Martha Vasconcellos

Martha Vasconcellos
Born	Martha Maria Cordeiro Vasconcellos (1948-06-18) June 18, 1948 (age 75) Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
Beauty pageant titleholder
Title	Miss Brasil 1968 Miss Universe 1968
Years active	1968–present
Hair color	Light brown
Eye color	Green
Major competition(s)	Miss Brasil 1968 (Winner) Miss Universe 1968 (Winner)

Martha Maria Cordeiro Vasconcellos (born June 18, 1948) is a Brazilian beauty queen who became her country's second Miss Universe winner,^[1] after Iêda Maria Vargas first achieved the feat in 1963. She also became the fifth Latin American to win the title, after Peru's Gladys Zender in 1957, Colombia's Luz Marina Zuluaga in 1958 and Argentina's Norma Nolan in 1962. Vasconcellos is a native of the state of Bahia.

Biography

Vasconcellos allegedly had a boyfriend since she was twelve when she represented Brazil at the 1968 Miss Universe pageant in Miami Beach, Florida. She beat 64 contestants to win the title.

The morning after her win, she called her family and boyfriend in Brazil, expressing feelings of being homesick. Vasconcellos lived in New York, New York for the next year, as required by the Miss Universe organization, then returned to Brazil in 1969 and married days after.

Vasconcellos today leads a quiet and private life, practically disappearing from the public eye. She has two children from her first wedding to Reinaldo Loureiro: Leonardo and Leilane, and has two grandsons, Felipe and Guilherme. She lived in the Boston, Massachusetts area and worked for a Portuguese-speaking organization as a victims rights counselor. Now retired, she has returned to live in Brazil.

See also

List of Brazilians

References

External links

• page about Vasconcellos

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Sylvia Hitchcock	Miss Universe 1968	Succeeded by Gloria Diaz
Preceded by Carmen Sílvia De Barros Ramasco	Miss Universo Brasil 1968	Succeeded by Vera Fischer
Preceded by Vera Lúcia Martinez da Mota	Miss Bahia 1968	Succeeded by Lúcia dos Santos Guerreiro