Beauty With a Purpose: Miss Puerto Rico Moves One Step Closer to Miss World Crown

The illustrious Beauty with a Purpose (BWAP) segment of Miss World 2025 wrapped up on a triumphant note in Hyderabad on Monday night when four contestants: Puerto Rico, Uganda, Wales, and Indonesia earned spots in the quarter-finals of the beauty contest. Their success represents a significant moment in the competition as each made a mark with their social impact projects that were newsworthy as well as heartwarming.

From 108 contestants representing countries around the world, four emerged as continental winners of the BWAP segment, an integral and most cherished component of the Miss World pageant that highlights each contestant’s commitment to meaningful, long-term social projects.

Valeria Perez, BWAP winner for the Americas and Caribbean

Miss Puerto Rico, Valeria Perez, was crowned the BWAP winner for the Americas and Caribbean with her project Communicating Without Limits. Rooted in personal experience, her initiative promotes inclusion for the deaf, individuals with Down syndrome, and families affected by cancer. Her communication programs are creating a space for dignity, visibility and equally opportunity.

“Being different is neither a mistake nor a limitation; it is, in truth, a gift. The problem often does not lie with those who are different, but with those who fail to see the beauty in that difference. Life itself is diversity and in that, lies its perfection.”

With Communicating Without Limits, Valeria is building more than awareness; she’s creating pathways. Her communication programs provide practical support in sign language, alternative forms of expression, and emotional literacy, while also fostering a culture of respect, dignity, and belonging. Whether it’s workshops in schools, outreach in hospitals, or safe spaces in local communities, her vision is reshaping what inclusive communication can look like in Puerto Rico and beyond.

Valeria’s work echoes the core values of the Beauty With a Purpose platform: compassion in action, and impact driven by empathy. Her win is not only a victory for her island, but also a signal that beauty pageants are evolving into platforms of real change-where voice, purpose, and community matter as much as grace.

As she continues to compete on the world stage, Valeria Perez is already proving that true beauty speaks loudly, and inclusively.