MEET 2023 ELEMENTAL TITLEHOLDERS

Shawna graduated early from Old Dominion University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications. She is a former elite volleyball player, self-taught guitarist, and a former Girl Scout who loves traveling the world solo. Shawna is proud to have spent four seasons as a Baltimore Ravens Playmaker and was most recently awarded the “Play Like A Raven” award, for powering through ACL reconstruction surgery like a champion. At age 12, Shawna started a production company called Spiral Productions and created a YouTube series called “The Guiding Light: The Pre-Teen’s Guide to Growing Up.” Now a Critic’s Choice award-nominated television producer, Shawna has worked on a hit TV show for National Geographic and currently produces national ad campaigns for some of the country’s most recognized brands. She is a member of the Television Academy where she hopes to be a trailblazer in the entertainment industry, creating more high-level opportunities for women and underrepresented communities. In the future, Shawna hopes to produce an Emmy award winning TV show and give a TED Talk. Shawna has hiked the mountains of Utah, wandered the French countryside, and even had dinner with an Aboriginal in Australia. In her spare time, Shawna is a youth mentor with the local organization Community Bridges, where she has volunteered for the past two years. She enjoys paying it forward by leading youth workshops and guest teaching media courses, encouraging young women to be relentless in the pursuit of their dreams. Shawna hopes to use this elemental title and her production knowledge to create powerful campaigns to influence national environmental legislation.

Natalia received a degree in Psychology from the University of Central Florida. She sees herself in the next ten years running a clinical psychology practice focused on helping children and adolescents. She spends her free time free diving, beach paddle boarding, snorkeling or kayaking. One of her favorite things to do while snorkeling is cleaning up any trash that she finds at the bottom of the ocean. Natalia once collected 20 glass bottles found at the bottom of her local beach. This motivated her to create a monthly clean up in her local beach called “Teach for the Beach.” During these clean ups, Natalia talks to volunteers about the importance of protecting our beaches and wildlife while cleaning up any trash found on the beach or in the ocean. Natalia is the owner of an eco-friendly swimsuit line called 7th of April which uses strictly recycled fabrics. She loves to educate others on the importance of sustainable fashion and the negative effects fast fashion has on our environment. She hopes to use this elemental title to inspire others that their situations do not define them. You can overcome any obstacle and become the person you have always dreamt of being. Natalia wants to utilize the Miss Earth international platform to speak about mental health as well as the importance of sustainable fashion which are two important topics in her life. A fun fact about Natalia is this is her second time placing in the elemental court of Miss Earth USA after being crowned 2018 Miss Earth USA Fire.

Angel will graduate with a Bachelor’s in Environmental Science this May and currently interns as a limnologist for a project partnered with the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, or PADI. With her own diving certification, she works with PADI Project Aware to keep our waterways clean. In 2017 while Angel served in the national title of Junior Miss Earth USA, she founded Earth Angels to advocate for environmental education. She has also been engaging in lobbying work following a Capitol Hill internship in Washington, DC last April. Living in the District of Columbia influenced Angel to obtain a Juris Doctorate in International Law and aim to work for the European Court of Justice before becoming a Diplomat for the US State Department. Fluent in French, Angel aims to attend law school at the Université Bretagne Sud. While she embraces her passion for current events, she describes herself as a linguist at heart, and is conversational in Spanish, and Arabic, and is currently learning Tagalog and Vietnamese. She keeps herself busy through the Honors track at Drake University. When she isn’t studying, she is constantly writing, currently working as a freelance speech writer and editor, while pursuing the publication of her first novella. During a Miss Earth USA mission trip to Nicaragua with World Mission Outreach, Angel met her now God-sister Rebecca and sponsored Rebecca's college education. Seeing her graduate last month was Angel’s happiest moment. A proud World Wildlife Fund Panda Ambassador and Climate Reality Mentor, Angel wants to reinvigorate the Eco-Feminism movement, believing it paramount for women to be at the forefront of the fight for our planet’s future.

Gracie is a go-getter who wears many hats. She is a nonprofit founder, digital marketing consultant, public speaker, model, and world traveler. She uses her skills as a digital marketing consultant to help businesses and organizations reach their goals. As the founder of the non profit entity Harvest107, Gracie works to prevent hunger and malnutrition through sustainable agriculture and promotes healthy lifestyles and environmental stewardship. Through Harvest107, she was able to live in Haiti for five years, where she learned to speak Creole and French. In addition to her professional pursuits, Gracie is a public speaker and model who uses her platform to advocate for important issues such as reaching one's full potential and giving back to our planet. She is a world traveler who has a passion for exploring new cultures and making a positive impact on the world. Her biggest accomplishment has been working with her team in Haiti to create a curriculum on a mobile learning service, making her organization’s educational resources available to 7.4 million people. Using her entrepreneurial and marketing skills, Gracie decided to become a digital marketing consultant specializing in social media. Working to decrease her carbon footprint, she loves finding second-hand clothing to add to her fabulous wardrobe and using recycled materials to grow vegetables and herbs. Gracie is also allergic to aluminum, making her an advocate for healthier living, and she supports companies that promote sustainability and non-toxic materials.