1. Osmel Ricardo Sousa Mansilla was born on 26 September 1946 and is a Cuban-Venezuelan beauty pageant entrepreneur, and the former president of the Miss Venezuela Organization.
14 Facts About Osmel Sousa
1. 2.
Prominently known for his excellence in both pageantry and advertising, Sousa has been called "The Tsar of Beauty" for his significant role in producing the large number of beauty titles for Venezuela.
3.
On 8 February 2018, Osmel Sousa announced his public intention to retire from the position and was ultimately succeeded by Gabriela Isler as national director for the Miss Venezuela pageant.
4.
Osmel Sousa was born in Rodas, a town in the province of Cienfuegos in Cuba.
5.
In 1969, Osmel Sousa went to work for the publicity company in charge of organizing the annual Miss Venezuela contest.
6.
Osmel Sousa was assigned to work with the Venezuelan Committee of Beauty.
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Osmel Sousa continued working with that committee when, in 1970, Ignacio Font Coll reconstituted it as the OPPA Advertising Agency, which in turn was the predecessor of the actual Miss Venezuela Organization.
8.
In October 1981, Ignacio Font Coll died and Osmel Sousa became the president of the Miss Venezuela Organization.
9.
Osmel Sousa has been called a Pygmalion, an artist who turns out talented and beautiful young women.
10.
In 2007, Osmel Sousa joined with Lupita Jones, a former Miss Universe, and Carlos Calderon, emcee of "El Gordo y La Flaca", in judging Univision's Hispanic beauty contest Nuestra Belleza Latina.
11.
On 6 February 2018, Osmel Sousa publicly announced his retirement from the Miss Venezuela organization after forty years of tenure.
12.
At the beginning of July 2019, Osmel Sousa announced, through his social networks, that he will assume the direction of the Miss Argentina beauty pageant.
13.
Osmel Sousa has been involved in a number of controversies over the years, with everything from whether the color and style of dress that he picked was appropriate, to whether or not he advised plastic surgery for a particular contestant to the charge that he creates "fashion mannequins".
14.
Osmel Sousa changed the way that the Miss Venezuela contestants achieved success and public attitudes on plastic surgery In Venezuela, and other countries plastic surgery received much more general acceptance and even became fashionable.