Daena Soares, a 22-year-old University of the West Indies graduate, was crowned Miss Universe Jamaica 2021.
Soares was chosen by the pageant judges from a field of nine other contestants for the 70th staging of the event on October 31, 2021, at the Riu Montego Bay Hotel in St. James.
Miss HTG Engineering Consultants Limited Trishanie Weller was named first runner-up, and Miss Donna’s Caribbean Restaurant Lauren Less was selected, second runner-up.
Miss Universe Jamaica 2020 Miqueal-Symone Williams crowned the 22-year-old, who wore the Miss Icon Megastore sash and held the Miss Universe Jamaica Central title.
Soares is from Jamaica’s Breadbasket Parish, St Elizabeth, and recently graduated from The University of the West Indies with a bachelor of basic medical sciences. She won two sectional awards, including Most Photogenic and the Congeniality Award, which she shared with Weller.
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Daena Soares, a medical aesthetician, told reporters after her win that she has been watching pageants for a long time. She didn’t expect to cry, she didn’t expect to be astonished, but she found herself overcome each time it was stated, top five, top three, she was just so overwhelmed.
Soares, a former student of Hampton Girls School in South Elizabeth, entered the pageant on the recommendation of her father.
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Soares stated that she is passionate about women’s issues and intends to concentrate her energies in that direction during her reign.
Soares, who comes from a large family that includes three older sisters and two younger brothers, describes herself as a “bookworm.” While in high school, she was also an excellent swimmer.
Swimming is one of her favorite pastimes, and she learned to swim in a very natural way: in a nearby river, the Rastafarian guide simply told her father to throw her on the bottom.