The newly crowned Miss Universe Israel 2025 Melanie Shiraz talked to The Algemeiner on Monday about preparations for the Miss Universe pageant in November, hostility and hateful comments she’s faced from Israel haters, and how she’s settling into her new title.

The Israel native was crowned on Thursday night at the Hilton Miami Aventura Hotel in Florida. The 26-year-old competed as “Miss Caesarea” and succeeds Miss Universe Israel 2024 Ofir Korsia. Shiraz will go on to represent Israel at the international Miss Universe pageant in Thailand in November.

“I think I’m processing it a little bit more,” she told The Algemeiner on Monday. “I was pretty stunned for the first few days and now I’m kind of in strategy mode. I’m trying to figure out what projects I want to line up for the coming weeks and months.”

Shiraz also said she is beginning to strategize what organizations she wants to work with, both in and out of the Jewish community, and what kind of impact she wants to have as the new Miss Universe Israel.

When asked how she feels representing Israel in an international arena like the Miss Universe pageant, she replied, “I think especially now, because it’s a time of hostility and war, this is exactly why we need to be represented.” She said it would be a “travesty” for Israel not to seize this opportunity and represent itself proudly in front of the international community.

“This is a platform we can use to show the world who we are,” she explained. “As women, we are diverse, brilliant, beautiful. We have so much potential. We are kind, graceful. And it’s something that I want to show the world. I want to make sure that the way that I represent Israel is one that will make people who are already antagonistic or have animosity, reconsider. And that might be the international audience, and it might even be my fellow contestants, who might have some antagonism towards me.”

“I want to introduce myself as Melanie, and for them to get to know me, and see me as a kind person, and that I don’t have animosity towards them,” Shiraz added. “And maybe then they’ll realize if I’m an extension of Israel, maybe Israelis are not what they thought they were.”

Both of Shiraz’s parents were born in Israel. The last name Shiraz hails from her mother’s side of the family. The beauty queen said a distant family member, far back in her mother’s lineage, was from Shiraz, the southcentral city in Iran, and that’s where the name stems from. Shiraz was born in Israel but moved with her family to the US when she was young. She remained in the States until she finished her studies at the University of California, Berkeley in 2020. She then moved back to Israel and has been living in the Jewish state for roughly four or five years. “I was just so eager to come back to Israel,” she said.

Shiraz currently lives in Tel Aviv, though she is traveling to the US a lot more now since being crowned Miss Universe Israel. She competed in the Miss Israel competition as Miss Caesarea because “Miss Tel Aviv” was already taken by a fellow contestant. Shiraz said she ultimately chose to compete wearing the sash of Caesarea because it’s one of her favorite places in Israel and is historic and beautiful – which she thinks represents Israel perfectly.

From Berkeley, Shiraz has a degree in data science and another degree in interdisciplinary field studies, centered around Israel, Israeli politics, and social sciences. She was vice president of Chabad at the school, briefly vice president of the Jewish Student Union, was involved in Hillel, and helped arrange pro-Israel protests and counterprotests.

As soon as she graduated Berkeley, Shiraz started her career as a data scientist, working with a financial technology startup. She later co-founded a fintech startup in London that was offered a payment processing solution for small businesses. She worked on it for two years but left that company once the Israel-Hamas war started on Oct. 7, 2023, because she wanted to be in Israel with her family and it was hard to run a startup remotely. She later moved on to work remotely and do strategic consulting as a data scientist for another fintech company in New York.

One of Shiraz’s best friends, 25-year-old IDF Staff Sgt. Yonatan Dean Chaim, died in December while fighting in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war.

She said she has been dealing with hostility from anti-Israel activists since her time at Berkeley and also faces the same on social media, where she is very active and posts often in support of Israel. Since being crowned Miss Universe Israel, Shiraz said, “I’ve seen a lot of pro-‘Palestine’ and hateful comments but it doesn’t bother me.”

“I’m not here to fight the haters,” she noted. “I’m here to show the world who I am and who Israel is, and [I] hope to change their minds with my actions and not with my words.”

Edgar Saakyan, national director of Miss Universe Israel, praised Shiraz in a statement given to The Algemeiner on Monday.

“Beyond beauty, we were looking for a candidate who brings real substance to the role — someone with qualities that can contribute meaningfully to the country. Melanie Shiraz is confident, intelligent, and socially conscious. She represents a new generation that is not only elegant, but also thoughtful and globally aware,” Saakyan said. “I believe she will represent Israel with grace and purpose on the Miss Universe stage.”

“Our goal in organizing beauty pageants is to prepare future ambassadors of goodwill and peace,” he added. “Pageantry is a platform for building bridges across industries and cultures. I’m grateful to our judges for recognizing these values and for making a choice that reflects the spirit of our mission.”

The post Newly Crowned Miss Israel Melanie Shiraz Discusses Prep for Miss Universe Pageant, Not Being Bothered by ‘Haters’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.