Ada Aimée De La Cruz Ramírez (born June 15, 1986, in

Villa Mella Villa Mella (), or San Felipe de Villa Mella, is a municipality in Santo Domingo Norte, Dominican Republic. Villa Mella is located north of the Isabela River, about 6 miles (or 10 kilometers) to the north of the center of Santo Domingo, and is con ...

) is a Dominican model and beauty queen who was crowned Miss Dominican Republic 2009 and placed 1st Runner-Up at

Miss Universe 2009 Miss Universe 2009 was the 58th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Imperial Ballroom in Atlantis Paradise Island, Nassau, The Bahamas on August 23, 2009. At the end of the event, Dayana Mendoza of Venezuela crowned Stefanía Fernández of V ...

Biography

her first came to fame as Miss Dominican Republic World 2007, where she placed in the top 16 at

Miss World 2007 Miss World 2007, the 57th edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 1 December 2007 at the Crown of Beauty Theatre in Sanya, China. It was hosted by Fernando Allende and Angela Chow. Zhang Zilin of China won the crown and succeeded ...

and was

Miss World Beach Beauty Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Miss Int ...

2007. She later was crowned

Miss Dominican Republic Universe 2009 The Miss República Dominicana 2009 was held at the Sans Souci Convention Center in Santo Domingo Este on 17 May 2009. The winner represented the Dominican Republic at Miss Universe 2009. The first runner-up entered Hispanoamericana 2009, the s ...

.Ada Aimée de la Cruz is Miss Dominican Republic
She represented the original home of her grandparents, the Province of San José de Ocoa and represented the Dominican Republic at the Miss Universe 2009 gaining high praise and finishing as First Runner Up. Ada was born in

and raised in

Villa Altagracia Villa Altagracia is a municipality (''municipio'') of the San Cristóbal province in the Dominican Republic. Within the municipality there are three municipal districts (''distritos municipal''): La Cuchilla, Medina and San José del Puerto. Cl ...

and returned to Santo Domingo at the age of 14, lives with her mother Ana Martínez Ramírez, grandparents Celeste Ramírez and Ventura Garabito, her younger brother Adrián and her little cousin. In the Dominican press, she is known as a Dominican Cinderella, in which her grandmother was a maid and her whole family grew up poor.

Pageantry and Modeling

She also competed in the Miss Dominican Republic Universe 2007, where she remained among the Top 10 semifinalists. She has participated in international gateways, such as

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Fashion Week, New York Fashion Week, Dominicana Moda, among others.

Miss World 2007

Ada is the first Dominican to win the

. She placed in the final top 16 at

Miss Universe 2009

In the competition, Ada was awarded the 2nd best body in the swimsuit competition in

. On August 23, 2009, during the final ceremony, Ada received the highest scores in the evening gown and the second highest in the swimsuit competitions. She walked in her gown to which judges awarded a 9.428. In swimsuit, she was awarded 9.189, despite achieving the highest overall score, de la Cruz was the eventual first runner up. Same situation happened one year before in

Miss Universe 2008 Miss Universe 2008 was the 57th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Crown Convention Center in Nha Trang, Vietnam on July 14, 2008. This was the first time that the Miss Universe pageant was broadcast in 1080i High-definition. At the end of t ...

with

Taliana Vargas Taliana María Vargas Carrillo (born December 20, 1987) is a Colombian actress, model, and television personality who was crowned Miss Colombia 2007 and placed 1st Runner-Up at Miss Universe 2008. Vargas is a student of Journalism at the North ...

. She is one of only nine former Miss World semifinalists to place in the Miss Universe semifinals, the others being

Michelle McLean Michelle McLean (born 31 July 1972) is a Namibian actress, writer, model and beauty queen who was crowned Miss Universe 1992 at Thailand. McLean was 19 years old when she was crowned Miss Universe, and became the first Namibian woman to win the ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

in 1992, Christine Straw of

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

in 2004,

Yendi Phillipps Yendi Amira Phillipps (born 8 September 1985) is a Jamaican TV host, model and beauty queen who was the winner of the Miss Jamaica World 2007 beauty pageant, as well as the Miss Jamaica Universe 2010 pageant. She represented Jamaica at the Mi ...

also of

in 2010,

Patricia Yurena Rodríguez Patricia Yurena Rodríguez Alonso (born 6 March 1990) is a Spanish model, actress, and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Spain 2008 and then Miss Universe Spain 2013. She represented Spain at Miss World 2008, where she placed in ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Olivia Jordan Olivia Jordan Thomas (born September 28, 1988) is an American actress, model, television host, and beauty pageant titleholder, who was crowned Miss USA 2015. She represented the United States at Miss Universe 2015, where she placed as a second ...

of the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in 2015,

Catriona Gray Catriona Elisa Magnayon Gray (; born 6 January 1994) is a Filipino-Australian model, singer, beauty queen, television personality, youth advocate and arts ambassador best known for having been crowned Miss Universe 2018. She is the fourth Fi ...

of the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

in 2018, and Julia Gama of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Andrea Meza Alma Andrea Meza Carmona (born 13 August 1994) is a Mexican model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Universe 2020. Since winning the title, she became the third Mexican woman to be crowned Miss Universe. Meza holds the record ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

both in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

(coincidentally de la Cruz, Phillips, Rodriguez, and Gama all finished as 1st Runner-Up).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz, Ada De La 1986 births Living people People from Santo Domingo Norte Miss Universe 2009 contestants Dominican Republic beauty pageant winners Miss World 2007 delegates Miss Dominican Republic