Desiree Lowry Rodríguez (born June 25, 1972 in

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

) is a Puerto Rican beauty pageant titleholder, fashion model, tv host, event coordinator, model agency owner and former pageant director for Miss Universe Puerto Rico.

Early life

Lowry was born on June 25, 1972, in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...

to a Puerto Rican mother and an Irish American father from

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. She was raised in Corozal. She speaks Spanish and English. She learned English from her father who refused to speak to her unless she spoke to him in English.

Pageant participation

Miss Puerto Rico 1995

On August 6, 1994, at

Teatro Yagüez The Teatro Yagüez in Puerto Rico is a historic building that today is a performing arts theater. It is located at Calle de la Candelaria (Mayagüez), Candelaria Street, (formerly ''Calle McKinley'') and Dr. Basora Streets, in the city of Mayagü ...

, in

Mayagüez, Puerto Rico Mayagüez (, ) is the ninth-largest Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in Puerto Rico. It was founded as Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria de Mayagüez (Township of Virgin of Candelaria, Our Lady of Candelaria), and is also ...

, Desiree Lowry won the title of Miss Puerto Rico 1995, gaining the right to represent

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

Miss Universe 1995 Miss Universe 1995 was the 44th Miss Universe pageant, held on 12 May 1995 at the Windhoek Country Club Resort in Windhoek, Namibia. Chelsi Smith of the United States was crowned by Sushmita Sen of India at the end of the event. Eighty-two co ...

. She was crowned by Miss Puerto Rico 1979 Teresa López and Miss Puerto Rico 1984 Sandra Beauchamp.

Miss Universe 1995

Desiree traveled to

Windhoek, Namibia Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek, which ...

to compete in

where she placed in the Top 6 (5th overall). The eventual winner was

Chelsi Smith Chelsi Mariam Pearl Smith (August 23, 1973 – September 8, 2018) was an American actress, singer, TV host and beauty queen who was crowned Miss USA 1995 and Miss Universe 1995. Smith was the third Miss USA of African-American origin, after Ca ...

of the United States. Preliminary competition scores: *Swimsuit - 8.88 *Evening Gown - 9.58 *Interview - 9.333 Final Scores *Interview - 9.65 *Swimsuit - 9.56 *Gown - 9.66

Miss Universe Puerto Rico franchise

In 2009, Lowry, along with

Luisito Vigoreaux Luis Vigoreaux Lorenzana Jr. (born July 1, 1951) is a Puerto Rican actor and producer. He is the son of Luis Vigoreaux, a Puerto Rican media personality and Rosaura Lorenzana Vilches. He is the brother of Roberto Vigoreaux, former senator, tel ...

, obtained the rights to the Miss Universe Puerto Rico franchise. Desiree's role as pageant director left her in charge with training and preparation of the island's delegate to the

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international major beauty pageant that is run by a Thailand and Mexican-based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stree ...

pageant. Her most successful delegate was

Mayra Matos Mayra Matos Pérez (born August 28, 1988 in San Juan) is a Puerto Rican actress, writer, fashion model and beauty pageant titleholder who held the title of Miss Teen International 2006 and Miss Puerto Rico Universe 2009. Miss Puerto Rico Univ ...

who finished as 4th Runner-Up in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. Other successful delegates were

Mariana Vicente Mariana Paola Vicente Morales (born January 8, 1989) is a Puerto Rican actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Universe Puerto Rico 2010 and placed in the Top 10 at the 2010 Miss Universe pageant held in Las Vegas, N ...

who finished in the Top 10 in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and

Viviana Ortiz Viviana Ortiz Pastrana (born September 12, 1986) is a Puerto Rican actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Universe Puerto Rico 2011 on November 4, 2010 and represented Puerto Rico at Miss Universe 2011 where she plac ...

and

Monic Pérez Monic Marie Pérez Díaz (born February 1, 1990) is a Puerto Rican tv host, model and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss Universe Puerto Rico 2013 and represented Puerto Rico at Miss Universe 2013 in Moscow and placed Top 16. Early lif ...

who both finished in the Top 16 in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

respectively.

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

delegate Gabriela Berrios was also awarded Miss Photogenic Universe but did not place in the semifinals. On February 5, 2018, it was announced that WME/IMG had stripped Vigoreaux and Lowry of the franchise rights and awarded rights to

WAPA-TV WAPA-TV (channel 4) is a Spanish-language independent television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is the flagship and namesake station of Guaynabo-based WAPA Media Group. WAPA-TV maintains studio facilities on Luis Vigoreaux Avenue ...

TV Host

*1995: ''Tu Melodía'' - Telemundo PR *1997: ''A Fuego'' - Teleonce *2004: ''De Magazín'' - WAPA TV *2008: ''No Te Duermas'' - Telemundo PR *2009: ''Anda Pal' Cara - Univisión Puerto Rico *2009: ''Buscando La Más Bella'' - Telemundo PR *2010: ''De Magazín, Fin De Semana'' - Telemundo PR

References

External links

Desiree Lowry.ComDesiree Lowry at IMDB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowry, Desiree 1972 births Living people Miss Puerto Rico winners Miss Universe 1995 contestants Models from San Juan, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican people of Irish descent