Martha Vasconcellos

Martha Maria Cordeiro Vasconcellos (born June 18, 1948), is a Brazilian beauty queen who became her country's second Miss Universe winner,[1] after Ieda Maria Vargas first achieved the feat in 1963. She also became the fifth Latin American to win the title, after Peru's Gladys Zender in 1957, Colombia's Luz Marina Zuluaga in 1958 and Argentina's Norma Nolan in 1962. Vasconcellos is a native of the state of Bahia.

Martha Vasconcellos
Born
Martha Maria Cordeiro Vasconcellos

(1948-06-18) June 18, 1948
Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
Years active1968–present
TitleMiss Brasil 1968
Miss Universe 1968
Beauty pageant titleholder
Hair colorLight brown
Eye colorGreen
Major
competition(s)		Miss Brasil 1968
(Winner)
Miss Universe 1968
(Winner)

Biography

Vasconcellos allegedly had a boyfriend since she was twelve when she represented Brazil at the 1968 Miss Universe pageant in Miami Beach, Florida. She beat 64 contestants, including Curaçao's Anne Marie Braafheid (the first black woman to become first runner up in Miss Universe history), to win the title.

The morning after her win, she called her family and boyfriend in Brazil, expressing feelings of being homesick. Vasconcellos lived in New York, New York for the next year, as required by the Miss Universe organization, then returned to Brazil in 1969 and married days after.

Vasconcellos today leads a quiet and private life, practically disappearing from the public eye. She has two children from her first wedding to Reinaldo Loureiro: Leonardo and Leilane, and has two grandsons, Felipe and Guilherme. She lived in the Boston, Massachusetts area and worked for a Portuguese-speaking organization as a victims rights counselor. Now retired, she has returned to live in Brazil.

See also

List of Brazilians

References
  1. Birnbaum, Cara (2006). Universal Beauty: The Miss Universe Guide to Beauty. Thomas Nelson Inc. pp. 26–. ISBN 978-1-4016-0229-1.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Sylvia Hitchcock		 Miss Universe
1968		 Succeeded by
Gloria Diaz
Preceded by
Carmen Sílvia De Barros Ramasco		 Miss Universo Brasil
1968		 Succeeded by
Vera Fischer
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