Now the director of a San Juan, Puerto Rico, finishing school and modeling agency, she sees herself in the girls and young women she guides. She recognizes their aspirations and desire to be something more than just pretty. 

“We begin by focusing on self-esteem,” says Carthy Deu, 41. “We teach them that when you can better yourself through education and self-improvement courses, you’ll feel more confident.” 

Former student Marta Rodriguez learned those lessons well. “[Carthy Deu] always told us, ‘Don’t let anyone take away your dream,’ ” recalls the 37-year-old San Juan orthodontist, who followed that advice. “She would tell me, ‘Prepare yourself well and you’ll reach your goal.’ ” 

Carthy Deu can relate to how her students feel because she’s been there. As a ballerina and model, she’d nestle in to watch the Miss Universe pageant on TV and visualize herself on the runway. “I became fascinated by the idea of standing in front of the world representing Puerto Rico,” she says. 

Still, she didn’t feel ready in 1985, when she was a 19-year-old theater major at the University of Puerto Rico. But her mother, Vicky Deu Sanz, then headmistress of the family-owned ballet and modeling academy where Deborah had trained, entered her daughter in the Miss San Juan pageant. 

“[Mom] had a hunch. She said, ‘This is your year,’ ” Carthy Deu says. The hunch proved right: Deborah won three pageants in four months—with some unexpected excitement. 

During the Miss San Juan pageant, local performers accidentally set the stage aflame. The contest finally began at 1:30 a.m., and Carthy Deu became Miss San Juan at 4:30 a.m. 

Then just before the Miss Puerto Rico pageant, she came down with chickenpox. A mixture of fresh lemon juice and baking soda cleared up the marks before the show. 

If only the rain had cleared up for the pageant. Staged outside, the competition was a mess. Carthy Deu took the crown, and the press dubbed her Queen of Fire and Water. 

Heading to Miami for the Miss Universe pageant, Carthy Deu wondered what might happen next. For once, no catastrophes befell her. Carthy Deu became the second Puerto Rican native, and the first in 15 years, to win the crown. 

Her victory drew cheers among mainland and island “boricuas.” Deborah Magdalena, now an actress, recalls, “I jumped up and yelled and screamed when she won. We all wiggled and celebrated.” Magdalena was so inspired that she entered and won Miss Puerto Rico New York in 1988.  

When Carthy Deu won Miss Universe, her mother’s modeling academy became the Deborah Carthy Deu Estudio y Agencia de Modelos. She and her mother have been partners ever since. Carthy Deu also became an actress. She has hosted several TV shows nationwide, including Noche de gala, a Puerto Rico program she still hosts. But her heart belongs to the girls she mentors. 

Finishing her degree after her reign made her realize, she says, “ that as an educator I could influence others who shared my passion.” After graduation, her mission became to teach young women that beauty is not just a thing of pageants but a way of being. 

“I’m outspoken now, but I was always kind of shy,” she says. “So when I see girls like this at my school, I tell them that I had to overcome my shyness and that they can too.” But overcoming shyness, she says, doesn’t mean being an exhibitionist. 

In fact, Carthy Deu has voiced concerns about pageants’ swimsuit competitions and at one point even called for their elimination. “I hate it when people see [the contestants] as objects,” she says. 

She tells students to see beyond the world of beauty queens. “I try to explain that sometimes we are in love with a dream, but later we’ll find other things we are equally passionate about,” she says. “These dreams are steppingstones.” 

The steppingstones have led to unexpected places, like the hardware store. She enjoys being a “tool-belt diva,” tackling home projects. She spoke at AARP’s first Feria de la Segunda Juventud in May. And she married Luis Caicedo Bonilla and became a stepmother. She dreams of having a baby. 

She has another dream too: “to create more courses geared to women of all ages, particularly those in their 50s and older,” she says. “We all benefit from having a broader sense of who we are.”

Chime In: The Value of Self-Confidence Like Deborah Carthy Deu, these Latinos have learned the value of self-confidence—and passed it on.
Patricia Sosa, 45
Washington, DC	I’ve taught my children to know they are good people and can follow their own judgment. I’m teaching them respect and integrity.
Nelson Merchan-Cely, 68
Port St. Lucie, FL	Relatives played a big role for me, and self-worth, honesty, leadership, and independence were very important. My kids inherited that.
Juana Lopez Forbes, 53
Madison, WI	People stereotype really fast. I teach people not to stereotype me as a short Mexican woman. I show people that I am not shy or passive.