Olivia Wells Biography

Olivia Wells (born in 1994) is an Australian university student and model who was crowned Miss Universe Australia 2013 and will represent Australia at the Miss Universe 2013 in Moscow, Russia on 9 November. She is the first woman to be crowned Miss Universe Australia from the state of Victoria.

Early life

Olivia grew up in the Bayside suburb of Black Rock with her family. At primary and high school she was considered a 'nerd' as she was both an intelligent and diligent student. She is the elder of two siblings.

Education

Olivia completed high school in 2012 and is currently a first year medical student at Monash University in Melbourne. After winning Miss Universe Australia 2013 she was forced to take a one year intermission from her studies but plans on returning next year.

Miss Universe Australia 2013

Olivia Wells was representing Melbourne, and she was crowned Miss Universe Australia 2013. The student of Medicine defeated 29 other national finalists from all over the continent. Wells was an underdog in the lead up to the national pageant with betting odds at 51:1 for her taking the title.

Career

Olivia is well known for her philanthropic work both in her hometown of Melbourne and overseas. She currently tutors students from refugee and migrant backgrounds through Embrace Education in the outer suburbs of Melbourne. She recently returned from a volunteer trip to Tonga where she and a small group of Monash University medical students implemented a diabetes screening program.

Training to become a paediatric surgeon, the 19-year-old medical student and committed charity worker may not seem like the typical beauty pageant contestant, but Olivia is the face of a modern pageant queen. The Melbourne teenager has postponed her studies to pursue the demands of the competitive beauty circuit, and she's used to being asked why.

As Olivia acknowledges in an interview in the August issue of The Weekly, the only thing more constant than the Miss Universe contest is the criticism that surrounds it. Olivia has already forged a well-rounded career in her 19 years, having worked in Tongan hospitals and volunteering to tutor school-age refugees in suburban Melbourne.And while it's undeniable she also knows how to rock an evening gown, the newly crowned Miss Universe Australia convincingly dispels the notion that pageant are not the exclusive realm of the professionally vapid, and argues her commitment to charity work and her studies qualify her for the title of Miss Universe rather than separate her from her competitors.