Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters has been crowned Miss Universe 2017.
Nel-Peters was honored on-stage along with first runner-up Miss Colombia Laura González and second runner-up Miss Jamaica Davina Bennett Sunday night in Las Vegas.
Nel-Peters, 22, recently earned her degree in business management at North-West University.
During a pre-taped interview, the Western Cape native talked about how her experience being held at gunpoint made her passionate about training women in self-defense. She plans to bring that passion, along with a self-defense program she helped develop, to the Miss Universe platform.
During the competition’s Q&A portion, the newly crowned Miss Universe was asked about the most important issue she thought was facing women in the workplace.
“In some places, women get paid 75% of what men earn for doing the same job, working the same hours — and I do not believe that this is right,” she said. “I think we should have equal work for equal pay for women all over the world.”
