Cindy Marina (born July 18, 1998) is an Albanian-American model, television presenter, volleyball player, and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Universe Albania 2019. She represented Albania in the Miss Universe 2019 competition, placing in the Top 20. Outside of modeling and pageantry, Marina is a

setter The setter is a type of gundog used most often for hunting game such as quail, pheasant, and grouse. In the UK, the four setter breeds, together with the pointers, usually form a subgroup within the gundog group as they share a common fun ...

for the Albania women's national volleyball team, and also played for the USC Trojans women's volleyball team during her studies at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

. Since 2021, Marina has been the presenter for

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

football matches broadcast in Albania and Kosovo.

Early life and education

Marina was born on July 18, 1998, in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

n parents Ardian and Kristina Marina from

Shkodër Shkodër ( , ; sq-definite, Shkodra) is the fifth-most-populous city of the Republic of Albania and the seat of Shkodër County and Shkodër Municipality. The city sprawls across the Plain of Mbishkodra between the southern part of Lake Shkod ...

. She was named after Cindy Crawford. Her father played collegiate football in Albania, while her mother was a professional volleyball player in Albania and Italy. She is the second of 3 children and only daughter; her 2 brothers are elder brother Angelo and younger brother Brandon. When Marina was seven years old, the family moved from Chicago to

Temecula, California Temecula (; es, Temécula, ; Luiseño: ''Temeekunga'') is a city in southwestern Riverside County, California, United States. The city had a population of 110,003 as of the 2020 census and was incorporated on December 1, 1989. The city is a t ...

. She attended

Great Oak High School Great Oak High School is a public high school that lies at the base of Wolf Valley in Temecula, California, USA, in the Temecula Valley Unified School District. In 2009 and 2010, Great Oak High School was listed in Newsweek's annual top 1000 hi ...

in Temecula, graduating in 2016. After finishing high school, Marina attended

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

, but transferred to the

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

for her sophomore year, graduating in 2020. She is a member of the

Pi Beta Phi Pi Beta Phi (), often known simply as Pi Phi, is an international women's fraternity founded at Monmouth College, in Monmouth, Illinois on April 28, 1867 as I. C. Sorosis, the first national secret college society of women to be modeled after ...

(ΠΒΦ) sorority.

Volleyball

Marina began playing volleyball in her youth. She was a

on her high school team and played club volleyball at Forza1 where her mom also coached at. In addition, she was a California state nominee for

Gatorade Player of the Year The Gatorade Player of the Year awards are given annually to up and coming high school student-athletes in the United States. They are given for boys' baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine playe ...

in volleyball. After graduating from high school, Marina joined the

Duke Blue Devils The Duke Blue Devils are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina. Duke's athletics department features 27 varsity teams that all compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Associatio ...

women's volleyball, and was named to the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

(ACC) All-Freshman Team. For her sophomore year, Marina left Duke and began playing for the USC Trojans women's volleyball team. Marina joined the Albania women's national volleyball team in 2015, and led the team to a third-place finish in the Silver League during the

2018 Women's European Volleyball League The 2018 Women's European Volleyball League was the 10th edition of the annual Women's European Volleyball League, which features women's national volleyball teams from 20 European countries. Unlike previous seasons, the tournament had two divisio ...

in Hungary. At 17 years old, Marina became the youngest person to ever play for the Albanian national team.

Career

Modeling and pageantry

Marina began modeling at age 14. Her career in modeling began after being recruited by fashion designer Ema Savahl to model her dresses; Savahl is a friend of Marina's mother. She began her pageantry career in 2019, competing in the Miss Universe Albania 2019 competition. She went on to win the competition on June 7, 2019, becoming the first American-born woman to ever win the title, and the second foreign-born to ever win the title, following Kosovo-born Agnesa Vuthaj in 2005. Marina represented Albania at the Miss Universe 2019 pageant held in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

on December 8, 2019, and placed in the top 20. Her reign as Miss Universe Albania ended after she crowned Paula Mehmetukaj as her successor at Miss Universe Albania 2020 on September 18, 2020.

Television

In August 2021, Marina became the official presenter for

football matches broadcast in Albania and Kosovo.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marina, Cindy 1998 births Albanian beauty pageant winners Albanian female models Albanian women television presenters Albanian women's volleyball players American beauty pageant winners American female models American people of Albanian descent American women television presenters Duke University alumni Female models from California Female models from Illinois Living people Miss Universe 2019 contestants Models from Chicago People from Temecula, California Setters (volleyball) Sportspeople from California Sportspeople from Chicago Sportspeople from Shkodër University of Southern California alumni USC Trojans women's volleyball players