Dayana Mendoza is a Venezuelan model, actress, film producer and former beauty queen who represented Venezuela at Miss Universe 2008 on 14 July 2008 at the Crown Convention Center in Nha Trang, Vietnam and was crowned at the end of the event finale. Mendoza became the first winner from Venezuela to win Miss Universe title since Miss Universe 1996 Alicia Machado, thus making her the first Venezuelan Miss Universe in the 21st century. She celebrated her twelve-year crown anniversary today.
Dayana shared a video of her crowning as well as the final walk on her social media account with a caption, “Miss Universe 2008!! Today, 12 Years ago. And the best thing of all, was to return to Venezuela. Thank you for so much beautiful land! Proud to be 100% Venezuelan!”
The diva beat 27 candidates to win the title of Miss Venezuela 2007 and became the second woman who represented Amazonas state to win. Dayana shared that she was kidnapped in Venezuela and that psychological trauma has only taught her to be calm and poise under pressure and not panic which is one of the reasons, she stayed calm during the competition. She was highly appreciated for her strong performance and thus emerged as the winner at the end of the event finale.
Prior to participating at Miss Venezuela 2007, she was signed by Elite Model Management and worked with companies like Max Mara and Costume National through which she gained experience and knowledge about beauty pageants. After Elite, she signed with the Trump Model Management since 2009, and in Milan with Names Model Agency. She worked for 18 years before she decided to take part and represent Venezuela at the International stage and with her confidence and determination she was finally crowned as Miss Universe 2008. She started the competition as one of the favorites for the crown and was constantly serving not only beauty but charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and fierce catwalk.
The queen shared in one of her blogs, “For me, the beauty pageants, and the Miss Venezuela were another representation of our country, with which we also entertained ourselves a lot. It was never a yearning for me to win a contest, in fact, when I was chosen as godmother of my class at school, I did not really like the idea of ??seeing myself compared to another girl and chosen or rejected for being, or not being so pretty. I won as queen of the class in one of my schools, in another school I lost the contest.” She further explained that she only entered the beauty pageant was because she wanted to pay for her education and help her family. Dayana always considered that her work and the representation of Venezuela was more important to her more than earning a beauty crown. “I never competed with any girl, neither in acts nor in thoughts,” she stated. She has an immense amount of love and gratitude towards the people who have always supported her in her journey.
Dayana Mendoza studied acting and cinema at New York Film Academy, one of the most important film institutes in the United States, thanks to a scholarship awarded by the Miss Universe organization. In 2009 she is one of the presenters of the morning program of Venevision, Portada´s. In 2010, she hosted ‘Relaxed’, a celebrity talk show broadcast on E! Entertainment, Latin America. That same year she starred in her first short film titled ‘Sweet Misery’, appeared in the music video Bla Bla Bla. She also accompanied Donald Trump to the island of Puerto Rico, where he recorded with him a golf program that has the billionaire. Together with Miss Universe 1969 Gloria Diaz, Mendoza was the goodwill ambassador of Venezuela-based technology firm Smartmatic to thank the Philippines for entrusting the company to the success of their 2010 presidential elections.
Mendoza served as one of the panels of judges for the Miss USA 2012 competition. On 6th January 2018, Mendoza returned to the Crown Convention Center in Nha Trang, Vietnam, where she was crowned Miss Universe 2008, as a judge on Miss Universe Vietnam 2017. In March 2015, she appeared in a commercial for a drink, along with Miss Universe 2012 Olivia Culpo of the United States and Miss Universe 2014 Paulina Vega from Colombia, filming took place on the island of Bali in Indonesia. In 2018 she produced her first film titled ‘Honey’, which received good reviews, being recognized by the Hollywood International Film Festival. She also runs a successful online store along with writing blogs on the same website where she expresses her views and opinions.
The queen who completed 12 years of being Miss Universe believes, “Only when we doubt, do we open space for fear and uncertainty to fill that void. When we compare, we rob God, the Universe, of permission to bless us for who we really are.”
Congratulations to the diva!