A mix of beauty, elegance and empowerment: Miss McAllen 2018
Coming into this I was expecting to get to know the person who won Miss McAllen 2018 as simply, the person who won the title. The person with almost 10 thousand followers, the model in every Valley runway. The girl you either admire or envy. I was expecting to interview the Serena Van Der Woodsen (yes, I love Gossip Girl) of the RGV. Instead, I left that conversation realizing that no matter how many followers you have, or how many people talk of you, if you don’t know who you are to your core then you’ll never find your way.
Our meeting setting smelled of brewed coffee and baked goods. That smell stimulated an ambience of tranquility like the one I sensed from the person I interviewed. All the while, the speakers emitted 80’s music that gave the place a sense of recklessness; much, too, like my subject.
Elizabeth Torres is a 20-year-old girl with a wild, loving, and kind heart. Born in McAllen, Texas and raised in Tepalcatepec, Mexico, Elizabeth has always kept family, God, friendship and fashion at the core of her life.
When talking of her family, she recalls the times they would sing Joan Sebastian at karaoke nights, danced at family parties and spent much needed quality family time. Something that quickly changed when she had to move to McAllen, Texas. Their move to the U.S. was followed by a multitude of drastic change, the main one being, drifting away from her family she much loves. Regardless, Elizabeth always knew their support would never be of lack. “I grew up with a really caring and loving family,” she said.
Elizabeth has always gotten the love and support from her parents to live a life worthy of who she was. Her parents wanting the best for her turned into a bit of strictness on their part. Which later took a rebellious turn in Elizabeth’s teenage years.
“When I was really young, my mom says that…I would always choose my clothes,” she said when I asked what her passions were. Elizabeth has always had a love for fashion and wearing whatever she liked. “I always tried to look and dress up how I wanted.”
Growing up with this urge of expressing herself was difficult in a school that made her wear uniforms. When Elizabeth got to seventh grade, she was transferred to IDEA Mission, where they were strict on wearing khaki pants, color polos, and black shoes. “It felt like a big change in my life where I couldn’t express who I was…they (her parents) kind of forced me to not do specific things or dress up specific ways,” Elizabeth said.
With this came the rebellious acts of a teenage girl who had an, “insatiable hunger for always wanting to do more and have it all,” Jorge Santa Ana, Elizabeth’s teenage boyfriend said. “Elizabeth has always been the wildest of them all… She’s always been a really bright and happy personality.”
Santa Ana and she are on good terms now. Not so long ago they had a conversation, years past their break up and they both seem to recognize the change in each other. Jorge speaks of Elizabeth as someone he will always love and care for. He admires the maturity in Elizabeth now, remembering her wild side. “If anything, she is the most loving girl I‘ve ever met. But like I said, that recklessness took its toll a lot of the times.”
Her “recklessness” is what eventually connected Elizabeth to her biggest passion: God. Growing up in a catholic family, Elizabeth always knew the importance of praying and going to church, but she drifted with time. “I kind of lost myself a little bit until I just felt real connected to God this one time,” she said. Curious as to what that specific time was, I asked her to elaborate. And she did, in a very elegant yet vulnerable way.
What followed was a complex and interesting explanation of the things that led Elizabeth to really put her life in God’s hands. From her journey to Miss McAllen 2018 to a heartbreak that drove her straight to a car crash, Elizabeth explains it all with such ease, that in itself demonstrates her personal growth.
I have to say, I feel honored that she felt comfortable enough to not only narrate her life to me, but to give me an insight into the darkest moment that has shaped her spiritually.
In the hour I spent with her, I learned all about her journey in becoming Miss McAllen; an experience that came as a surprise to her. Working at Gumbo’s Deli at the time, Elizabeth came in contact with the owner of Debi Lou Modeling Academy in the most random way possible. As she was cashing out her food, Elizabeth recalls the owner asking her to participate in her academy because her beauty was no secret, and what follows is history.
“It was never in my mind to become a model, or to be in modeling,” Elizabeth says. Because she couldn’t afford the classes at the time, Elizabeth was offered free modelling courses and soon, Elizabeth participated in a pageant that changed her life completely.
“When I won I was really happy…not really that I had won, but that I had experienced something I always wanted to do,” she said.
With the Miss McAllen title came responsibilities to serve her community. Them being, volunteering at the Palm Valley Animal Shelter and at her church. Participating in church events and fundraises came with the help of a new friend.
“I got close to this one girl and I started doing community service at my church and I felt so in peace because…I was also going through this relationship with my ex-boyfriend,” she said.
“He was the love of my life and I thought I was going to marry him,” Elizabeth said of her recent ex-boyfriend. Hearing this made me stop taking notes because I could hear the seriousness in her voice. “We were just so in love and so ready to get married, start a life together and just be there for each other.”
After this breakup, Elizabeth went into two-months of depression where she put her life on pause, drifting away from her loved ones and eventually ended in a reckless car crash. Which was the result of a bad attempt to grab his attention. It took a toll on her life until she realized that, “it’s not all about achieving something. I mean if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen,” she said of her relationship. “It was just a matter of really bad choices…but then I started going to therapy and church, and I got better. I’m doing so much better.”
Through these experiences, Elizabeth has learned to be a little selfish with who she invites in her life. Leaving an impact in the people that have her best interest at heart, Elizabeth has taught them to live freely by loving themselves. “She taught me in some ways to be a better person and to always love myself first before anyone else,” Carolina Lopez, Elizabeth’s best friend, said.
Getting her crown in November is a goal in Elizabeth’s current life, but in long term goals, she intends to finish her degree to pursue journalism and, “two, find the love of my life and get married,” she said.
“What is one thing you would like the world to know about you?” I asked.
“What I would want the world to know of me, would be that I kind of don’t really, care about their opinions towards what I do and my life,” Elizabeth said with a power in her voice. “At the end of the day, I am doing me and I know who I am…Everything I’m doing is for me, and for myself, and for my life and what I want.”
