Catharina Choi Nunes (born 24 January 1990), also known by her

Korean name Korean names are names that place their origin in, or are used in, Korea. A Korean name in the modern era typically consists of a surname followed by a given name, with no middle names. A number of Korean terms for names exist. For full names, ...

Choi Song-ee (; also

romanised In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...

as Choi Song-yi), is a South Korean-Brazilian model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned both Miss Earth Korea 2013 and Miss Brazil World 2015. She represented Korea at

Miss Earth 2013 Miss Earth 2013 was the 13th edition of the Miss Earth pageant, held at the Versailles Palace in Las Piñas, Metro Manila, Philippines, on December 7, 2013. Tereza Fajksová of the Czech Republic crowned Alyz Henrich of Venezuela as her succ ...

, placing as the third runner-up, and Brazil at

Miss World 2015 Miss World 2015 was the 65th edition of the Miss World pageant, held at the Crown of Beauty Theatre in Sanya, Hainan, China, on 19 December 2015. Rolene Strauss of South Africa crowned Mireia Lalaguna of Spain as her successor at the end o ...

, placing in the top twenty.

Early life

Nunes was born and raised in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, Brazil. Her parents are both from Brazil. Choi's mother is of Korean descent while her father is of Portuguese and Spanish descent. Her parents separated when she was young, and Nunes lived with her mother in Brazil when she was between 8 and 13 years old.

Pageantry

Miss Korea Brazil 2013

Catharina joined the Miss Korea Brazil 2013 pageant where she was declared as first runner-up. However, the winner,

Jung Eun-ju Jung Eun-ju (, born September 30, 1988) is a South Korean short track speed skater Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice skating, ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate o ...

, was dethroned. Multiple rumors surround her purported dethronement, including third-party pressure and bribery, but none have emerged with evidence. Catharina took over the place and became Miss Korea Brazil 2013. Catharina got her chance to compete in the Miss Korea 2013 pageant.

Miss Korea 2013

Catharina joined the Miss Korea 2013 pageant where she was declared as one of the second runners up winners. She was not originally part of the second runners up but the Miss Korea Organization decided to take another place for the 'overseas' candidates. Catharina, being Miss Korea Brazil 2013, filled that position.

Miss Earth 2013

Catharina replaced Kim Hyo-hee to be the Miss Earth Korea 2013 titleholder. She then flew to the Philippines to compete where she was hailed as Miss Earth 2013 - Fire. Catharina becomes the first Korean to get an elemental title and Asian delegate to snatch the Miss Earth - Fire title. As a Miss Earth delegate, an environmental advocacy is a must. Based from Miss Earth's website, Catharina's platform for the environment is the cleanup of

plastic waste Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are cate ...

s in the ocean. She explained that because of these wastes, not only the marine animals are being affected by plastics but also because of its "

microplastics Microplastics are "synthetic solid particles or polymeric matrices, with regular or irregular shape and with size ranging from 1 μm to 5 mm, of either primary or secondary manufacturing origin, which are insoluble in water." Microplastics a ...

that are blocking the sun from reaching the planktons and algae, hurting the whole

marine food web A marine food web is a food web of marine life. At the base of the ocean food web are single-celled algae and other plant-like organisms known as phytoplankton. The second trophic level ( primary consumers) is occupied by zooplankton which fe ...

." During the entire preliminary activities of Miss Earth, Catharina was able to get a silver medal for the "I Love My Planet Schools Campaign". During the coronation night of Miss Earth 2013, Catharina emerged as the Miss Earth - Fire or equivalent to third runner up. Miss Earth 2013 was won by

Alyz Henrich Alyz Sabimar Henrich Ocando (born October 19, 1991) is a Venezuelan model, environmentalist, humanitarian advocate and beauty queen. She represented Falcón state at Miss Venezuela 2012 pageant where she was crowned Miss Venezuela Earth. On De ...

of Venezuela.

Miss World Brazil 2015

Catharina joined the Miss World Brazil pageant in 2015. She was proclaimed as the first runner up. However, the original winner was revealed to be married to a Belgian national. Catharina took over the place and became the new Miss World Brazil 2015.

Miss World 2015

She represented Brazil at the

pageant. At the Miss World, she placed in Top 20 and won the Queen of America's title.

Personal life

She holds a black belt in

Taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

and was elected a Goodwill Ambassador by the

World Taekwondo Federation World Taekwondo, formerly the World Taekwondo Federation, is an international federation governing the sport of Taekwondo and Para Taekwondo. WT is a member of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF). The World Taek ...

in 2015, as well as performing a

Poomsae The Korean terms hyeong, pumse, poomsae and teul (meaning "form" or "pattern") are all used to refer to martial arts forms that are typically used in Korean martial arts such as Taekwondo and Tang Soo Do. * Hyeong (형) is often romanized as '' ...

demonstration at the

2016 Rio Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

.MasTKD.com: Miss Mundo Brasil es la nueva embajadora de la WTF
/ref>

References

External links

Miss Earth Korea 2013 Eco-Beauty Video

Catharina at Miss Earth official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Choi Nunes, Catharina 1990 births Brazilian female models Brazilian female taekwondo practitioners Living people Miss Earth 2013 contestants Miss Korea delegates Miss World 2015 delegates Models from Seoul South Korean female models South Korean female taekwondo practitioners South Korean people of Brazilian descent Models from São Paulo Brazilian people of Spanish descent Brazilian people of Portuguese descent Brazilian people of South Korean descent 21st-century South Korean sportswomen 21st-century Brazilian sportswomen