Redondo Beach, California – Ramona Wright smiled with pride at Sarah Lopez. It was as if Wright taught Lopez everything she knew and was ready to pass the torch — from teacher to student.

Here ends the lesson. Here begins the journey.

Lopez outshined all at the Redondo Beach mall, wowing the audience with her confidence and elegance, and impressing a panel of six judges at the fifth annual Ziba Girl Model Search at Redondo Beach’s South Bay Galleria on August 16th.

Wright, Miss Ziba Girl 2007 and 29-year-old public relations instructor at Loyola Marymount University, walked up to Lopez, amidst the cheers and applause of the appreciative audience, to place a sash on Lopez’s left shoulder. The 19-year-old real estate agent and Cypress College student, with a gleam in her eye and smile to match, graciously accepted her new title elegantly stitched on the sash draping over her chest – Miss Ziba Girl 2008.

“This is so exciting,” she exclaimed. “Earning the title Miss Ziba Girl is such a big deal to me. It will help me achieve my dreams and truly make a difference.”

About 500 on-lookers gathered around the mall’s center courtyard, their eyes peering down from the circular mezzanines, admiring the 17 women contestants in their stunning casual and formal wear, glittering henna adorning their faces.

To help realize her goals, Lopez received a $1,000 scholarship for claiming first-place honors Saturday. The Downey, California resident also received free eyebrow threading for one year, will appear on the cover of Ziba Beauty Magazine, participate in several photo shoots, and serve as a spokeswoman.

Joining Lopez at center stage were four other finalists, including Vanessa Rodriguez, Sophia Chaudhry, and Chrisoula Barados.

Ziba Beauty Center owner Sumita Batra honored a few unique qualities of five women before naming the top finalists for Miss Ziba Girl 2008.

“Every single girl has something special that makes them unique, so we wanted to recognize some of these wonderful attributes,” Batra said at the conclusion of the second and final round of competition.

The five characteristic categories were Best Smile (given to Lopez), Best Eyes (Jessica Ramirez), Best Visionary (Marley Mendoza), Miss Photogenic (Chaudhry), and Best Eyebrows (Ronita Rabbani).

To highlight the model search’s theme of beautiful women with substance, Batra also honored Anaheim councilwoman Lorri Galloway — founder and executive director of The Eli Home for Abused Children in 1983. A shelter for abused and neglected children and their mothers, the Eli Home provides child abuse and domestic violence prevention programs throughout Orange County.

In addition to helping families in need for nearly 25 years, Galloway used her position as councilwoman to form the Anaheim Family Justice Center and was involved in the council’s adoption of a new housing plan, bringing 1,200 affordable housing units to the city over a four-year period.

“Many people in non-profit generally do not think about entering politics in order to make a difference,” Galloway said. “It’s the same thing with these women today. They have an opportunity to use their position to reach out to people and serve as advocates.”

Batra echoed those sentiments when presenting the Woman of Substance Award to Galloway, stating, “It was important to recognize a woman of beauty and substance.”

In its fifth year, the Ziba Girl Model Search started as an internal pursuit of the ideal woman to appear in the beauty center’s photo shoots. Since, it has become a competitive event featuring a handful of women who are beautiful in more ways than one.

“Many of these girls may not know it, but they are being judged on their entire package,” Batra told India-West as participants greeted guests outside the Ziba Beauty Center on the third floor of the South Bay Pavilion about 30 minutes after the show.

“When they are walking alone during the two rounds, it’ll come out whether a girl is stuck-up or has substance, whether they know it or not.”

With more than 400 applicants, the model search selected 17 customers from 11 Southern California store locations. The contest includes two modeling rounds in front of six judges, and a third round conducted days before, where the participants write an essay about their future goals. Judging the contest were Nakul Dev Mahajan, Anjul Nigam, Bhawna Alluwalia, Amy Hauk, Daniel Bhobot, and Jessica Hernandez.

Popularity: 5% [?]