Fionnghuala "Fig" O'Reilly (born 20 August 1993) is an Irish-American model and beauty pageant titleholder, and a data analyst. In 2019 she was crowned

Miss Universe Ireland Miss Universe Ireland is a national beauty pageant that has selected Ireland's representative to the Miss Universe pageant since 2002. History Beginning in 2002 Andrea Roche, who represented Ireland at Miss Universe 1998 in the United States ...

. She made history as the first woman of color and Black woman to represent

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

at the international

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international major beauty pageant that is run by a Thailand and Mexican-based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stree ...

competition. In 2020, Fionnghuala joined

Miranda Cosgrove Miranda Taylor Cosgrove (born May 14, 1993) is an American actress, singer, and producer. A teen idol of the 2000s and early 2010s, she was listed as the highest-paid child actor of 2012 by Guinness World Records and appeared on ''Forbes " 30 ...

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

's Daytime Emmy-nominated television series ''Mission Unstoppable'' as the newest correspondent. Fionnghuala also joined the cast of

HBO Max Max (known in other countries as, and soon to be reverted globally to HBO Max) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming on behalf of Home Box Of ...

Best Documentary nominated film ''Twenty Pearls'' directed by Deborah Riley Draper.

Life and career

Early life

Fionnghuala, who often goes by "Fig," was born to an Irish father and African American mother. O'Reilly signed her first model contract at 19 with an agency in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, Italy. She has a Bachelor of Science in Systems Engineering from The

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, which she has used to become a NASA Datanaut and regional director of NASA's Space Apps Challenge in Washington, DC. O'Reilly is a member of

Alpha Kappa Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is an List of African American fraternities, historically African-American Fraternities and sororities, sorority. The sorority was founded in 1908 at Howard University in Washington, D.C.. Alpha Kappa Alpha ...

Pageantry

In 2017, O'Reilly competed in Miss District of Columbia USA 2018, where she won a swimsuit award winner and placed as the third runner-up. On August 1, 2019, O'Reilly competed as Miss Dublin in the Miss Universe Ireland 2019 pageant in Dublin, Ireland. She won the competition in a historic moment as the first woman of colour to do so in the pageants history since 1961. She was crowned by the outgoing titleholder,

Grainne Gallanagh Grainne Gallanagh (; born 22 June 1994) is an Irish model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Universe Ireland 2018 on 2 August 2018. She represented Ireland at Miss Universe 2018, and placed in the Top 20. Early life Galla ...

. As

, she represented Ireland at the Miss Universe 2019 pageant and her platform spotlighted the need for diversity and women in STEM (science, technology, engingeering, and math). She ultimately finished Unplaced.

Philanthropy

In 2021, O'Reilly received the AAIDN Heritage and Diaspora Spirit Award from the African American Irish Diaspora Network's Inaugural Diaspora Leadership Awards Gala, hosted by

Mary McAleese Mary Patricia McAleese ( ; ; ; born 27 June 1951) is an Irish activist lawyer, academic, author, and former politician who served as the president of Ireland from November 1997 to November 2011. McAleese was first elected as president in 1997, ...

. In 2022, O'Reilly launched Space to Reach, an organization dedicated to advancing Black to Brown women in STEM.

Data analysis

O'Reilly works for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

as a data analyst. She is a director of the NASA International Space Apps Challenge initiative run by NASA.

References

External links

Miss Universe Ireland Official Website
*
Space To Reachwww.figoreilly.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:OReilly, Fionnghuala Living people 1993 births African-American female models American beauty pageant winners American people of Irish descent Beauty pageant contestants from Ireland Female models from Washington, D.C. George Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Irish beauty pageant winners Miss Universe 2019 contestants Miss Universe Ireland winners Women data scientists American data scientists