New
Later Miss Supranational Venezuela 2021
Valentina Sanchez was crowned Miss New Jersey Teen USA on 20 October 2013 and represented New Jersey at the Miss Teen USA 2014 pageant in the Bahamas. Valentina was born in California and raised in Venezuela, moving to Spring Lake Heights after the death of her grandmother and mother. She has since represented her native Venezuela at a number of international pageants.
Miss New Jersey Teen USA 2014 Valentina Sanchez was born in California but moved to Venezuela when she was 3. She has dual citizenship with Venezuela and the U.S. In Venezuela, she won the Teen Model Nueva Esparta 2011 and Teen Model Venezuela 2011 titles. Sadly, her mother and her grandmother both committed suicide in the last three years. She has made promoting mental-health awareness and suicide prevention part of her pageant platform.
Valentina left her island home of Margarita in the Venezuelan state of Nueva Esparta on the Caribbean Sea some 15 months ago. She now is in her senior year at Manasquan High School and lives with relatives in Asbury Park and Spring Lake Heights.
She hopes to start volunteering with Project Sunshine, a nonprofit group that provides free educational, recreational and social programs to children and families living with medical challenges. “I will use this title to bring awareness and shed light to my social cause, which is mental health awareness and suicide prevention. I want to show those people who are struggling with depression that they are not alone. I want to show them that there are many ways to stop their pain and suicide is not one of them.”
Valentina and her sister titleholder Emily Shah made history as the first New Jersey pair to place at both Miss USA and Teen USA in the same year.
The on-stage moments, the tension of the final two and the glory of the crowning, here are Valentina’s state pageant photos.
Lights, camera, action! Professional photoshoots are one of the perks that comes from winning a title.
All beautiful things must come to an end, no matter how bittersweet. See Valentina’s farewell walk and other candids from the weekend she crowned her successor Jacqueline Giancola as Miss New Jersey Teen USA 2015.
Winning a state title is a sisterhood for life. Here are Valentina’s “after the crown” photos.