Shanira Blanco

Shanira Blanco Colón (born August 1, 1981) is a Puerto Rican TV Model and TV Presenter and current national director of Miss Mundo de Puerto Rico and Miss Earth Puerto Rico.

Biography

Shanira Mariette Blanco Colón was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico to a Puerto Rican mother, María Colón, and a Dominican father, Ángel Blanco. Shanira is the oldest of three children from that marriage.

Early years

Since she was a young, Shanira showed her discipline, always keeping her leadership and honors in school, which eventually helped her be Captain of her High School Volleyball Team, earned her a position in the "National Honor Society”, and was elected “Student of the Year” by the “Private Schools Puerto Rican Association” in 1999. Even though she always aspired to study in the mainland, up to the degree that she was admitted at Syracuse University in New York with an Honor’s Scholarship, she declined staying in the states, feeling her future was somewhere else.

Beauty Pageants

When she was 19 years old, she started competing in different beauty pageants, which made her travel the world to places like Venezuela, France, Germany, Turkey and the Philippines among others, and won Miss Amber World 2001 and Miss Folklore World 2001.

Miss Puerto Rico Universe 2004

Blanco represented Carolina municipality at Miss Puerto Rico Universe 2004 pageant, where she finished as 2nd Runner-Up to Alba Reyes.^[1]

Miss Earth 2004

Blanco represented Puerto Rico at the Miss Earth 2004. She won the Miss Leonardo award.

Pageant directing

Blanco is the current national director of Miss Mundo de Puerto Rico, Miss Earth Puerto Rico, and Miss Grand International Puerto Rico.

After marriage and becoming pregnant with her first born, Shanira decided to step down from directing these events to dedicate her time to her newborn son.

Television career

After pageants, the doors to the world of television opened up for Shanira, receiving the opportunity from Puerto Rico’s producer Hector Marcano in 2005, to join and co-host with his team, the television show “Que Suerte” which was transmitted through the Univisión Puerto Rico Network. It is there were Shanira grows as a TV personality, obtaining the chance to collaborate in other TV Shows like “El Gordo y la Flaca" and "Objetivo Fama", both directed to the Puerto Rican audience as well as the Hispanic market in the United States. At the same time, this young woman received the “Paoli Award” for “Outstanding New TV Talent of the Year ”, was elected as “The Most Beautiful Face on TV” by the reader’s of Teve Guia Magazine and was hired by the Mirta de Perales beauty company as their Hispanic Market Spokesperson.She has been Mirta de Perales Spokesperson since 2005. After “Que Suerte”, her TV career continued, where she received an offer from Univision PR to host a show called “Flashazo VIP”, one that she accepted and continues doing it nowadays.

Flashazo VIP has been on the air since 2009 and continues to be one of the most successful Late Night Shows in Puerto Rico.

Other Facts

All these opportunities in the Television Industry and after acquiring a bachelor's degree in Marketing and a Master’s Degree in Business, made Shanira established her own modeling and finishing school, named “Actitud” in 2007, in which through their seminars, they teach their students that with the right attitude and plenty of confidence, anything in life can be achieved.

Currently, Shanira's Actitud Modeling Academy is also the Official Miss World Puerto Rico Training School, which has prepared delegates to the Miss World Pageant such as Ivonne Orsini, which placed in the semifinals in 2008 and Amanda Vilanova, which became Miss World Caribbean and 2nd Runner up in London in 2011. Also, Actitud trained Miss World Puerto Rico 2012 Janelee Chaparro , who placed as quarter finalist in Miss World 2012 and eventually represented Puerto Rico in Miss Grand International 2013 where she won the first edition of this event. Janelee is currently Miss Grand International 2013 and lives in Thailand for the duration of her reign.

In 2014 Blanco married longtime boyfriend Augusto Ayala.

See also

• List of television presenters
• Miss Puerto Rico 2004
• Miss Earth 2004

References