Sharepha Pauletta

Home has never been just one place for Sharepha Pauletta. It has been something she learned to carry within herself.

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Her Story

Sharepha's story begins in two places that shaped her in very different, equally important ways. She spent her earliest years in Koraalspecht, raised largely by her grandmother alongside a house full of cousins, in a home where love was the organizing principle and no one was ever left to figure things out alone. At six, she moved to Steenrijk, and life opened up into new lessons. Between those two neighborhoods she learned what she would carry for the rest of her life: that resilience isn't something you develop in the easy moments, and that gratitude grows best when you've known what it means to have just enough. Her Curaçao isn't a landmark. It's an evening outside with family, Papiamentu floating through the air, laughter that doesn't need a reason, and the particular warmth of people who have chosen togetherness as a way of life. That feeling is her foundation, and she hasn't let go of it since.

Those who meet Sharepha for the first time might read her quietness as distance. It isn't. She listens before she speaks and observes before she moves, not because she's closed off, but because she takes people seriously. Once someone gets past that first layer, they tend to find someone who is warm, deeply curious, and genuinely invested in the person in front of her. She has a rare ability to make people from completely different backgrounds feel at ease, and she moves between conversations about fashion, culture, personal growth, and law with equal ease. That last one tends to surprise people. Sharepha is currently studying Law, working toward her long-held dream of becoming a judge. For her, it has never been about the profession alone. It is about justice, about equality, about using an education to stand in the gap for people who need someone in their corner.

Her sense of purpose found its sharpest expression in a deeply personal moment: winning the Miss Curaçao Holland title, a victory she dedicated entirely to her grandmother, who had passed away. It was the kind of win that goes beyond a stage. She felt her grandmother in it, felt the weight of everything that woman had quietly given her, and understood in that moment that representation is never just about the person standing in the spotlight. It carries everyone who believed in them first. That is the conviction she brings to Miss Universe Curaçao 2026. There is an entire community of Curaçaoans living in the Netherlands who work hard, carry their culture with pride, and rarely see themselves reflected in spaces like this one. Sharepha wants to change that. She wants young girls from Koraalspecht, from Steenrijk, from Amsterdam, to look at this stage and know it was also built for them.

She steps forward with one belief driving everything:

"To me, crystallizing your dreams means turning something that lives only in your mind into something real. Dreams start small and quiet, but when you truly believe in them and stay consistent, they take shape. My journey has taught me that nothing is impossible when you stay focused, grounded, and never give up on yourself."