Miss Maryland Teen USA 2014 Mariela Pepin’s father is an active duty army soldier and her mother is also employed by the United States army. She was born in Puerto Rico, has lived in Germany and has traveled to France and Czechoslovakia. She lived in Hawaii for six years and has been a Maryland resident for seven. Being an army brat, though not always easy, has taught Mariela to be adaptable to any new situation, experience and culture. Being of Puerto Rican decent she loves exploring her birth country’s traditions and lifestyles and incorporating them in to her daily life. She is fluent in Spanish, is a fourth year French student, and has studied American Sign Language.

Mariela graduated from Meade Senior high school one year early and is now a freshman at Towson University. She is pursuing a degree in communications. Outside of school, Mariela’s passions include community service. She enjoys volunteering with various organizations, including Happy Helpers for the Homeless and Operation Welcome Home. While visiting Puerto Rico, she initiated a service project which consisted of seeking group members to participate in serving tasks such as visiting nursing homes, cleaning beaches, and covering graffiti with murals.

Mariela is also passionate about promoting healthy living and self-esteem building. She is the creator of the program “Healthy, Beautiful, Confident”, (HBC), which aims to use her personal experience to promote and inspire others to embark on the journey to live life with a positive attitude. She plans to travel around the state of Maryland speaking to schools and other organizations to promote the HBC initiative. She hopes to encourage people to visit her blog, http://healthybeautifulconfident.blogspot.com. Although this was Mariela’s first attempt for the title, she has been modeling since the age of three with her first runway appearance being at a German fashion show. She has taken acting classes at the Youth Film Academy and was the winner of a modeling and acting contract from Audition America, a national scouting program.