Lupita Jones

María Guadalupe "Lupita" Jones Garay (Spanish pronunciation: [luˈpita ˈʝo(w)ns]; born 6 September 1967) is a Mexican producer, actress and model. She was crowned Miss Universe 1991, and was the first Mexican contestant to win a major international beauty pageant.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Jones and the second or maternal family name is Garay.

Lupita Jones
Jones in 2008
Born	María Guadalupe Jones Garay (1967-09-06) 6 September 1967 (age 57) Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Spouse	Simón Charaf Medina ​ ​ (m. 1993; div. 2000)​
Children	1
Beauty pageant titleholder
Hair color	Brown
Eye color	Brown
Major competition(s)	Señorita Baja California 1990 (Winner) Señorita México 1990 (Winner) Miss Universe 1991 (Winner)

Education

Before becoming Miss Universe 1991, Jones received a degree in business administration and did postgraduate studies in industrial administration at the Centro de Enseñanza Técnica y Superior in Mexicali, Baja California.

Pageantry

Señorita Mexico

In September 1990, Jones won the title of Señorita México representing the state of Baja California.

Miss Universe

On 17 May 1991, Jones competed against 72 contestants for the title of Miss Universe 1991 at Las Vegas, Nevada representing Mexico. She advanced to the semifinals of the event as first place.

Jones was the only contestant with an average score above 9. During the final stage, Jones won every single round of competition: swimsuit, interview, and evening gown. She dominated the next two rounds of competition (the Top 6 judges' questions and the Top 3 final questions) and won the crown, the prizes, and the Miss Universe title for her country.

TV producer

After ending her reign in 1992, she started the company Promocertamen in 1994 with Televisa to produce Nuestra Belleza México, Mexico's official pageant responsible for choosing Mexico's delegates for Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss International.^[1] This new pageant was created when Señorita México was moved to another TV network, TV Azteca.

In 1997, she attempted to launch the first male-only beauty contest, El Modelo México, but the show got little attention from the public.^[1]

In 2001, for the Nuestra Belleza México show, Lupita Jones launched the Report Her campaign, which invited the public to report beautiful women in their state. Critics attacked the campaign on discrimination charges.^[1] She produced a winner at one of the 3 most well-known beauty pageants on the planet since 1960: Priscila Perales, Miss International 2007 and another one in 2009 with Anagabriela Espinoza, Miss International 2009. In 2010, a Mexican woman was crowned as Miss Universe 2010, Ximena Navarrete. Accordingly, Jones promised she would vacate the direction of Nuestra Belleza México once a new Mexican Miss Universe would be entitled, but did not follow through after Navarrete won the title.^[1]

From 2008 to 2014, Lupita Jones and longtime pageant director-rival Osmel Sousa were brought together to judge Nuestra Belleza Latina, a beauty pageant-related reality television series created by the US Hispanic network Univision, which searches for young women of Latin American descent across the United States.^[2]

In 2015, in response to negative comments on Mexicans by Donald Trump, part-owner of the Miss Universe organization, as head of Nuestra Belleza México, Jones endorsed withdrawal of the 2015 contestant from Mexico and urged a boycott of products associated with the 2015 pageant.^[3]

Humanitarian causes

In 1999, Lupita Jones decided that the contest would support an important program for ill-treated girls in the country through the Integral Family Development project.

In 2000, Jones accepted an appointment as UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador and Face to Face Campaign Spokesperson for Mexico.^[1]

Political career

In 2021, Jones ran as a candidate of the Va por México electoral alliance for governor of Baja California,^[4] coming in third place with 13% behind Jorge Hank Rhon of the Encuentro Solidario Party, with 28%, and the winner Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda, of the Juntos Hacemos Historia coalition, who won 45% of the votes.^[5] Regarding the results, Jones said that she was typecast as a beauty queen and that she was not allowed to prove that she could work in another area.^[6][7]

Filmography

Telenovelas

Year	Project	Role	Notes
2019	El señor de los cielos	Amaranta Reyes
2017	Enamorándome de Ramón	Katy Fernández de Medina	Special participation
2015	Como dice el dicho	Rocío / Ana Regina	2 Episodes
2014	La malquerida (telenovela)	Carmen Gallardo de Torres	Recurring role
2013	Por siempre mi amor
2013	Rosario	Fabiana Silva

Reality TV

Year	Project	Role	Notes
2008-2014	Nuestra Belleza Latina	Jury member
2012	Se vale	Dancer
2008	Me quiero enamorar	Adviser
	100 mexicanos dijeron
	La Hora Pico	Guest Star

Books

• Palabra de reina (in Spanish). Grupo Editorial Planeta. 1993. ISBN 978-9684063037.
• Bella y en forma, 15 anos despues (in Spanish). Planeta. 2006. ISBN 978-9703705634.
• Deten el tiempo (in Spanish). Urano. 2011. ISBN 978-8479537852.
• ABC para rejuvenecer (in Spanish). Urano. 2012. ISBN 978-6077835462.