Getting To Know ANGELA BONILLA - Miss Earth Ecuador 2015!

My name is Angela Bonilla and I am 23 years old. I was invited to compete for the title of Miss Earth Ecuador through an audition with girls from all over the country. After a selection process I was chosen as the Ecuadorian representative for Miss Earth. My crowning took place on September 2nd. I study communication and English and work as a model and catwalk instructor in addition to work with my father in tourism.   

I come from an indigenous background. My province has the largest indigenous population in Ecuador and I am very proud to represent this ethnic group.

I have two sisters and I currently live with my parents and my younger sister. I was born in the city of San Miguel de Urcuquí, Imbabura, but I have spent my life living between my hometown and Quito, the capital of Ecuador. I am the first woman from Imbabura to represent Ecuador in one of the most important beauty pageants in the planet. 

I was pursued by a pageant promoter when I was 19. Pageants were never among my plans but after some consideration I decided to give it a try. 

I competed in my first pageant in 2011 and although I did not place I won the title of Miss Photogenic. 

Representing Ecuador in Miss Earth feels wonderful. To have the opportunity to represent my country in Austria is a dream come true and a great opportunity as well. I couldn't be prouder. 

I am very committed to represent Ecuador and I have worked very hard for several months to be ready. I want to represent my country in the best possible way. 

The will say that I am friendly, brutally honest, and they will most likely say that I am a bad driver.

When I was 18 I decided to live on my own in order to pursue a modeling career away from home. I was cast to compete in a reality television modeling competition where I finished second, and because of that I appeared as a guest in two popular TV shows in Ecuador.  

Living on my own taught me responsibility, endurance, independence, courage and the value of earning a living. I truly believe this changed me as a person, changed my perspective about life and made me mature and grow as a human being. Most important of all, it taught me I am capable to do things on my own and be a responsible and courageous woman. Even though I live with my parents now I have worked and I have been independent ever since.

 

I will never betray my loved ones. I will never deny my roots or my culture because I am very proud of who I am and where I come from. I will never discriminate people for any reason. 

I love reading, horse riding, hiking and watching sports. Believe it or not I am a little bit of a tomboy. My father works in the tourism industry and I also love to travel with him and show tourists the beauty of Ecuador and specially the landscape of my province and its many sites. 

Dinner with all my family and love ones. Because of my father's travels and my older sister living away is very hard for all us to get together at the same time and because we are a very close family I truly love and enjoy having family night out or dinner in with my parents and sisters. That is a "perfect" evening which unfortunately does not often happen.

 

Ecuador is small country but it is a very diverse nation with dozens of ethnic groups, languages and culture that cohabit together. Ecuador is the only place in the world where people can see and experience warm beaches, snow mountains, and a vast jungle in one single day all year long within driving distance. Ecuador is also home of many species of plants and animal which aren't found anywhere else in the planet. Ecuador is known for the Galapagos Islands where Charles Darwin wrote his famous Theory of Evolution and is the home of several Unesco Heritage Sites. 

One of the biggest environmental problems in Ecuador is logging. Every year many trees are cut in order to make room for urbanization. This has created unclean air and pollution. As Miss Earth Ecuador I have partnered with the Mayor of my city to launch a campaign to revive the forest by working with seeds and plants in nurseries with the help of women from my community. With the assistance of volunteers, we plan to reforests many areas. We are working on utilizing several natural products used by indigenous groups to prepare the soil and to care for the trees in the most natural possible way. This will minimize the impact of bad weather and will also provide cleaner air.

Educations is the key. Creating conscience of reusing, recycling and showing the advantages of using artifacts that use alternative energy in a more inexpensive and efficient way will motivate people to practice more sustainable living. 

A smart phone, a laptop computer, an iPad, newspapers, several clothing items, music and many pictures of people and places which will help others in the future remember how life was in 2015. 

I would love to be able to play an instrument, maybe the violin. I have always been fascinated by music because music communicates feelings and thoughts through sound and it would be amazing to be able to add that to my list of abilities. 

I would take this person to feel the water, the plants,the animals, the soil, the trees,etc.The power of a touch is more accurate than thousand words. 

I want to be Miss Earth because I want to use this enormous opportunity to grow as a person, as a professional and as a human being. Miss Earth will give me the chance to work and meet many people and places through the environmental platform of this pageant which I am also very passionate about. I was born in a farm and most of my childhood was spent in nature,with very rustic technology and amenities. Most of my most memorable moments as a child and as an adult are from natural outdoor activities and because of this, the Miss Earth platform and advocacy  is something extremely appealing to me.