March 11th, 2005
March 11th, 2005
Miss Pembroke Pines USA Recap
It is always very exciting to be a part of bringing pageantry to new places through out our state. This past weekend it was the city of Pembroke Pines located in Southwest Broward County. This it one of the fastest growing regions of our state and truly untapped pageant territory! When the local Kiwanis and Halavin Productions teamed up to offer two young ladies the chance to represent and compete at state the buzz around the city was great. So with a full house the pageant got off to a very successful start. Lets take a look at the excitement!
Miss Hollywood Teen USA 2006 Diane Crawford models this year's
stage props as made by The Pembroke Pines Key Club.
The pageant started Friday night with a contestants and volunteers dinner at Romaus Latin Restaurant. Some really good Cuban food was on the menu as this was the first time the contestants had a chance to meet. The evening agenda was to inform and discuss the upcoming pageant with director Angie Halavin. New friends were made and all the ladies left with full tummies as it was time to say goodnight and prepare for the next day.
Afternoon rehearsals had the ladies full attention.
Miss Pembroke Pines USA contestant Daniela Gallo has her portrait
taken by pageant photographer Brian Call.
Saturday started at 8:00am with delegate registration. Then a full day of rehearsals awaited the thirteen aspiring titleholders. It was great to see Miss Hollywood Teen USA 2006 Diane Crawford volunteering and assisting in the choreography of the pageant. Miss Florida USA 2004 Kristen Berset was also on hand giving tips and leading the delegates through their stage patterns. Miss Florida USA alumni (FLUSA ’05) Mandi Halavin is co-directing the pageant and it was great seeing her assisting in the production.
Judging committee member Ada Cabrera gives last minute encouragement to Jessica Giacchetto
as she awaits the competition (left) Contestants Alicia Castellano, Jennifer Olkinitsky and Danielle Hall
at Friday night's dinner for the delegates hosted by Romeu's Cuban Resturant.
Then it was time for the main event! It was great seeing Miss Florida USA 1998 Jaime Converse Estrada and Lorraine Brennan O’Neil (FLUSA ’88 t15) serving as judges. Miss Estrada who is just about to give birth to her second child (a boy!) looked wonderful. Ten days until delivery she is still active as corporate relations director of the world famous Tiffany Jewlers. Ms. O’Neil is doing very high end corporate law, she also assists with the state Miss America Pageant.
Mayor Frank Ortis with the new ambassadors of Pembroke Pines.
Post pageant pictures with producer Henry Halavin and
hostess Kristen Berset flanked by the two new titleholders.
In the audience were Miss Hollywood USA 2006 Lindsay Shockey; Miss Citrus Teen USA 2006 Annilie Hastey and Miss Coral Springs Teen USA 2005 Shantavia Davis. Miss Florida USA preliminary directors Barbara Ewald (Miss West Broward USA) and Glenda Byrd (Miss Gold Coast USA) were on hand to support the pageant. It was great to see the very personable Mayor of Pembroke Pines Frank Ortis who stayed around post pageant to meet the new royalty. Great job to everyone who made this a superb evening and we look forward to many years of pageantry in Southwest Broward.
Miss USA Hosts & Judges Announced!
NEW YORK, March 10 /PRNewswire/ -- NBC, Donald Trump and Paula M. Shugart, President, Miss Universe Organization announced today that six-time Olympic gold medallist Michael Phelps; CoverGirl supermodel and star of NBC's "Las Vegas" Molly Sims; boxing legend and co-star of NBC's "The Contender" Sugar Ray Leonard; and world-renowned beauty expert Frederic Fekkai will headline the celebrity judging panel for the Miss USA 2005 pageant. Broadcast live on NBC, "Access Hollywood's" Billy Bush and Nancy O'Dell will co-host the pageant from Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre on April 11, 9-11pm ET.
Also featured on this year's judging panel are: famed fashion designer
Pamela Dennis, notorious ladies-man Raj Bhakta from NBC's "The
Apprentice," model Ksenia Maksimova and Brody Hutzler from NBC's
"Days of Our Lives." These eight judges will survey
delegates from all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and
evaluate them based upon three categories: swimsuit, evening gown and
interview competition. Shandi Finnessey, Miss USA 2004, will crown her
successor at the conclusion of the two-hour primetime telecast before
a potential worldwide viewing audience of more than 250 million in 100
countries.
Pageant Personalities in The News:
LUNCH
WITH LYDIA
Former
Miss Universe rediscovers smile
SMILING NOW: She lost Marc Anthony to J.Lo,
but Dayanara Torres can't talk about it.
Her divorce settlement came with a zip-lip order.
CHUCK FADELY/HERALD STAFF
You wouldn't judge if Dayanara Torres needed to present herself as a wronged, long-suffering ex-wife with more than a few angry axes to grind. After all, it can't be much fun to know there's no TV appearance, magazine interview or personal exchange during which Jennifer Lopez won't somehow come up.
But that's the deal when your ex-husband is Marc Anthony, Puerto Rican salsa royalty, and he marries his ex-squeeze, the queen of booty, just five measly days after your divorce to him is finalized. It was a rocky marriage anyway, what with a previous separation (amid rumors of his creepin') and then a supermarket clerk naming him as her baby daddy (DNA tests cleared him). But no amount of foreshadowing can prepare you for a final split just two months after the birth of your second child.
You wouldn't judge if Dayanara hadn't quite let it go yet. If she spit more than a few tacks in the direction of, say, that schmaltzy Grammy performance in which J.Lo and Marc played Hispanic Honeymooners in a tacky boudoir. But Dayanara seems above all that. Sure, nothing like a divorce settlement with a clause about keeping your mouth zipped to keep you from going off about your ex and his new photo op.
But there's also nothing like being a mother with two little boys to raise on your own to give you the focus you need to move on. And Dayanara, who left New York after the split for Miami's Doral area to live near her sister, seems to be doing just that. ''When I wake up and see their smile, I know I will be fine,'' Dayanara says of Cristian, 4, and Ryan, 1. She's going through the typical challenges of being a single mom trying to rebuild a career. She has a recurring role on The Young and the Restless and a gig as special correspondent on Access Hollywood. She's going to the occasional audition and toying with the idea of starting a clothing line. ''But most of my time is for my kids,'' she says.
And
she's doing a yearlong spiel for Crest to help raise dental health
awareness among Hispanics. Which she can actually claim as a cause
close to her heart. ''I had terrible buck teeth as a child,'' she says
over an icy glass of lemonade 25 stories above Brickell Avenue at the
Conrad Hotel's Atrio restaurant in Coral Gable just south of Miami.
The shy girl who wore braces for a solid eight years because her
parents (a secretary and a mechanic) couldn't afford to keep up with
regular visits to the dentist for adjustments planned on becoming an
orthodontist when she grew up.
But what she never saw as anything but an unpretty girl's ridiculous fantasy is actually what happened One day, as she was walking with her mother through Toa Alta, the rural town near San Juan where she grew up, scouts for the Miss Puerto Rico pageant saw past the metal on her teeth and made her parents a deal. ''I had long curly hair, blond from those sprays you use in the summer; I had my braces; I was in flats and jeans,'' says Dayanara, 30, who at 17 had zero self-esteem and never any attention from boys.
The pageant folks shelled out for a makeover, which quickly paid off. ``They paid to finish the treatment for my teeth, made my hair straight and black, taught me how to walk in high heels and how to put on makeup and use forks and knives at formal dinners.'' She won the Miss Puerto Rico pageant a few months later. And at 18, she was crowned the youngest-ever Miss Universe. ''I would dream about being Miss Universe when I saw the show on TV, but living in a little house in the countryside, it was something very far away from me,'' says Dayanara, who still carries herself with a beauty queen's poise. ``I was very shy, very introverted. I was so embarrassed about my teeth. Even smiling was difficult for me. Even now, sometimes I find myself smiling and covering my mouth.''
Which is why she takes the Crest Healthy Smiles campaign seriously. ``You'd be amazed how many people I talk to who brush once a day and are proud of it. In my house, we brush and we floss. Even the little one who doesn't have all of his teeth has a toothbrush.'' She can go on and on about proper dental hygiene. But don't try to take the conversation back to the ex. How often does he see the kids, you want to know. ''I can't talk about that,'' says Dayanara, whose divorce settlement reportedly makes provisions for visits and holidays.
She suffers the obnoxious prying questions, which she gets everywhere she goes, without losing her cool. But mostly, she says, what she gets on the street is support. ``I get a lot of compliments and good wishes. And a lot of jokes about, you know, life.'' And life, says Dayanara, is getting better and better.
``I'm
much more mature now. I have learned a lot of lessons, especially in
the last few years. I look at everything that has happened as a
blessing now. I have my two beautiful kids whom I adore, who make me
laugh every single day of my life. I have the support of my whole
family. I did suffer, but what I have gained -- well, I wouldn't
change a thing.''
Alumni News Wanted!
If you know of any Miss Florida USA alumni in the news please drop us an email to feature them in future articles. Email all info to info@missfloridausa.com! Until next week here to good pageantry!
PICTURE OF THE WEEK!
We have no idea why this picture appealed to us…
could it be the bizarre props? The beautiful pageant queens from Finland?
Is this a subconscious longing to be in Scandinavia?
Well whatever the reason enjoy our picture of the week!
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