The time had finally arrived: the night of the Miss Universe Pageant. I was excited that my friends and family would get to see my swimwear on TV. At least they could see one good slice of this experience. I was impatient to find out which remarkable woman would win the crown. But more than anything, I was thrilled that in twenty-four hours I could get out of Las Vegas!
I had spent the night at Mariana and Lina’s hotel because I didn’t want to step foot in the haunted halls of my own lodging. A few other friends came into town that day to watch the pageant and enjoy the festivities. That morning I went to my messy room, showered, packed, and got ready alone. I needed to center myself. I was supposed to be happy, but I just felt waves of disillusionment.
Sherri Hill, the fashion designer who designed all the Miss Universe Pageant dresses, had given me a beautiful gown to wear. One day, while I fitted the contestants, I spotted a beautiful, long, one-sleeved black beaded gown on a rack. The fabric from the knee down was black and sheer, and the rest was an elastic, fitted fabric. It exuded class and elegance. And it was love at first sight. I pointed it out to Erika and said, “Oh my god! I want to try this on.”
Sherri heard me and said, “I would love for you to wear it the night of the pageant.” I was relieved because this meant I wouldn’t have to fuss over an outfit for my big night.
That night, we made our way toward the red carpet. I was taken aback by the number of cameras—there must have been more than a hundred of them snapping and flashing away. Several celebrities were there, including Niki Taylor, Chazz Palminteri, Bret Michaels, Natalie Morales, John Legend, and others who I either missed or didn’t recognize.
Erika and I entered a room where about forty VIP guests and celebrities mingled. The room was filled with alcohol, an assortment of finger foods, and many gift bags that contained T-shirts, CHI hair products, and other items. Why weren’t we asked to gift swimwear? The organization had asked us to manufacture 400 bikinis, of which only 166 were used. That left us with 234 bikinis that we could easily have contributed to the gift bags instead of giving them away to the organization’s staff.
We headed to the bar for a drink. A few minutes later, Donald Trump walked in with a big entourage of people, and the sea parted. He courteously shook our hands as one of Stefanía’s bodyguards introduced Erika and me as the official swimwear sponsors. Erika wanted to take a picture of me with Trump on her phone. It took her a second to get her phone to work, so she apologized for the delay. Trump said, “No worries, I am just fine standing next to this young lady.”
As Trump left, he turned to his friend and said, “That is our swimwear sponsor. She paid two million dollars to be here.” They both chuckled. And Trump shot me a smile as he walked to the judging room.
I turned to Erika and asked, “Did he just make fun of how much we paid to become a sponsor?” Maybe the thousands we paid wasn’t much money to the organization or Donald Trump, but it was to us.
We were told that inside the judging room, Trump and the other judges picked their top choices. They chose from the fifteen contestants who had won the preliminary competition. Just a few days before, the Miss Universe staff had asked Erika and me to recommend judges for the night of the pageant. We were confused as to why they didn’t have all the judges lined up just days before the event, but I asked Joanna Coles of Marie Claire anyway. Unfortunately, she wasn’t available, and when Erika asked her father, Carlos Gutierrez, the former U.S. secretary of commerce, he regretfully declined.
I think the criteria for being a judge had to do with how rich, famous, or powerful you were. The telecast judges were Chazz Palminteri, Chynna Phillips, Criss Angel, Evan Lysacek, Jane Seymour, Niki Taylor, Sheila E., Tamron Hall, and William Baldwin. The preliminary competition judges were Basim Shami, B. J. Coleman, Carlos Bremer, Corinne Nicolas, Louis Burgdorf, Natalie Rotman, and Sadoux Kim. I haven’t watched a Miss Universe Pageant since this one, but hearing the panels of judges they’ve had in recent years always makes me chuckle. For example: Scott Disick, the famous Kardashians reality star, judged the pageant in 2012. It was difficult for me to see the connection between the judges and the mission of the organization.
We were soon escorted from the VIP room to the massive, contemporary space where the pageant would take place. The venue usually functioned as a sports and entertainment space at the Mandalay Bay, and it could hold about twelve thousand people. It was quite empty at that point in the evening. The people who were there were dressed in anything from formal evening attire to shorts and sneakers. I felt pretty overdressed as the sparkles on my gown shined under the spotlights. In the distance I could see family members of the contestants proudly holding up their countries’ flags in the air. Before we took our seats, someone on the Miss Universe staff said that I had to walk the red carpet since I was a sponsor.
I walked through the wooden doors of the arena onto the red carpet. I could barely open my eyes as the flashing lights came from every direction. I spotted Mr. Trump in front of me and felt sick to my stomach. I realized that I was furious about the comment he had made earlier. I suppose I probably would’ve thought it just as funny as he did if we’d had a pleasant experience with the organization. Instead, it was like salt in an open wound.
Someone with an earpiece told me to start walking. I turned around and gave Erika a “fuck-my-life” look then slowly made my way toward the red carpet. Somehow all the photographers knew my name. They kept screaming, “Tala! Look here!” “Tala! This way!” I had never been on a red carpet this extravagant before. It was overwhelming.
Interviewers brought their microphones close to my face and fired question after question—“Tell me about your story” and “Talk about the synergy between your line and Miss Universe” and “What has your experience been like with the contestants?”
I kept very calm, polite, and composed. I was politically correct and told them what they wanted to hear. Telemundo and other Spanish networks were more interested in discussing Dar Be Dar’s manufacturing process, since the swimwear was made in Colombia. Some interviewers tried to get political. I ignored them.
As I was ushered along the red carpet, I answered as many questions as I possibly could and posed for a million photos. I wish I could have enjoyed it, but the only thing going through my head during those few minutes was Mr. Trump. I could still see him up ahead of me, looking like a natural on the red carpet. He wore a black suit and flashed his signature toothy smile. The media was going berserk at the sight of him and Stefanía Fernández walking side by side.
I wondered if Trump knew how we had been treated. I was dying to go up to him and express what I was feeling. I wanted to know what he thought, if he knew what had happened to us. I ultimately decided that the king of real estate wouldn’t care. As the flashbulbs continued to go off around my face, I was told to go back to my seat.
As I headed to our designated VIP seats, I spotted Miss USA titleholder Rima Fakih’s family sitting in the first row. Their enthusiasm was awesome. They didn’t stop screaming her name throughout the entire competition. When she didn’t make it to the top fifteen, they left their seats in tears. It was heartbreaking to see Rima’s mother so sad. All that they had worked for was over in the blink of an eye. I wished Maman was next to me then.
The pageant was pretty uneventful, and I couldn’t wait for it to be over. It was like watching paint dry. I’m sure it was more fun to watch on TV, but it was painfully long in person. There was a lot of waiting around, and throughout the competition, a host mentioned my story frequently during commercial breaks. Every time he mentioned my name, he asked me to stand up. But I didn’t want to. I wanted to hide under the chair. Finally, he got frustrated and asked for someone to point me out in the crowd. Erika screamed, “She’s here!” I raised my hand, and the crowd broke into applause.
“This is the moment we have all been waiting for,” he said into the microphone, “the swimsuit competition.” I gave a little wave—and no, not a pageant wave—and he continued on with the show. I have to admit that it was pretty cool to hear Natalie Morales and Bret Michaels announce my sponsorship to the crowd before the ten-second NBC segment showcasing my swimwear was projected on the big screen. I finally had a chance to see how the cheesy video had turned out. Oh God! In our humble opinion, it was so bad. Erika and I could only laugh. I would’ve felt better about it if Pauly D or Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino had starred in the video as well.
Moments before the judges picked the top five, I decided to wish the contestants luck and bid them farewell, since I probably wouldn’t see them again. I went backstage and found the women standing strong with big smiles on their faces, even though most of them had just lost on international television. They were still so full of grace. It was beautiful to witness, and for a moment I felt like I was standing next to the pageant girls I’d once admired so much on TV.
I waited backstage with the girls until the top five contestants were announced, then hurried back to my seat for the question-and-answer segment. Despite all the glitz and glamour of the show, I found this to be the most fascinating portion. I empathized with the women. I couldn’t imagine how difficult it must be to answer a random question flawlessly in front of billions of viewers. Most of the women did amazingly well, and I enjoyed the questions they were asked.
Judge William Baldwin: What is one big mistake that you have made in your life, and what did you do to make it right?
I wish I had been asked that question onstage. I had the perfect answer: “Good evening, world. Sponsoring the Miss Universe Pageant was one of the biggest mistakes of my life, and there is nothing I can do to make it right. Thank you, Las Vegas!”
Then it was Miss Australia titleholder Jesinta Campbell’s turn. She walked up to the podium in a dramatic, long golden gown.
Judge Niki Taylor: Mine is a tough one… Legislation banning certain kinds of religious clothing has caused controversy around the world. What role should the government play in determining such a personal preference?
Jesinta: One of the greatest things we have is the freedom of choice. And tonight, we wore our swimsuits, which were designed by Tala, who says that “Fashion is Freedom.” I don’t think the government should have any say in what we wear because we can all make our own personal choices.
I put my hand up to my cheek to find tears of joy streaming down my face. Jesinta had stood onstage, in front of the whole world, and said “Fashion is Freedom.” The message I had been working so tirelessly to promote. She probably has no idea the impact that she made on my life at that very moment. All I could think about was the influence my journey had on such a striking young woman. With just two short sentences, she had fulfilled my entire mission.
Erika’s mouth dropped. She took my hand, squeezed it very hard, and said, “Oh my God, oh my God, you did it!”
On my other side, my brother said proudly, “You are my Miss Universe, what a beautiful job you have done.”
My friends were all ecstatic. Eric also texted me and said: “Job beautifully done.” The feeling of hopelessness that I’d experienced the previous day was slowly fading away. I wouldn’t give up. We create our own futures and pave our paths to success. And even though that road is always under construction and there may be obstacles and crashes, there are no limits. Jesinta’s answer confirmed for me that I shouldn’t pull to the side of the road, but continue at full speed. Every success story leaves a trail behind it, and if I left a mark on even one person, that is a victory on its own.
A few minutes later, Miss Mexico was crowned Miss Universe 2010, and the crowd went crazy. Her family members were crying and screaming, and the Mexican flag was thrown in the air. I was asked to go onstage to take photos with the new titleholder, and in the midst of the mayhem, I stood back and observed the new Miss Universe. She stood at a podium while people and media treated her like a Holy Grail.
It was compelling to see how much power she now had as the sparkly crown settled down onto her beautiful hair. It was like that crown had a mysterious and magical superpower to change her future overnight. I was witnessing the creation of someone who now had the ability to bring positive change to this world. It would give her an opening to make a difference and be a role model for young women everywhere, and that was an extraordinary scene to watch.
And just like that, it was over. The whole time the contestants had been in Vegas, they’d had bodyguards and security protecting them around the clock. But it seemed that as soon as the pageant ended, so did that protection. Aria and I ran into one of the contestants walking out of the venue alone. A stampede of people harassed her, begging to take pictures. She shouted my name loudly to help her. I went into the mob of people to find her, and she apprehensively asked, “Tala, can I please walk with you guys?”
“What happened to your security?” I asked.
“Oh, we are done,” she said. “We are on our own now.”
I could tell from my brother’s face that he was more irate than I was. He held her hand closely and escorted her to the hotel elevator so that she could make her way to her room safely. While I waited for Aria, I saw this scene happen over and over with other contestants. They all had difficulty pushing through the crowd to make it back to their hotel rooms. From what I could see, they seemed incredibly overwhelmed and frightened by the rush of hundreds of people. The contestants were pushed in every direction. It was awful to witness. People even asked to take photos with me, and I wasn’t even wearing a sash. It felt like all of a sudden, these women meant nothing anymore. They had been used for photo shoots, marketing, videos, events, and now they had been abandoned. The only person with any power was the one with the crown.
As delighted as I was that the Miss Universe voyage had finally come to an end, I knew that for me this just meant a whole new beginning. More than that, it wasn’t the ending or the beginning that I had hoped for. I departed Vegas hoping never to return, but I also wasn’t ready to face what was ahead of me in DC. Miss Universe didn’t help Dar Be Dar achieve any financial stability, nor did it set me in a direction in terms of what to do next with my mission. I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do next. Everything that happens in your life is preparing you for a moment that is yet to come, but even after all that, I was still desperately searching for a moment of peace.