‘A year of opportunities.’ Telemundo’s Adamari López reflects on a tumultuous 2021

This year has been all about Adamari López. The Puerto Rican TV host keeps moving up, taking on a new role as judge on “Así se baila,” Telemundo’s dance competition show, in addition to her duties on the morning program “Hoy día.” She just returned from Israel where she served as one of the judges of the Miss Universe pageant, which crowned Miss India, Harnaaz Sandhu.

‘’I returned happy and full of energy. It was a very nice experience to talk with them [the beauty queens] and learn about the issues they want to talk about and that are so relevant, such as mental health issues some faced; bullying; how we can take care of our environment and how climate change is affecting us,” López said during a Facebook Live with el Nuevo Herald.

She also spoke about the RISE program and the help Comcast offers to Hispanic and minority small businesses, and also addressed personal victories like her weight loss, which has inspired many to get in shape and be healthy.

López also addressed the controversy over the alleged discrimination against the first runner up, Miss Paraguay, Nadia Ferreira, which caused an uproar on social media.

“For many people, a beauty pageant is like the Super Bowl for Americans,” said López, indicating that the decision to choose Miss Universe did not correspond to a single person but to all of the judges, and that she was the only Latina on the panel.

“What more would I have wanted than for a Latina to have emerged as queen of the universe, what more would I have wanted than the one from my own country of Puerto Rico become a finalist, but the organization makes it clear that a range of possibilities must be observed and that it is not only about what strikes a chord with you, but focusing on qualities,“ she said.

The presenter believes that any of the finalists: the winner, Harnaaz Sandhu, Nadia Ferreira and Miss South Africa, Lalela Lali Mswane, had qualities to wear the crown.

“All three were intelligent, they had presence, they moved spectacularly around the stage, they excelled at modeling,” she said, noting that “some responses stood out more than others and that was what led to the final result.”

Comcast helps small businesses

López returns this year as a spokesperson for Comcast’s campaign to continue helping small businesses. In 2021, the cable company gave 100 companies close to a million dollars and the opportunities to receive subsidies for different purposes extend until Jan. 15, López said, explaining the aid available through the RISE program.

Small businesses in Miami-Dade and Broward can go to comcastrise.com and request help with:

▪ Marketing advice: help with a plan to make the business successful.

▪ Production and financing of television commercials so that the business is known in the area it is established.

▪ Technological upgrades so that the business can keep up to date.

Beginning Jan. 16, Comcast will extend that assistance to businesses that are owned by women and minority women.

A year of changes

If forced to sum up a year in which her career was on the rise, drastic personal changes occurred and she got a spectacular new figure, Adamari López chooses to call it “a year of opportunities.”

“A year to continue learning, improving, becoming stronger, valuing myself more and valuing more what I have around me, and being grateful, which is always a word that I have on my lips, for the good will of the public, the support of the company, love of my family, ” said López, who prefers to not focus on the worst parts of 2021.

In May Adamari ended a 10-year relationship with dancer and choreographer Toni Costa, father of her daughter Alaïa.

“I prefer to avoid looking at everything from a negative side. Yes, there have been bad things, but there have also been many beautiful things,” she pointed out, mentioning Alaïa, and the opportunities to work on what she likes and “rediscover herself.”

Losing weight and exercising are decisions that benefit her, she said, and also allow her to be an example for other women. “If we put our mind to things, we can achieve them.”

“This is a process, you have to make many sacrifices, go hungry, especially for those of us who like to eat,” acknowledged López, who confessed her weakness for “bread, rice and soft drinks.”

She also spoke of the importance of maintaining the discipline of a healthy diet and exercise regimen.

“Now I eat small portions, I try to have water, fruits, and usually in the morning I eat a boiled egg,” she said, indicating that she records everything she eats through the WW application (Weight Watchers ).

López has been an ambassador for the Latino market for Oprah Winfrey’s weight loss program for two years.

However, she does not deny that she indulges and now during the holidays she has had a little “coquito,” the delicious Puerto Rican drink .

Ready to receive 2022 with renewed energy, she pointed out that her heart is “calm and at peace” because she knows that she has done things right.

“I am proud of the decisions I have made and of how I am valuing myself as a person and as a woman,” she concluded.