Monalysa Maria Alcântara Nascimento (born 24 January 1999) is a Brazilian model and beauty pageant titleholder, who was crowned Miss Brasil 2017, becoming the first representative from

Piauí Piauí ( ) is one of the states of Brazil, located in the country's Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. The state has 1.6% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.7% of the Brazilian GDP. Piauí has the shortest coastline of any coas ...

and the third woman of

Afro-Brazilian Afro-Brazilians (; ), also known as Black Brazilians (), are Brazilians of total or predominantly Sub-Saharan African ancestry. Most multiracial Brazilians also have a range of degree of African ancestry. Brazilians whose African features are mo ...

origin to win the crown. She represented

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

at Miss Universe 2017, where she placed in the Top 10. Since 2023, she has been the State Director for the Miss Piauí state pageant.

Life and career

Alcântara was born in

Teresina Teresina is the capital and most populous municipality in the Brazilian state of Piauí. Being located in north-central Piauí 366 km from the coast, it is the only capital in the Brazilian Northeast that is not located on the shores of th ...

, Piauí. She began modeling at age fourteen, and is a university student studying business administration and fashion.

Pageantry

Alcântara began her pageant career after being crowned Miss Teen Piauí 2016, at age seventeen. She went on to represent Piauí at the Miss Teen Brazil 2016 pageant, where she was a runner-up. The following year, Alcântara was crowned Miss Piauí 2017. She represented Piauí in the Miss Brasil 2017 competition, and was crowned the winner, becoming the first woman from Piauí and third

to win the crown. She represented Brazil at the Miss Universe 2017 in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

where she made the Top 10.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alcântara, Monalysa 1999 births Brazilian beauty pageant winners Brazilian female models Afro-Brazilian female models Living people Miss Brazil winners Miss Universe 2017 contestants People from Teresina