Interview with April Lufriu

7/2/2014

Mrs World 2012 April Lufriu

You may recognize April Lufriu as Mrs. Florida America 2011, Mrs. America 2011, or Mrs. World 2012, but what you may not know about April is that she and her family are battling time against a hereditary blinding condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP).

In an exclusive interview for my column on Examiner.com, April reveals the story behind her Mrs. America and Mrs. World titles, her family's battle with RP, and her personal advice for aspiring models and pageant contestants.

For all you Mrs. World fans out there, you may already know there is much more to April than meets the eye.

Here are five more things you may not know about Mrs. World 2012 April Lufriu:

She puts others first.

Even I didn't know the extent to which April has been battling RP, because she always speaks about its effect on her children and her sister. But April herself has the condition which causes blindness, and she is battling time to save her own eyesight, as well as for her children and sister.

Mrs. Florida America was her first pageant win.

Although she was 1st Runner-up at Miss Florida USA, and later 2nd Runner-up at Mrs. Florida America, capturing the state crown was April's first pageant win, making Mrs. America and Mrs. World her second and third crowing victories. How's that for a debut?

She had a platform before she competed.

April began her work with Vision Walk in Tampa back in 2007, when she was working for a cure for her sister, long before learning of her own family's condition and the path to her pageant titles.

She didn't start modeling as a profession until after the age of 40.

Looking at her list of modeling credits which include national appearances for Home Shopping Network and Oxy Clean, you would never know that April only recently began her career as a model.

She is the oldest and shortest Mrs. World on record.

At 5'4" tall, April may be the shortest Mrs. World on record, but her heart is bigger than the tallest skyscrapers.

To learn more about April Lufriu and her accomplishments as the national spokesperson for the Foundation Fighting Blindness, her reign as Mrs. World, and advice for models and aspiring beauty queens, please read the full article on Examiner.com