The international beauty contest "Mrs. Universe" has been held since 2007. Since then, thousands of married, divorced or widowed women have participated. However, only this year the winner was a resident of Udmurtia (Russia) Elena Maksimova.
One of the contest criteria is not just to have an attractive appearance, but also to be an established personality. Izhevsk woman fully meets all the criteria, because she is a wife, mother of two children and a business woman. Among other things, Elena successfully combines work, family and hobbies.
"EURASDIA KIDS" talked with Elena on various topics and also about whether her life has changed after receiving the title of "Mrs. Universe".
About happiness. “Happiness smells like flowers, warmth… shanezhki! Happiness is world peace, in our current situation, of course, everything is very sad in this regard, but I would like people to treat others the way they would like to be treated. Happiness - when there is someone to come, hug, talk, warm relations between people.
About people’s reaction after the contest. "I was greeted with an armful of flowers and with tears in my eyes."
About the most memorable trips. "I really liked Australia, Mauritius, Costa Rica."
On the participants of the beauty contest. “We had a forum about domestic violence and we listened to the stories of each participant. Some had sad relationships with men, fathers and stepfathers. At the moment when women go to the contest, they understand what they want to get out of it, they want to help those who find themselves in the same situation, because it happens that someone does not know where to go, who to turn to. But many of the members are definitely happy.”
On obligations after the competition. “As such, there were no missions, as well as an agreement where it would be said about some duties. I was only asked to come to the next pageant and hand over my title to the next Mrs. Universe.
About the Mrs. Universe crown. “The crown is adorned with real jewels and will stay with me forever.”
On the attitude towards Russia at the contest. “The attitude towards Russia is quite adequate, there was no discrimination, everyone was friendly. With someone I communicated in English, with others in Russian. Because Bulgarian and Russian are similar to each other, and if something was not clear in English, you could switch to Russian.”
About the wardrobe of girls and women. “Every girl, woman and grandmother should have a favorite dress. For me, this is a sign of a lady, because when you look in the mirror, you feel completely different in a dress.
Wish for women with disabilities. “You just need to believe in yourself and go to victory. If you have a cause, a goal and a desire, you just need to take it and do it no matter what.
About the support of loved ones. “When I went to the beauty contest, no one supported me because of the difficult political situation, neither my husband, nor my mother, nor my father. One day I asked my mother to support me. Mom said: "I support you, go." After that, I was ready to move mountains. And when I told my dad that I became the first Mrs. Universe, he said that he was proud of me.
About realizing your beauty. “We lived in the village and didn’t pay much attention to it. When I went to the contest, I didn’t have the thought that I was beautiful, I just had a dream to participate in such a contest, like any girl, probably. And when I was already there, I realized what a good psychological training it is. Self-improvement training. In Moscow, they told me: “Do you understand how beautiful you are? You are very beautiful!" Nobody had ever told me this before. And then I thought about the fact that maybe I'm really beautiful.
About maintaining beauty. “I support beauty with massages, masks, creams. As for the body, I go to LPG-massage and to the gym. I plan to resume yoga classes.
About changes. “The only thing that has changed is that I received the title, the crown, but inside I am still the same. I also go to work in the slush, I also take a mop and wash the floors. I also devote a lot of time to reporters, television.”
About the husband's reaction to the victory. “He said that to him I was always Mrs. Universe.
About culinary skills. “I cook everything: cabbage soup, borscht, cabbage, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, cutlets. At school we had cooking classes, and if I didn’t know something, I could find it on the Internet.”
About your favorite book. “From the latter, I really like Lyudmila Petranovskaya, she is a child psychologist, and, of course, I read about the psychology of children, about how to educate them. I also really like the book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, very motivating.
About the key person in life. “The key people in my life are my parents, they supported me, brought me up, gave me an education. I am very grateful to them for everything I have. Without them, there would be no me.”