at this change,” he noted.
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Her words are not only for young people who can identify with her. She also has something to say to those who minimize beauty pageants and the women who participate in them.
“This experience has made me know myself, it has clarified my ideas of what I want in life. If I had a daughter, I would ask her to look for something that the same school as this one offers her, whether with a crown or not. Because this has been a school for me, a school for leaders,” he explained.
Before entering the contest, Ancheta worked as a professional model and promoted her own skin care brand.