Miss Mexico came in third in the Miss Universe competition in Atlanta, Georgia, on Sunday after the crown was taken by Zozibini Tunzi of South Africa, who won out over 90 competitors from around the world.
Sofía Aragón, 25, of Jalisco and winner of the Miss Mexico 2019 competition, had hoped to bring Mexico its third win in the 65-year history of the Miss Universe competition. The first was by Lupita Jones in 1991 and the second by Ximena Navarrete in 2010.
Once in the top five, Aragón was asked her opinion of the recent feminist protests in places like Chile and Mexico, such as the November 25 march in Mexico City that left many monuments and other public spaces vandalized.
“I believe in the cause, I believe in creating change, and I do believe in raising our voices. We do need to be heard, and some of these protests are really powerful and they can create a positive impact,” she began.
“But I do not believe in violence, because violence is always going to create violence. I really believe that what we should do is come together, raise our voices and make an impact in the best possible way ever, through these kinds of platforms like Miss Universe . . . That’s why I’m here, and I really believe that that’s what you should do.”
The answer was good enough to earn her a spot in the top three, where she was asked by host Steve Harvey, “What is the most important thing we should be teaching young girls today?”
She replied, “. . . the importance of their true value. We see so [much] perfection in social media. Perfect lives. Perfect bodies. Perfect faces. Perfect relationships. Nothing is that real. We have to teach them that who they are is already amazing.”
Sofía Aragón was born in Guadalajara in 1994 where, according to her website, she began to write for local publications at the age of 14 and went on to publish two books: Diamond in the Rough and The Color of the Invisible.
She studied film makeup in Los Angeles, California, and marketing at the Autonomous University of Guadalajara. In 2015 she launched her own line of makeup, called Soswami Makeup, a line of cosmetics manufactured in Chiapas.
She began her career as a model in 2017 when she won second place in the Miss Jalisco competition. She later won the Mexicana Universal Jalisco competition, which sent her to Mexico City to compete with women from across the country.
After she was named Miss Universe, South Africa’s Tunzi declared, “I grew up in a world where a woman who looks like me, with my kind of skin and my kind of hair, was never considered to be beautiful.
“I think it is time that stops today.”
Sources: El Universal (sp), Milenio (sp)
