The international Mrs. Universe beauty pageant that took place in Sofia, Bulgaria, from January 30 to February 5 has a winner - 34-year-old Russian Elena Maksimova. Her victory marks the first time a Russian has won the contest since its inception in 2007.
According to the rules, 120 participants from across the world are selected each year, aged 18-55, regardless of marital status. For Elena, this was the first podium appearance of her life. Let’s learn more about who she is and what she’s achieved thus far.
Elena was born into a multi-child family in Gyya - a village in Russia’s Udmurt Republic with just 10,000 residents. Her father was the director of a local factory. According to Igor, a classmate of hers, Elena used to be quite shy and withdrawn - a sort of dormouse. All the more surprising was her victory to Gyya’s inhabitants. “As far as I know, she never took dancing or vocal classes and did not pursue a modeling career. It’s just that we come from such a small village, that none of that would have been possible,” Igor says.
“She always dressed modestly, her clothes never accentuated her figure… And she never really had an army of fans pursuing her either…” he adds.
Elena met her future husband Ilya while still at school. They’ve been married for eight years and have a son and daughter together.
“Ilya was in a parallel class [school shift],” Igor recalls. “No one really knows how they managed to interact and it was all shrouded in mystery, as, again, she’s quite modest and didn’t like to advertise her private life.”
The ‘Mrs. Universe’ pageant isn’t your run-of-the-mill model competition. The jury selected from finalists after the participants presented themselves as personalities and mothers and revealed how they got to where they are in life: this is where Elena really shines.
She has a total of three higher education degrees (one of which is a Master’s from a UK university). She currently resides in Izhevsk, the capital of Udmirtia, where she opened a chain of language schools and teaches English.
Her interests are likewise varied: Elena loves to be active and travel. She has visited 34 countries and even has a diving certification from Australia. Beauty pageants were just a pleasant side hobby, she admits.
“Nearly every little girl dreams of participating in a beauty contest,” she says. “I’m no little girl anymore. I’m a mother of two wonderful children, a wife and a boss. But that didn’t stop me!”
On the road to becoming Mrs. Universe, Elena had to first qualify by becoming Mrs. Udmurtia and also earned the ‘Second Vice-Mrs. Russia - Universe’ title.
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