Miss USA 2013 Contestants' Bio: Miss New Jersey 2013 Libell Duran [VIDEO]

By Stefan Lopez (staff@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Jun 14, 2013 02:51 PM EDT

There are only two more days until the Miss USA pageant airs live from Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, NV. We continue our pageant segment today with the candidate from New Jersey, the lovely Libell Duran.

Duran, 22 is from Keasbey, N.J. and currently studies at William Paterson University, where she aims to complete her studies in Communications and Business Administration. She has also been taking acting classes in New York City, though she has been in front of the camera for quite some time now.
"Libell has been modeling and competing in pageants since the age of 17. She says the stage has become her second home. However, she remembers once being that chubby shy girl that thought she was never going to have the chance to go up on stage and compete in a pageant and become a model," notes the <a href="https://www.missnewjerseyteenusa.com/njusa_bio.html" target="_blank">biography on her website</a>.

She has certainly come a long way from that shy, chubby girl she once remembers herself as. Today, Duran carries her gazelle-like figure with a confidence and self-awareness that just may land her the coveted role of Miss USA 2013.

"The titleholders of the Miss Universe Organization," <a href="https://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2013/06/miss_usa_2013_miss_new_jersey.html" target="_blank">reads the mission statement of the annual beauty pageant</a>, "personify the combination of beauty and intelligence that defines the 21st Century."

Duran is of Dominican descent, and credits the six months she spent in the Dominican Republic a few years ago as a formative experience in her development as an independent person. It also helped prepare her for this year's contest, as she came back home from the Dominican with a trophy that read "Miss Republica Dominicana Universo 2010."

When asked what she wants to do outside of the pageant, Duran said she aspires to be a successful model, actress, and entrepreneur. She would also like to support charitable organizations in the Dominican Republic and the United States, as well as help to empower women to find their own self-confidence.

"The most difficult challenge women face today is feeling beautiful in their own skin," <a href="https://www.missuniverse.com/members/profile/656278" target="_blank">observes Miss New Jersey</a>. "I want women to feel beautiful and sexy in their own body because we are all special; there is only one 'you!'"