Katarina Sonja Rodriguez (; born August 1, 1992) is an American-born Filipino actress, athlete, model, and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned

Miss World Philippines 2018 Miss World Philippines 2018 was the 8th edition of the Miss World Philippines pageant. It was held at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, Philippines on October 7, 2018. At the end of the event, Laura Lehmann crowned Katarina Rodriguez as Miss ...

. She represented the Philippines at the

Miss World 2018 Miss World 2018, the 68th edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 8 December 2018 at the Sanya City Arena in Sanya, China. Manushi Chhillar of India crowned her successor Vanessa Ponce of Mexico at the end of the event. She is the first ...

pageant but was unplaced. Previously, she was crowned Binibining Pilipinas Intercontinental 2017 and placed 1st Runner-Up in Miss Intercontinental 2017. She rose to fame after being the last eliminated in the second season of

Asia's Next Top Model ''Asia's Next Top Model'' (abbreviated as ''AsNTM'') is a reality television show based on the American franchise ''America's Next Top Model'' in which a number of aspiring models compete for the title of ''Asia's Next Top Model'' and a chance ...

in 2014.

Early life and education

Rodriguez was born in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

, United States to Filipino parents. Her mother is from

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated ...

while her dad is from Davao. She spent her childhood going back and forth the United States and the Philippines every other year. She attended high school in Orlando and recounted the bullying she experienced at school, which would later on help her develop "tough skin" before finally moving permanently to the Philippines with her family. In Manila, she pursued and completed a double major in

Business Management Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of managemen ...

and

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

from the

De La Salle University De La Salle University ( fil, Pamantasang De La Salle or Unibersidad ng De La Salle), also referred to as DLSU, De La Salle or La Salle, is a private university, private, Catholic Church, Catholic coeducational research university run by the I ...

. She is also a cycling instructor, a competitive

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance running comes two d ...

, and participated as a member of the De La Salle University Women's Track and Field Team.

Modeling career

At the encouragement of her two close friends, Katarina auditioned for the second season of ''

''. She was selected as part of the show's final three contestants along with fellow Filipina candidate

Jodilly Pendre Jodilly Pendre (born April 29, 1993 in the Philippines) is a Filipino fashion model and television personality. She is best known for her appearance as a contestant in the second season of ''Asia's Next Top Model'', where she represented the Phi ...

, finishing as a runner-up.

Pageantry

After her appearance in ''Asia's Next Top Model'', Rodriguez caught the attention of well-known beauty queen trainer, Jonas Gaffud of Aces and Queens, who encouraged her to try out pageantry.

Binibining Pilipinas 2017

Rodriguez joined the Binibining Pilipinas 2017 pageant and won the title of Binibining Pilipinas Intercontinental 2017 during the coronation night held at the

Smart Araneta Coliseum The Araneta Coliseum, also currently known by naming rights sponsorship as Smart Araneta Coliseum, is an indoor multi-purpose sports arena that is part of the Araneta City in the Cubao area of Quezon City, Philippines. Nicknamed as "the Big Dom ...

on April 30, 2017, gaining her the right to represent the Philippines at Miss Intercontinental 2017. On March 18, 2018, Rodriguez crowned Karen Gallman as her successor at the Binibining Pilipinas 2018 pageant held at the

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; fil, Lungsod Quezon ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read in Filipino as Kyusi), is the List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populatio ...

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 ...

Miss Intercontinental 2017

Rodriguez represented the

at the Miss Intercontinental 2017 pageant held in

Hurghada Hurghada (; ar, الغردقة ', ) is a city in the Red Sea Governorate of Egypt. It is one of the country's main tourist centres located on the Red Sea coast. Overview Hurghada was founded in the early 20th century. For many decades it wa ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

on January 24, 2018 where she finished as 1st runner-up to Veronica Salas Vallejo from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

. She also won the Miss Media Popularity award and 1st runner-up in Best in National Costume.

Miss World Philippines 2018

Representing

Davao City Davao City, officially the City of Davao ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Dabaw; ), is a first class highly urbanized city in the Davao Region, Philippines. The city has a total land area of , making it the largest city in the Philippines in terms of land ...

, she was crowned as

by the outgoing titleholder

Laura Lehmann Laura Victoria Lehmann-Pessumal (born July 16, 1994) is a Filipino actress, TV host, model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss World Philippines 2017. She represented the Philippines at the Miss World 2017 pageant in China and fi ...

on October 7, 2018. On September 15, 2019, Rodriguez crowned

Michelle Dee Michelle Daniela Marquez Dee (; born April 24, 1995) is a Filipino actress, model, host and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss World Philippines 2019. She represented the Philippines at the Miss World 2019 pageant in London, Engl ...

as her successor at the

Miss World Philippines 2019 Miss World Philippines 2019 was the 9th edition of the Miss World Philippines pageant. It was held at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines on September 15, 2019. Katarina Sonja Rodriguez crowned Michelle Danie ...

pageant held at the

Miss World 2018

She represented the Philippines at the

Sanya Sanya (; also spelled Samah) is the southernmost city on Hainan Island, and one of the four prefecture-level cities of Hainan Province in South China. According to the 2020 census, the total population of Sanya was 1,031,396 inhabitants, livi ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

on December 8, 2018. She is one of favorite contestants in

but failed to place in the semifinals, ending the Philippines' seven-year streak of consecutive placements, from 2011 through 2017. The event was won by

Vanessa Ponce Silvia Vanessa Ponce de León Sánchez (born 7 March 1992), known simply as Vanessa Ponce, is a Mexican model and beauty queen who was crowned Miss World 2018. She is the first Mexican to be crowned as Miss World. In the history of the Miss Wor ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Personal life

Rodriguez is an advocate of peace and HIV-AIDS awareness. In 2019, she became the ambassador of

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization established in the United Kingdom in 1919 to improve the lives of children through better education, health care, and economic ...

Philippines. In October 2021, she announced that she was expecting a son with her partner, businessman Niño Barbers.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Katarina 1992 births Living people Top Model finalists Binibining Pilipinas winners People from Davao City De La Salle University alumni Miss World Philippines winners Miss World 2018 delegates American people of Filipino descent American people of Spanish descent Filipino people of Spanish descent People from Orlando, Florida People from Florida