Osmel Sousa can look at the world’s most beautiful woman and see a flaw in her nose.
With that kind of perfectionism, he has become the mastermind behind six Miss Universe winners — including the last two. His intensive training on how to walk, talk and smile, not to mention his eye for the right nip-tuck, are the keys to his success.
After making his country the first to win two in a row, Sousa is aiming for a Miss Universe three-peat next year with the new Miss Venezuela.
PHOTO: AFP
Miss Venezuela is consistently the country’s most watched television event and as the contestants take the stage, Sousa will be in the background — as he has been since 1981, when he took over as president of the Miss Venezuela Organization.
As Sousa tells it, the rigorous training he demands is what has given Venezuelan beauty queens the edge. During daily sessions lasting 10 hours or more, he and his team of specialists instruct the women on public speaking, posture, makeup and other details.
He runs a tight ship at the Miss Venezuela training school, overseeing catwalk sessions and gym classes where the women lift weights and ride stationary bikes. Contestants are weighed daily and Sousa closely checks to make sure they aren’t exceeding his strict limits.
He was born in Cuba, but his parents sent him at age 13 to live with relatives in Venezuela, which has been his home ever since. He talks little about the circumstances of his departure, but says his parents have been distant since childhood.
One of his first students, Maritza Sayalero, won Miss Universe in 1979. Sousa suggested plastic surgery to correct an “ugly nose.”
Sousa knows a star when he sees one and he believed current Miss Universe Stefania Fernandez had what it took to go all the way, like Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza the year before. Still, he was surprised when Fernandez won Miss Universe in the Bahamas last month because no other country had ever managed to capture the crown two years in a row.
“That girl’s triumph was a dream come true,” Sousa said. “I’ve always wanted to see a Venezuelan turning over the scepter of universal beauty to another Venezuelan.”
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