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Emilyn Justine Leiva, a 13-year-old
Palmetto Bay resident, who is as accomplished as she is pretty, recently
added to her amazing list of achievements by winning the title of “Miss
Florida Junior Teen 2004.”
Leiva, who has lived in South Florida with her parents, Diego and Silvia
Leiva, for the past six years, competed in the U.S. Continental Florida
Pageant conducted at Palm Beach Community College’s Eissey Theatre
during the July 4 holiday weekend. Winning there qualifies her to
represent Florida in the national competition for the title of “Miss
U.S. Continental Teen” in July 2005.
“I didn’t think I was going to win,” Emilyn said. “We sent an
application and I went ‘at large’ as they say. I got picked out of all
the applicants from Miami.”
Emilyn’s cousin, Vanessa Moya, an accomplished model and pageant winner
in her own right, was instrumental in introducing Emilyn to the world of
pageants a year earlier.
“She was over at my house and she invited me to a practice of hers,”
Emilyn said. “So I went and she said, ‘maybe you ought to join, talk
to your parents about it.’ We talked, and two weeks before the event, we
signed up. I went there and I won, and I had never done modeling before in
my life.”
That was her first pageant, “Miss USA and Latin Beauties Pre-teen
2003.” Her second pageant was “Miss Cuban-American 2003,” where she
won the title of “Miss Model.” Her mother found information on the
current pageant on the Internet.
“I started looking into it and I realized that Miss America Teen is a
pageant that I believe Diane Sawyer was one of the winners,” Silvia
Leiva said. “It’s a pageant for talent, and her dream is to be a
singer and be discovered. They have wonderful scholarship money and
they’re a very solid organization. So I thought before we go to that,
let’s do a local Florida pageant so we learn, the real way, since the
others are not as major.”
Musical ability runs in Emilyn’s family. Her maternal
great-grandfather’s cousin was Lilly Pons, the famous opera singer who
inspired Beverly Sills. Her grandmother and her grandmother’s sisters,
seven in all, also played the piano and sang.
“I’ve been singing songs since I was 6,” Emilyn said. “The first
song I memorized was from Titanic, which came out when I was 6.”
She joined the Westminster Christian School choir in the fourth grade at
age 9 and began taking voice lessons. A year later, she was recognized
with a “Superior” rating as a soloist by the Florida Voice
Association.
“I sing mostly pop R&B,” Emilyn said. “I like to listen to all
different types of music.”
She has played the piano since the first grade, the same time she started
singing. She presently continues her studies with a concert pianist. She
has studied ballet since age 3.
Emilyn had to raise sponsorship money to cover the entry fee for the
pageant and turned the task into an opportunity to advance her community
service work as well.
“While I was doing that, I also raised $600 for His House Children’s
Home,” Emilyn said, referring to the non-profit organization which
provides a safe temporary home for abused or neglected children. “Me and
my friend Crystal are starting a club at my school, Brothers and Sisters
of Westminster to His House. We’re going to do food drives, clothes
drives and volunteer work there, teaching the kids sports, singing and
dancing, acting and etiquette.”
Emilyn graduated from WCS Middle School with high honors and the
Presidential Gold Academic Award. She is a member of the National Junior
Honor Society and received a Student Council Leadership Award.
She has been doing volunteer work at His House for the past four years.
She was inspired by her experience at her church, Alpha & Omega.
“At my church, once a month I volunteer with the kids during Sunday
school,” Emilyn said. “I take care of the kids. I teach them the
Sunday school lesson, from ages 2 to 5. Two weeks ago I worked with the
little babies, up to 18 months.”
Her parents say they are thrilled with their daughter’s many
accomplishments.
“To us it’s just wonderful,” Silvia Leiva said. “Basically all
we’re doing is supporting her dreams. We’re not pushing her. We let
her make choices along the way, and sometimes when she makes a decision we
encourage her to finish it, to follow through.”
Her mother, an interior designer, stresses that once her daughter has
accomplished something, they allow her to decide whether she wants to
continue with it or not. Her father, a Cuban-born entrepreneur, also is
understandably proud.
“Of course we are very proud of Emilyn,” Diego Leiva said. “I work
with an organization, South Florida Gang Outreach, and I see a lot of kids
in gangs and what they go through, and we encourage our daughter to do
this because we see the alternative, all the kids who have no family life,
no encouragement in doing good things and in getting attention the proper
way.
“So we guide her into employing that massive amount of energy that
teenagers have today into something creative and productive, and also to
help within the community.”
Emilyn’s cousin, Vanessa, is equally pleased.
“I’m very happy for Emilyn,” Vanessa said. “She’s a very
talented person. I’m very lucky to have a cousin like her.”
Emilyn’s parents advise other families to investigate pageants they may
be thinking about entering, because some are better than others. They also
say it’s a learning experience that can be fun. |
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