Tina Marie Machado, formerly Placourakis, (born 1960) is an American actress, businesswoman, former model, athlete and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned

Miss Hawaii USA The Miss Hawaii USA competition, previously known as Miss Hawaii Universe, is a beauty pageant that selects the representative for the state of Hawaii in the Miss USA pageant. Issha Rose Mata of Hilo was crowned Miss Hawaii USA 2025 on March 2 ...

1985.

Hawaii

Tina Marie Machado was born in

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 ...

in 1960, one of four children of Marie and Harold Machado, a military family. Harold served multiple tours in

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

and

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, earning a

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the president to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

, and

Silver Star The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against a ...

. Marie moved where the Army told them, and often raised the family alone. Tina Machado graduated from Waipahu High School, then earned a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

International business International business refers to the trade of goods and service goods, services, technology, capital and/or knowledge across national borders and at a global or transnational scale. It includes all commercial activities that promote the transfer o ...

from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

in 1980. She worked as a model, and had multiple minor acting roles in the television series '' Hawaiian Heat'', ''

Magnum, P.I. ''Magnum, P.I.'' is an American crime drama television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator (P.I.) living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from December 11, 1980, to May 1, 1988, during its first-run broadcast on ...

'', and the film '' Aloha Summer'' (1988). Machado was crowned

in February 1985. She lost the title less than a week later, when pageant officials said that at 25 she was too old, and was directed to step down in favor of Toni Leimomi Costa, 18, her runner-up. Machado had already given up her job at the Honolulu Board of Realtors because of needing to devote time for the contest. Machado sued for $5 million for breach of contract, and was restored to the title in April. She competed in the Miss USA 1985 pageant in

Lakeland, Florida Lakeland is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. Located along Interstate 4, I-4 east of Tampa and southwest of Orlando, Florida, Orlando, it is the List of municipalities in Florida, most populous city in Polk County. As of the 2020 ...

, in May as Miss Hawaii USA and was a semi-finalist in the nationally televised pageant (won by Laura Martinez Harring of

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

). Toni Costa competed again the following year and won Miss Hawaii USA 1986. In 1987, Machado married Hawaii restaurateur Aaron Placourakis, taking his last name. His brother, Yanni Placourakis, also a restaurateur, subsequently married Pamela Kimura,

Miss Hawaii The Miss Hawaii competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the State of Hawaii in the Miss America pageant, and the name of the title held by that winner. Hawaii first competed at Miss America in 1948 and has twice won the M ...

1992. Tina and Aaron Placourakis had three children together, and regularly appeared in Hawaii society columns. Their son Jesse won three gold medals in national

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

competition at age 7, and a title at the All-Japan Junior Championships at the age of 8, in 1999. Tina Placourakis followed her son to karate lessons, earning a black belt, and also winning multiple medals in national karate.

Arizona

In 2000, Tina Placourakis left Hawaii to live in

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

with former major league baseball player Charles "Chili" Davis, taking the three children, and getting an amicable divorce. In 2002, Placourakis and Davis bought a house in North

Scottsdale, Arizona Scottsdale is a city in eastern Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and is part of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Named Scottsdale in 1894 after its founder Winfield Scott (chaplain), Winfield Scott, a retired Chaplain Corps (United States ...

, that she would later remodel and have featured in '' Phoenix Home & Garden'' magazine. In 2003, Tina Placourakis filed civil suit against Davis, for assault, battery, and money spent on the house. She testified about physical and mental abuse, and played a tape recorded phone conversation of him saying "Tina, you deserved to get hit". The jury awarded her $350,000 in damages. In 2006, Placourakis appeared as "The Divorced Mom", on the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

program ''

Tuesday Night Book Club ''Tuesday Night Book Club'' is a candid reality show that began airing June 13, 2006 on CBS, which delved into the lives of a group of upper-class women in the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale. It was meant to play as a reality-based version of '' ...

'', where she was described as a former beauty queen and karate champion, the oldest of seven

women who gathered to discuss their lives and relationships. The show was pulled after two episodes out of its scheduled eight due to poor ratings. In 2007, Tina Marie Placourakis was working for the

Sherman Oaks Sherman Oaks (founded in 1927) is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles, California within the San Fernando Valley region. The neighborhood includes a portion of the Santa Monica Mountains, which gives Sherman Oaks a lower population densit ...

, California-based Diversified Lending Group, when it bought

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

-based

private label A private label, also called a private brand or private-label brand, is a brand owned by a company, offered by that company alongside and competing with brands from other businesses. A private-label brand is almost always offered exclusively by th ...

water bottling company, Sun West Bottlers, LLC, as a subsidiary, and appointed her

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

and

chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

. She oversaw an expansion of the company, buying a local competitor, and had plans to expand even further, out of state. In 2009, the

Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...

charged Diversified Lending Group, and its head, Bruce Fred Friedman, with operating a $216 million

Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays Profit (accounting), profits to earlier investors with Funding, funds from more recent investors. Named after Italians, Italian confidence artist Charles Ponzi, this type of s ...

. Placourakis was named as a relief defendant (not accused of wrongdoing), and asked to return $275,000 Friedman had given her. Placourakis said Sun West would not be affected. In 2010, Sun West Bottlers was acquired by NutriPure Beverages, Inc. After Sun West, Tina Machado (returning to her maiden name), worked with Gerald Schwalbach of Spensa Development Group. They co-founded Rarity Investments in 2012, which funds new and emerging technology companies. Then, in 2013, they launched CodeRed-I, a

mobile application development Mobile app development is the act or process by which a mobile app is developed for one or more mobile devices, which can include personal digital assistants (PDA), enterprise digital assistants (EDA), or mobile phones. Such software applicatio ...

studio, with Machado as

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

. Her latest project is Bridge the Gap Strategy, a business consulting company. In 2015, Machado was listed among the most influential women in Arizona business by '' Arizona Business Magazine''.

Family

Machado's son, Jesse Placourakis, works with her at Rarity and CodeRed-I. Daughter Lexi Placourakis is a noted

plus-size model A plus-size model is an individual size 12 and above who is engaged primarily in Model (person), modeling plus-size clothing. Plus-size clothing worn by plus-size models is typically catering for and marketed to either big, tall or overweight men ...

, and has a son with

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

football player Tyron Smith.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Machado, Tina Living people 1960 births Miss USA 1980s delegates American chief operating officers https://www.jetsetmag.com/lifestyle/technology/ushering-new-era-app-development-codered-i-ceo-tina-machado/