Harnaaz Sandhu, from India, has been crowned Miss Universe 2021 at the just-concluded ceremony on Monday, December 13, 2021, DNB Stories Africa reports.
Nigeria’s Maristella Okpala who had a good run at the event held in Eilat, Israel, clinched the Best National Costume award for her mesmerizing costume inspired by masquerades in Igbo culture.
The top three contestants at the event were Miss India, Miss Paraguay, and Miss South Africa.
Maristella Okpala biography
Maristella Okpala is a Nigerian-born model, child education advocate and flight attendant with Emirates Airlines. She won the Miss Universe Nigeria title in September 2021 at the 2021 MBGN event, after completing as runner-up to Oluchi Madubuike.
Maristella Okpala was born in 1993 and is currently 28 years old. She had most of her childhood in Enugu State and also studied at the Federal College of Dental Technology and Therapy in Trans-Ekulu, Enugu State.
She moved to Dubai in 2019 after joining Emirates as a flight crew. Maristella revealed in an interview that her parents were staunch Catholics and she was disowned by her father over her decision to go into modelling.
