Monika Santa Maria

Marlena Monika Ng Santa Maria (born 13 July 1991) is a Filipino-Malaysian fashion model^[1][2] and volleyball player in De La Salle University she was part in the team called Lady Spikers who won the UAAP championship many times. She is known for being a contestant in the third cycle of Asia's Next Top Model, where she represented the Philippines.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Santa Maria lost the competition to 23 year-old Indonesian model Ayu Gani thus, becoming the runner-up of the competition.

Early life

Santa Maria was born to a Filipino mother and a Malaysian father. She was raised in the Philippines since two years old. As a child, she never aspired to be a model because she was always shy at school and never imagined herself as a model.

Education

Santa Maria graduated with a Psychology degree in De La Salle University. She also became a volleyball player in La Salle where she was part of the team Lady Spikers.

Asia's Next Top Model

Before she appeared in the third cycle of the Asia's Next Top Model, Santa Maria before joining the third season of Asia's Next Top Model, she already featured in various magazines such as Metro, Mega, and Circuit, and won Century Superbod in 2012. She first auditioned in the second cycle but was rejected. She finally got in when she auditioned again for the third cycle of the competition thus, becoming one of the 14 contestants. She dominated the season by getting four best photos — the most among all the contestants and winning episode challenges, Santa Maria caught the attention of everyone involved in the show right from the start. But she only ended up being a runner-up to Ayu Gani from Indonesia. Santa Maria is the third runner-up in a row representing the Philippines after Stephanie Retuya and Jodilly Pendre. After the show she appeared in various TV guestings in GMA Network such as Unang Hirit and The Ryzza Mae Show. She's currently the face of Close Up and endorser for Oppo. She is currently signed to Andrews Models Malaysia.

References