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Andrea Meza

Before winning Miss Universe 2020, this beauty queen was raising her voice against gender-based violence


SEPTEMBER 15, 2021 11:39 AM EDT

Mexican model and Miss Universe 2020, Andrea Meza, uses her platform to fight sexual harassment in her home state, Chihuahua, Mexico. For Meza, raising her voice and rejecting gender-based violence against women has become a fight she is unwilling to lose.

“Reject the street harassment is also healthy distance,” she said. “In Chihuahua, specifically in the center of the city, is where this type of event occurs most in which women are harassed, kidnapped, and we never see them again until you find them in a garbage dump, in a cotton field. They are women who are used for human trafficking,” she shared.

© Andrea Meza

Meza also uses beauty pageants to empowers. “We can find competitiveness anywhere; I have experienced something totally different from what is thought of them; for me, it has been an empowering platform; they help you to develop, to obtain new skills, to know who you are, and see how far you can go,” she told Milenio.

Andrea is not only a pretty face with a killer body. “I am a software engineer, and I entered this world of competitions four years ago; I am also a professional model because it was a dream I had since I was little,” she told the publication at the time.

© GettyImages

The model is also working on her activewear brand. According to Miss Universe, she will be launching her brand soon, and although there‘s not a lot of details regarding the designs or fabrics, she said it is a company “100% Mexican.”