Miss Florida USA Faces

What a lobby it was at our final preliminary pageant of the special summer session! You had our Miss Florida Sunshine USA in the Wyndham International Drive Ball Room center. On one side you had the National (Video) Gamers Division Sega Game Boy show, imagine beauty and the geek. On the other side you had a Hollywood Memorabilia Show with former stars and pro wrestlers signing autographs. In the middle of the madness was our pageant as a fun day was had by all of the Wyndham visitors!

Miss Treasure Coast Teen USA 2007 with Miss Avalon Park Teen USA 2007 (left)

Ms. Jahn and Ms. Murlock before the co-host the pageant (left) & The Almulla's were in the house!

The pageant was a matinee that featured several alumni in the audience and onstage. Among the days hostesses included Genevive Jahn (Miss Ft Meyers USA 2007); Krystal Murlock (Miss Manatee County USA 2007) and Jillian Wunderlich (Miss Ft. Meyers Teen USA 2007); along with former Miss Florida America and co-pageant director of Florida Sunshine USA Katy Carson. The show was very entertaining and featured some great pageantry. We had our still camera out and got some great pictures in the audience, so enjoy!

Finding a date for the school prom is often a daunting business for high school students worldwide. Not so for Jordan Avramides from Sydney, Australia.

At his formal end of year dance sixteen-year old Avramides will be walking in with the undisputed belle of the ball on his arm -- Miss Universe Australia 2006, Erin McNaught. The ambitious young Trinity Grammar student initially invited Australia's 2004 Miss Universe winner Jennifer Hawkins, but she said she couldn't make it because she had filming commitments. Hearing of his plight, Australia's Daily Telegraph helped get him the date, Avramides said.

The paper reported Wednesday he was "totally stoked" that the beauty had agreed to partner him.

"She's cute," he said of 24-year-old McNaught "Dad's pretty happy too," Avramides said, adding that his father insisted on driving them to the ball.

It would be impossible to summarize the storied life of Seattle resident Danila DellaGuardia and do it justice. In just 27 years, her eyes have witnessed war and bloodshed in her homeland of Eritrea. She has sought refuge in Sudan and lived through the unimagineable - the murder of her younger brother, Rico.

What is most impressive about DellaGuardia, however, is not her story, but her undeniable sense of optimism and eager spirit. She carried that positive attitude into this year's Miss Eritrea competition, which took place in Washington state. The nationwide-competition is in its second year.

Embracing diversity
DellaGuardia and her family arrived in America in 1983. After fleeing Eritrea during a long-tenured war with neighboring Ethiopia, her family found brief refuge in Sudan. When she was 4, her mother, father and three brothers finally left Sudan and landed in Seattle. The family arrived as a part of the growing population of Eritrean people in the Northwest during the 1980s.

"I love Seattle and the people here," said DellaGuardia, who shares a dual heritage of Eritrean and Italian. Her mother, Belainesh Habtai, is fully Eritrean, while her father, Luigi, is of Italian decent. "There are a lot of different cultures in Seattle, and everyone embraces the diversity openly," she said.

In recent years, the local Eritrean community has made major efforts both locally and nationally to reconnect those living in different parts of America. The Miss Eritrea competition is just one of those nationwide efforts.

Eritrean pride
DellaGuardia and her family are active in the local Eritrean community. A regular at the Eritrean Community Center, DellaGuardia has helped with countless fund-raisers and community events. She was both intrigued and excited, of course, when she heard about the Miss Eritrea competition.

"I heard about the competition and immediately told Danila," said Lenora Sneva, a longtime friend who doubles as DellaGuardia's manager. "She is a beautiful Eritrean woman, full of energy and charisma. I thought she'd be perfect to represent young Eritrean women."

"I have always wanted to be an actress," DellaGuardia claimed, so for her, the competition was a way of both gaining exposure and demonstrating Eritrean pride. "Lenora told me about the pageant and really encouraged me to try out."

Ms. Della Guardia joined the pageant after feelings of apprehension: "I was nervous about the whole thing, but it turned out to be a liberating experience," she said. Eventually, the pageant became natural for DellaGuardia, as it became her way of furthering her contributions to the community.
DellaGuardia was one of four young women in this year's competition from Seattle. With a platform that reflected her love and pride for Eritrea she entered the pageant. "If I were elected, my goal would be to improve the sex education of the youth within the Eritrean community," she began, "and I would also attempt to decrease the amount of youth violence."

Committed to community
Although she did not receive the crown and title of Miss Eritrea 2006 - this year's winner, however, was a fellow Eritrean from Seattle - DellaGuardia has kept her goals and her passionate spirit alive. Continued fund-raising efforts and an active presence with the Eritrean Women's Association have kept her busy.

"They were there for me and my family when my brother was murdered," DellaGuardia said of her supportive community, "so I want to continue to be there for them." DellaGuardia has also kept herself busy in a number of other ways. After spending four months in Australia visiting family, she is now a residential real-estate development assistant in Bellevue. She hopes to eventually obtain a real-estate license.

Loves the screen
Her heart also has her looking for opportunities as a screenwriter or other methods of employment in the film industry. "I would really love to act or direct films," said DellaGuardia, who starred in an independent film, "Darkness into the Light," at age 16, a film written entirely in her native language of Tigrinya.

As for the pageant, organizers of the Miss Eritrean competition aspire to eventually gain a place in the Miss Universe pageant within the next three to five years. "Although I didn't win the crown, I truly hope the pageant achieves all the success it hopes for. It's a great organization for the Eritrean community, especially its younger women," DellaGuardia said.

Kudos to Miss Polk County USA 2007 Meredith Kovarik who just attained her MBA! Ms. Kovarik graduated on August 26^th from the Crummer Graduate School of business at Rollins College in Winter Park. This is quite the honor as Crummer program was rated by Forbes as the #1 MBA in the state of Florida and #14 in the nation. This achievement represents 9 months of hard work, classes every Saturday and homework every night while still working full-time and finding time to prepare for Miss Florida USA. This is why we say way to go Meredith and look for big things from Ms. Kovarik in the future!

Katie Blair, Miss Teen USA 2006, left, and Tara Conner, Miss USA 2006, arrive at a Video Music Awards pre-party in New York on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2006.

» Pageant News Wanted!

Are you a titleholder or at large delegate who is making appearances or doing good things in the community? We would love to tell all of the Miss Florida USA Family your story. Send pictures and updates to telair@aol.com as we feature everything Miss Florida USA on Friday’s at Faces & Places.

» 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!

This edition of Picture of The Week takes us to Japan as Newly crowned Miss Universe Zuleyka Rivera Mendoza ,

clad in a traditional Japanese yukata, waves on a rickshaw during a ride through Nihonbashi district in Tokyo.

That rickshaw takes her all the way to our Picture of The Week! Enjoy.