Osmel Sousa

Osmel Sousa The Tsar of Beauty
The "Impresario" of Venezuela
Born	Osmel Ricardo Sousa Mancilla (1946-09-26) September 26, 1946 (age 70) Cienfuegos, Cuba
Other names	Impresario of Beauty Pageants
Occupation	Pageant director

Osmel Ricardo Lázaro Cipriano Sousa Mansilla (born 26 September 1945) is a Cuban beauty pageant entrepreneur, gurú and the president of the Miss Venezuela Organization.

Prominently known for his excellence in advertising, Sousa has been called "The Tsar of Beauty" or Impresario for his significant role in producing Venezuela's large number of beauty queens.

Osmel Sousa was born in Rodas, a town in the province of Cienfuegos in Cuba. When he was thirteen, his family sent him to live with his grandmother in Maracaibo, Venezuela. After high school he studied with Horacio Peterson's acting company with Lupita Ferrer, Miguel Ángel Landa and Luis Abreu, but quickly realized that he was not cut out to be an actor. He then briefly held jobs as an advertising draftsman and art designer for the two large television networks in Venezuela, the state owned VTV and the cable network RCTV.

In 1969 Osmel Sousa went to work for the publicity company in charge of organizing the annual Miss Venezuela contest. He was assigned to work with the Venezuelan Committee of Beauty. Sousa continued working with that committee when, in 1970, Ignacio Font Coll reconstituted it as the OPPA Advertising Agency, which in turn was the predecessor of the actual Miss Venezuela Organization.

In the 1970s, Osmel Sousa undertook advising selected contestants, many of whom went on to win the Miss Venezuela crown, at the same time he started designing nightgowns for most of the contestants. His first success was María Antonieta Cámpoli, who became Miss Venezuela in 1972, and went on to be 2nd runner-up in the Miss Universe contest.

In October 1981 Ignacio Font Coll died and Osmel Sousa became the president of the Miss Venezuela Organization. During his thirty-year career he has been considered to be the driving force behind the large number of Miss Venezuelas who go on to become Miss World, Miss Universe, Miss International and Miss Earth.