Iona Pinto

Iona Pinto was an Indian model and beauty queen from Maharashtra. She was born on 17th June 1936 in New Delhi. Iona rose to fame when she represented India in the first edition of Miss International in 1960 at the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Centre in the United States. Twenty-two year old Iona looked stunning amongst all the contestants who participated that year. With her grace and intelligence, she could charm the judges and became the first runner up that year. This was when there were no trainers or experienced contestants to guide you through the contest! And this also meant having absolutely no resources to achieve the unthinkable. What Iona achieved was purely due to her hard work and determination.

Imagine her confidence when she stood on an international platform, in probably a home-tailor stitched gown with make-up done by a close friend or relative! That was the effect that she had on people. In 1961, Iona again went to represent India in the contest, and even though she made it to the top 5, she did not win any spot that year. As one of the judges, Vincent Trotta later mentioned, she lost the contest by half-mark simply because she didn’t smile enough in the last few minutes of the contest! After returning to India, Iona continued to model and certainly won the audience with her charming smile this time. She later married Allan Vaz Bio coming soon... >> Read More... and shifted to the Philippines, where she spent the rest of her life happily. She became a mother to five kids. In fact her daughter, Vanessa Vaz Muller, followed in her foot-steps and became one of the leading models of the 1980s. Unfortunately, with time every star loses its shine. Iona died on 11th November 2012 at the age of 76, after fighting a tough battle with cancer. But her charm and light will forever be remembered by the country.