Dania Patricia Prince Méndez (born February 10, 1980) is a Honduran model and beauty queen who has held the title of Miss Earth 2003.

Biography

Early life

Dania was born in Choluteca, Choluteca, Honduras. She is the third child of Andres Prince, a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

merchant, and Luisa Méndez, a housewife. She obtained her bachelor's degree, majoring in international

commerce Commerce is the organized Complex system, system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions that directly or indirectly contribute to the smooth, unhindered large-scale exchange (distribution through Financial transaction, transactiona ...

Married life

On October 4, 2008, at the age of 28, Dania married fellow Honduran, Frank Fuentes, in a Christian ceremony at Christ Almighty church in North Miami Beach,

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

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Career

After winning Miss Earth in 2003, Prince became a model.

Pageantry

Prior to Miss Earth

In 1998, Prince, who is 1.85 m tall, won the Miss Honduras pageant and went to compete as her country's representative in the

Miss Universe 1998 Miss Universe 1998 was the 47th Miss Universe pageant, was held on 12 May 1998 at the Stan Sheriff Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii. Wendy Fitzwilliam of Trinidad and Tobago was crowned by Brook Lee of the United States at the end of the event. Th ...

pageant, which was won by Wendy Fitzwilliam of

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

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Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

on May 12, 1998.Manila Standard: The Future is Ours
/ref> In the 1998 Top Model of the World contest, she became a finalist and a recipient of the Best in National Costume award. She competed and won the Pacific International Queen 1998. She then went on to win Miss América Latina 2000 in November 1999 as well.

Miss Earth 2003

In 2003, she was chosen to represent Honduras in the third edition of the international Miss Earth pageant. At the conclusion of the competition, she was crowned as Miss Earth, the third winner in the history of the competition; her triumph in Miss Earth 2003 made her as the first-ever Honduran to win a major international beauty title. After winning the Miss Earth pageant in 2003, she recounts, “In kindergarten, my classmates chose me to become the muse of our class. But it never crossed my mind that from a class muse, I’d become Miss Earth. Nothing really is impossible in this world. To actually live a dream, you have to do something about it. Have faith in yourself first. Everything else will follow!” As Miss Earth, she became an environmental ambassador in the Philippines, she addressed

environmental issues Environmental issues are disruptions in the usual function of ecosystems. Further, these issues can be caused by humans (human impact on the environment) or they can be natural. These issues are considered serious when the ecosystem cannot recov ...

and spearheaded activities such as the “Caravan for Mother Earth with Miss Earth” in lined with the

advocacy Advocacy is an Action (philosophy), activity by an individual or advocacy group, group that aims to influence decision making, decisions within political, economic, and social institutions. Advocacy includes activities and publications to infl ...

program by the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Philippines for North Luzon (OPNL) entitled “Go North: The Ocean and Jungle Escapade.” When asked by the media how she would differentiate Miss Universe from Miss Earth pageant, she stated, “Beauty, body, and brains of the candidates are given a lot of emphasis in Miss Universe and it is more commercialized. On the other hand, Miss Earth is cause-oriented. If you can still recall, a lot of beautiful and popular candidates from countries that usually win in international pageants surprisingly didn’t make it in the semifinal round of Miss Earth last year. The judges, most likely, were looking for the ‘sincerity factor’ rather than the ‘X-factor’ in a candidate, which perhaps they saw in me.”

References

External links

Official Miss Earth web siteMiss Earth Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prince, Dania 1980 births Honduran beauty pageant winners Honduran models Honduran people of British descent Living people Miss Earth winners Miss Universe 1998 contestants People from Choluteca Department Miss Earth 2003 contestants