Author:
Amanda Broadfoot
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Date Posted: 14:57:42 07/04/03 Fri
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SUSIE CASTILLO, Miss USA 2003, graces the cover of the new issue of Leading Lady Magazine (www.LeadingLadyMagazine.com) -- check it out! (Leading Lady is a pageant and lifestyle magazine for girls ages 14-26 and covers pageants, beauty, fitness, movies, books, dating, education, and self-improvement.)
MEET MISS USA!
(from www.LeadingLadyMagazine.com)
Miss USA Susie Castillo did America proud in June when she finished in the top 15 in the Miss Universe pageant in Panama City, Panama. Dressed in a red, white and blue Wonder Woman-style costume for the National Costume Show, she was a standout among the 71 beautiful delegates from countries around the world. Eventually, Amelia Vega (Dominican Republic) took home the Miss Universe crown, the first winner to ever hail from this Central American country.
Coincidentally, Castillo is half-Dominican as well, on her father’s side. Growing up one of three daughters of a single mother in a working class Massachusetts neighborhood, Susie worked hard to achieve her current success. “Of my childhood friends,” she says, “I was the only one who graduated high school and college . . . Thanks to my mother who worked multiple jobs to pay for my education.” Susie says her Puerto Rican mother is her role model and her source of inspiration. “Through all her hard work, I am a well-balanced individual who holds strength both in mind and body.”
Dedicated to a Dream
In 1997, at the age of 17, Susie entered Teen Magazine’s Great Model Search and placed second out of a pool of 25,000 girls who entered the pageant. The following year, she entered Miss Teen Massachusetts.
To prepare for the pageant, Susie watched CNN religiously to learn about current events and studied videotapes of other pageants to get a feel for the kinds of questions a judge might ask. She committed herself to 120 sit-ups a day, in order to look her best in the swimsuit competition. Though she had promised her family and friends that she would never cry if she won, when the crown was placed on her head at the end of the night, “I was like Niagra Falls,” she laughs.
Her grandmother had 19 children, and Susie was only the second member of her large extended family to graduate college, achieving a B.A. in Interior Architecture and Design from Endicott College. “I would like to be an inspiration to the Latin American community,” she says. “I’m living proof that through hard work and dedication, no goal or dream is too great to be achieved.”
While at Endicott, Susie was a star volleyball player (look out, Gabrielle Reece!), as well as receiving academic honors including the prestigious Capstone Award, an honor given annually to one graduating senior in recognition of exemplary work on their senior thesis.
Dedicated to a Cause
Susie Castillo is only the second-ever Latina Miss Massachusetts USA and the third-ever Latina Miss USA. She takes that responsibility very seriously: “Hopefully I can help erase some of the negative stereotypes about Latinos – that they’re not all housekeepers, drug dealers or hoodlums in the ghetto.” She speaks fluent Spanish and uses her newfound celebrity to advance causes close to her heart.
Her own background helped to cement her commitment to groups such as HAWC (Help for Abused Women and their children) and Latinas Against Sexual Assault. In April, she went to her old neighborhood to speak to the United Way’s Latino After School Initiative.
In addition, she will spend the next year speaking out for the official charities of the Miss USA pageant – breast and ovarian cancer education, research and legislation, through organizations such as the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. “There are no obvious symptoms [of ovarian cancer],” Susie points out, “so we really need to increase understanding about the disease. Most patients catch it too late. This is so frustrating because there is no screening for it.”
“The most important thing is for women to know their bodies,” she says. “Ovarian cancer is a silent killer and women need to be intuitive about their bodies and any changes they feel.”
Dedicated Fans
Susie’s Miss USA win was big news back home where her fans gathered to watch her strut her stuff on television. Her prize package included extensive travel opportunities, a $20,000 wardrobe, a soap opera appearance, a $45,000 scholarship to the School for Film and TV in New York, and a trip to Jamaica. Shortly thereafter, she was voted one of People en Espanol’s “25 Most Beautiful People.”
Just because she didn’t bring home the Miss Universe crown, that doesn’t mean that Susie’s work is over. She has a full calendar of public appearances planned for the next year. Over the July 4th weekend, she will join Chris Isaak, Wayne Newton and the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders in Korea where they will entertain the troops based there.
In Lawrence, Massachusetts, they gathered around TVs to cheer her on again when Susie went to Panama for Miss Universe. The “little girl who could” is still a big hero. “To everyone in Lawrence, it didn’t matter how it turned out because we are all proud of Susie already,” says Lawrence mayor Michael J. Sullivan. “In some ways, we are glad she won’t be floating around the world because it means we can keep her here in the United States doing appearances here.” Susie has already scheduled two events this fall at schools in her hometown.
www.LeadingLadyMagazine.com
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