Por ESENDOM
21 de noviembre de 2025
Lea en español: Tres dominicanas en Miss Universo 2025: Jennifer Ventura, Yamilex Hernández y Bereniece Dickenson
Fátima Bosch in Bangkok, in a finale marked by internal controversies, judge resignations, and a contestant walkout in solidarity with the winner.
The pageant carried a rare Dominican imprint: three contestants with Dominican roots competed in Thailand under different sashes.
Jennifer Ventura (Dominican Republic)—a civil engineer from Barahona—advanced to the Top 30 and showcased a national costume inspired by the Bayahíbe Rose.
Yamilex Hernández (Miss Universe Latina)—a Dominican from La Vega living in New Jersey—made history as the first official representative of U.S. Latinos at Miss Universe and also reached the Top 30.
Bereniece Dickenson (Turks & Caicos) added a third Dominican accent: Dominican media report she was born in the DR and raised in Puerto Plata, though international bios don’t always specify her birthplace.
Three Dominicans Put Quisqueya at Center Stage
The 74th Miss Universe, held November 21 in Pak Kret, Thailand, will be remembered for turbulence around the pageant and the jury. Fátima Bosch, 25, emerged as a crowd favorite after a viral incident in which a Thai executive publicly reprimanded her over promotional disagreements and ordered security to remove her, prompting several contestants to stand and leave in support. The uproar shifted the narrative from pure glamour to a broader debate about respect and power inside the industry.
Days before the final, controversy grew when judges—including musician Omar Harfouch, who alleged a parallel committee had pre-selected finalists, and former footballer Claude Makélélé—resigned. The organization denied irregularities and said the process followed official protocols, but the noise lingered through coronation night.
For the Dominican Republic—especially its U.S. community—the brighter storyline was elsewhere: three women with Dominican roots shared the universal stage under different banners, and two reached the Top 30.
Jennifer Ventura: From Barahona to the Global Stage
The country’s official sash went to Jennifer Ventura, Miss República Dominicana Universo 2025. Her profile breaks the mold: a civil engineer with dual studies (Santo Domingo/Miami), a graduate program in business management, and an impact platform focused on opening pathways for women in technical fields like construction.
Her national title was a symbolic win for Barahona, a province that hadn’t held the crown in decades—a reminder that talent isn’t confined to one geography. In Thailand, Jennifer advanced to the Top 30 among 120+ candidates. Her most celebrated visual moment was a national costume inspired by the Bayahíbe Rose, the Dominican national flower—favoring modern, artisanal aesthetics over predictable folklore and turning a natural emblem into a refined image of country: delicate, resilient, unique.
Yamilex Hernández: The Diaspora Competes Under Its Own Name
If Jennifer represented the nation, Yamilex Hernández represented a continental community: U.S. Latinos. For the first time, Miss Universe accepted a regional delegate chosen through Telemundo’s “Miss Universe Latina.” The winner was Dominican. Yamilex, 29, born in La Vega and based in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, is a communications graduate, actress, model, and community advocate. Her Top-30 berth was historic—not only as a debuting delegate, but as a symbol for the 68 million Latinos in the U.S. whose stories she carries forward.
In interviews, Yamilex has stressed a mission beyond the crown: spotlight migrant stories, speak openly about mental health, and affirm that Latinidad isn’t a single label, but a universe of roots. That message mirrors the Dominican experience in the United States—families who arrived through sacrifice, built homes and businesses, and now claim cultural visibility without asking permission.
Bereniece Dickenson: A Different Flag, the Same Origin
The third Dominican presence came from another corner of the Caribbean. Bereniece Dickenson competed as Miss Turks & Caicos. Dominican outlets report she was born in the Dominican Republic, daughter of a Dominican mother and Turks & Caicos father, and spent her childhood and adolescence in Puerto Plata before moving to Turks & Caicos. International bios don’t always specify her birthplace, but those Dominican roots are widely noted. At 23, Dickenson studied Architecture and Construction Technologies, speaks multiple languages, and leads the social project “The Butterfly Effect,” focused on youth mentorship and women’s empowerment.
What It Means for Dominicans in the U.S.
That two Dominicans reached the Top 30 (Ventura and Yamilex) and a third queen with Dominican roots shared the stage (Dickenson) reads like a direct reflection of migration realities. In the United States, Dominican identity shows up by birth, upbringing, or heritage. Miss Universe 2025 showed it live: the nation also competes from its migrant communities and its extended Caribbean.
In a pageant marked by internal tensions, the clear headline for Dominicans was this: while other structures wobbled, the Dominican presence held steady—with preparation, thoughtfully chosen cultural symbols, and purpose-driven platforms. For the island and its people abroad, that’s a victory not tied to a single crown, but to a collective certainty: Quisqueya keeps walking the world with strength—even when it does so under several flags at once.
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