Born on November 7, 1984 in the city of Santiago de los Caballeros in Dominican Republic, is the first Dominican Republic woman who won the prestigious tile of Miss Universe 2003 – Amelia Vega Polanco.
Vega is a daughter of a general medical practitioner Otto Vega who has offices in Miami and New York City. Her mother Patricia Alvarez was a beauty titlist as well who competed in the Miss World contest in 1980 to represent Dominican Republic. Vega has one younger brother named Adrian. She is also he niece of Juan Luis Guerra, a Grammy-award winning singer.
When Vega won the title of Miss Dominican Republic Universe, she represented her home country to the Miss Universe 2003 competition in Panama City. She won the crown and was the first Dominican Republic to ever win the prestigious beauty contest.
During the Miss Universe pageant, Vega also won the National Costume award. She was the third Miss Universe winner who also won the said special award. Other title holders who won the National Costume award were Porntip Nakhirunkanok from Thailand in 1988 and Wendy Fitzwilliam from Trinidad & Tobago in 1998.
During her reign as the Miss Universe 2003, Vega moved to a New York City apartment that was provided by Donald Trump, which was also part of her prize. She visited various countries such as Switzerland, Germany, Chile, Indonesia, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Russia, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Ecuador, Switzerland, and Canada. In 2003, Vega also received honorary medal during Pan American Games that was held in Santo Domingo. She also co-hosted a Latin American music concert Festival Presidente de Música Latina. That event lasted for three days.