Miss Nevada becomes runner-up Miss Universe

MIAMI — Miss USA Nia Sanchez, a 24-year-old tae kwon do instructor from Las Vegas, was named first runner-up to winner Miss Colombia in the nationally televised Miss Universe pageant on Sunday night.

Sanchez finished second in a field of 88 contestants in the event staged at Florida International University and televised by NBC.

Paulina Vega, a 22-year-old college student from Barranquilla, Colombia, studying business administration, won the title, the second for her country. Luz Marina Zuluaga, in 1958, was the first Miss Colombia to be named Miss Universe.

Second runner-up was Miss Ukraine Diana Harkusha. Miss Jamaica Kaci Fennell and Miss Netherlands Yasmin Verheijen rounded out the top five.

Sanchez, who was crowned Miss Nevada at UNLV on Jan. 12, 2014, and then Miss USA on June 8 in Baton Rouge, La., used her experience as a fourth-degree black belt in the Korean martial art of tae kwon do to speak in the interview session about equipping women with the ability to defend themselves in the case of an attack.

“It’s just something that’s so prevalent in our society, and why not empower women to take control of a dangerous situation into their own hand,” she said.

The 5-foot-8-inch Sanchez, who turns 25 on Feb. 15, said she was looking forward to the interview portion of the competition, an area that often trips up contestants. She spent much of the past week practicing questions with her roommate Miss Australia Tegan Martin.

In July, Sanchez told Review-Journal columnist Doug Elfman about her background as she prepared to host her official Las Vegas homecoming at Sugar Factory at Town Square, with half of the sales going to The Shade Tree, a local shelter for women, children and their pets.

Sanchez, born in Sacramento, Calif., was 6 years old when her parents made a painful choice to separate. Sanchez’s stay-at-home mom didn’t have much, so she took Sanchez and her brother to a women’s shelter.

“They had child day care. So it was a place my brother and I could be watched by somebody safe,” Sanchez said at the time.

Shelter workers helped her mom craft a résumé and find a job.

“We just needed a place to go and get on our own two feet,” Sanchez said.

A few years later, Sanchez’s mom moved to Washington state. Sanchez moved in with her father, a military man, in Menifee, Calif., an hour north of San Diego.

“I had a really good relationship with both of my parents,” Sanchez said. “Every three months, I got to visit my mom in Washington.”

Sanchez always remembered where she came from and gave back.

As a cheerleader in high school, Sanchez and other students organized a gown drive for kids in need.

Sanchez developed interesting tastes over her youth. Her dad insisted she get involved in an extracurricular activity, tae kwon do. She hated it at first but then loved it and worked hard to earn a fourth-degree black belt.

Sanchez said she was unafraid to travel, even while carrying little. At age 17, she visited Kenya. After high school, she flew to Germany to nanny far-flung cousins. While there, she invested her young life in absorbing the world — Europe, Asia, the Middle East.

She got a job as a princess greeter at Hong Kong Disneyland. One day, she was Cinderella, the next, Snow White, Belle or Aurora. She returned to America a world traveler with paycheck tiaras.

Before becoming Miss Nevada — having entered as Miss South Las Vegas — Sanchez had visited 12 countries.

Sanchez’s first beauty pageant was for Miss San Jacinto Valley in California, which she entered when she was 13.

She first competed in the Miss California USA pageant in 2010 and was second runner-up out of 133 contestants. She also competed in and won Miss Riverside County USA in 2011 and Miss Hollywood USA in 2012, both of which resulted in unsuccessful bids to win Miss California titles.

After winning Miss USA, controversy arose regarding her Nevada residency.

After failing to win Miss California USA in 2010, 2011 and 2012, Sanchez reportedly created a paper trail to establish her eligibility to compete in Miss Nevada USA.

Sanchez had worked at Disneyland until November 2013 and had become Miss Nevada USA two months later, although competition rules state that Miss Nevada USA eligibility requires six months residency in the state as evidenced by two documents from “voter ID or registration card, tax return, school records, employment documents, telephone bill, utility bill, bank statement, credit card statement or lease/deed.”

At the time, Sanchez was represented by AC Talent Agency, which has Las Vegas and Los Angeles offices, but is listed as based in Los Angeles. Sanchez said she owned a home in Las Vegas and listed herself as based in Los Angeles as a marketing ploy because of the types of opportunities available in Los Angeles relative to those available in Las Vegas.

Sanchez is engaged to actor Daniel Booko.