Friendly, full of smiles and an “open book,” Thalia Olvino Torres sat down with Loop News last week to talk about her experience as Miss Venezuela, her current aspirations, how pageantry has impacted her life (and that of other young women and girls) and what she thinks needs to change at the leadership level in order for pageant organisations to evolve.

Pageantry and the road to Miss Venezuela

With respect to her reign as Miss Venezuela, Thalia shared that she was crowned as Miss Venezuela Universe in 2019, following which she participated in Miss Universe.

To arrive at the Miss Venezuela finals, however, was no small feat, as Thalia explained.  Instead, it was a journey riddled with everchanging and challenging perceptions of “beauty” by members of the public, ongoing critique (even in the face of “top” performances) and seemingly random “requirements” or “outdated perspectives” as to what it takes to “rise to the top” of the international pageant scene, sometimes channeled via the views of veteran, out-of-touch pageant directors. 

In addition, contrary to what some critics may think, Thalia said that she did not initially take an interest in pageantry because of the lure of “wanting to be a beauty queen,” but rather to aid her own personal development and growth.

I first became interested in modeling and pageantry when I was at 15-years-old.  The experience to me, however, was more of a step to prepare myself for university and to develop my public speaking and communication skills.

She explained.

“The theme of pageantry, in general, and that of Miss Venezuela, specifically, is more about self-esteem than anything else,” she added.

According to Thalia, it is such self-esteem and what a candidate thinks of herself that are of utmost importance when preparing for a pageant and dealing with the challenges that the candidate comes to face at different levels of the pageant experience.

Thalia Olvino Torres, Miss Venezuela 2019

Thalia expanded on the point saying that some of the challenges with self-esteem and the mental state of women and girls in pageants arise because of perpetuating cultural and other stereotypes.

The Venezuelan cultural view of women in pageants is still in a “retrograde” state… Venezuelan culture does not yet permit [too much] flexibility [in the way that women in pageants are perceived].

For example, for some time in Venezuela, it was expected that, to be “beautiful,” a candidate had to undergo cosmetic surgery and make other enhancements.  Because of this, candidates are constantly comparing themselves to others on social media and other channels [rather than focusing on their own inner beauty and self-esteem].

I also had to make changes, but these changes took place after the Miss Venezuela competition… in order to prepare for my appearance on the Miss Universe stage… this was to satisfy the wishes of the public and stereotypes known to be held by fans in respect of the pageant.”

Thalia explained.

Notwithstanding existing cultural nuances, Thalia noted that pageants are now changing internationally and these sorts of things are losing weight on the international stage.  “The diversity of body types [in competition] these days is impressive,” she said.

As to what the Miss Universe Venezuela organization is doing to catch up, Thalia said that the organization is starting to make changes.  “The casting and selection of candidates is now more inclusive… comparing this to what happened before, if a candidate wanted to participate in the past, she would have had to navigate through a lot of influential people [to take her to the next step]… now, that is not so much the case,” she shared.

Thalia noted, however, that these changes were only made a reality as a result of changes in the leadership of the Miss Universe Venezuela organization, in particular, the participation of “ex-misses in the decision-making.” “For example, the current director of communications of the Miss Universe Venezuela organization is an ex-Miss,” she said.

María Gabriela de Jesús Isler Morales, Miss Venezuela 2012 and Miss Universe 2013 (Photo credit: Instagram)

The benefits of having an ex-Miss as a director, as Thalia explained, is that “she is connected with international organisations, she can speak about her own experiences [on the Miss Universe stage] and she knows what the [candidates] need, always bearing in mind how the international stage has evolved.”

Making another point, Thalia said that domestic pageant organisations should also appreciate that the “Miss Universe competition is a global event and not just a local competition.”   Domestic pageant organisations would be wise to therefore bear this in mind and steps should be taken by them to avoid the “monopolies” that tend to develop within the leadership of domestic organisations over time, which may not only hinder the ability of domestic organisations to evolve to high international levels, but may also hurt the progress of the candidates put forward by those organisations.

Such monopolies may also give rise to allegations of conflicts of interest at the casting stage where candidates are selected to participate in domestic competitions.  More specifically, one allegation is that such candidate selections could be substantially influenced by the ways of thinking of the directors of the relevant domestic organisation rather than objective standards, leading to Miss Universe winners being “picked” in advance of the final of the domestic competition.

Responding to this idea, Thalia said that she “does not believe that winners are pre-selected these days… but, perhaps, that practice may have taken place years before as candidates had to maneuver a wide range of influential people in order to get recognition.”

Speaking of influences, Thalia shared that, sometimes, candidates who have good sponsors and support also tend to be better positioned to adequately prepare for domestic and international pageants. Regarding this, she noted that Venevisión, which she said has offices in Miami and Venezuela, finances the Miss Venezuela candidate who participates in Miss Universe internationally.

Dealing with the critics

All the finances in the world, however, cannot prevent criticisms being launched by members of the public, especially seasoned pageant fans.   Regarding this, Thalia shared that criticism on the international stage affected her a lot initially and caused her “self-esteem to be lowered.”

To get through these things, I have always told other women that it is important to maintain their psychological well-being and have some level of support on hand.

You shouldn’t take the position that you can manage [the criticism] alone or think that you are all powerful and you therefore don’t need any help.  Your family, a coach or other professional person is important to have at your side in these moments.

She said.

This type of support helped me to respond to criticism and other challenges in a more practical way.

For example, when I receive criticism these days, it does not affect me in the same way that it impacted me leading up to, and on, the Miss Universe stage.

The truth is that you can’t control the thoughts of other people.  You can, however, take control of your own life and improve your personal, mental peace and tranquillity.  I chose mental peace.”

She added.

Because of Thalia’s experience and current state of mind, she takes every opportunity to advise young candidates of what to bear in mind in the face of challenges.

For example, at the moment, I am preparing a 15-year-old young lady for a junior pageant.  While she is not an adult participating in an adult pageant, she will face similar criticisms from members of the public and pageant fans… in this case, I have to help.  After-all, what maturity level does a 15-year-old have at this stage to manage such [harsh] criticism?  The comfort that I have is that, even if she does not fully understand what I am communicating, the guidance and support that I am providing with help her along the way so that she does not have to deal with everything alone.

She said.

Thalia is a director of Miss Teen and currently working with Kimberlyn Ramos, Miss Teen Carabobo 2022 (Photo credit: Instagram)

Life continues

With all that is happening around her, including in the world of pageantry, Thalia says that life continues.

I will keep my focus on helping young women, doing modelling and perhaps, opening my own clothing store.

And with all of the difficulties of Venezuela, I think I will pursue my professional career here in Venezuela rather than in another country I do not know.

Plus, I want to be near my family and people I know.

She said.