Clarissa Molina

Clarissa Molina (born September 23, 1991) is a Dominican model and beauty queen who won Miss Dominican Republic 2015 and represented Dominican Republic at Miss Universe 2015 pageant.^[2] She later won the title of Nuestra Belleza Latina 2016 after having placed 3rd Runner-Up the previous year.

Personal life

Molina was born in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic and is the daughter of Domingo Molina and Clara Contreras. At the age of 11, her parents separated and moved to New York City. She was left in the Dominican Republic with her stepmother.^[3] At age 15 she and her siblings moved to New Jersey with their uncle and cousins.

Pageantry

Nuestra Belleza Latina 2015

Molina auditioned for Univision's reality show and beauty pageant Nuestra Belleza Latina 2015 in New York City on October 4, 2014. Judge Jomari Goyso and guest judges Daniel Arenas and Veronica Bastos did not give her a pass to enter the competition due to them seeing her as arrogant. Days later head judge Osmel Sousa went to her home in New Jersey to personally invite her to be part of the competition.^[4] After several eliminations, she was selected to be part of the 12 finalists who enter the mansion of Nuestra Belleza Latina where she became a favorite among both the judges and audience. After 13 weeks of competition, she made it to the Top 4 and finished as 3rd Runner-Up. The eventual winner was Francisca Lachapel of the Dominican Republic.

Miss Dominican Republic 2015

After Clarissa had finished competing in Nuestra Belleza Latina Clarrisa competed Miss Dominican Republic 2015 representing the municipality of Espaillat where she was eventually crowned the winner, earning the right to represent the country at the 2015 Miss Universe pageant.

Miss Universe 2015

Clarissa represented the Dominican Republic at Miss Universe 2015 where she competed to succeed outgoing titleholder Paulina Vega of Colombia, eventually finished in the Top 10. a later evaluate give her the 6th place. The eventual winner was Pia Wurtzbach of the Philippines.

[Note] she did not enter top 5 by judges selection but got one of the most votes from the online audience live selection.

NBL VIP 2016 - Nuestra Belleza Latina 2016

In 2016 Clarissa was chosen by the fans to compete in Nuestra Belleza Latina 2016. The season was referred to as "NBL VIP" and was the shows first All★Star season, consisting of twenty-six returning non-winning contestants representing the shows nine seasons for a second chance to win the title. On May 22, 2016 after 6 weeks of competition Molina was crowned as Nuestra Belleza Latina 2016, making her the second Dominican to obtain the title, after Francisca Lachapel in 2015. Clarissa and Francisca's wins made the Dominican Republic the first nation to obtain crowns in two consecutive years. Clarissa's win also ties the Dominican Republic and Mexico for the second most wins, each nation obtaining two crowns. In addition she is also the second winner to have been born in the 1990s after Marisela de Montecristo.

References

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Francisca Lachapel	Nuestra Belleza Latina 2016	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Kimberly Castillo	Miss Dominican Republic 2015	Succeeded by Rosalba Garcías
Preceded by Luz María Reinoso Suárez	Miss Espaillat 2015	Succeeded by Rossy Reyes
Preceded by Aly Villegas	Nuestra Belleza Latina 3rd Runner-Up 2015	Succeeded by Bárbara Turbay
Preceded by Nathalie Muñoz	Miss Dominican Republic US 1st Runner-Up 2012	Succeeded by Vanessa Contreras