In a rare feat at beauty pageants, a 60-year-old lawyer Alejandra Rodriguez created history by winning the Miss Universe Buenos Aires title in Argentina. Rodriguez was contesting the pageant with 34 other contestants aged between 18 to 73 years of age and became the first sexagenarian in beauty pageant history to win the title and expressed delight to have challenged stereotypes.

Belonging to a small town in Buenos Aires, La Plata, Rodriguez is a lawyer and journalist by profession.

"I am thrilled to be representing this new paradigm in beauty pageants because we are inaugurating a new stage in which women are not only physical beauty but another set of values. I am the first of this generation to start with this," Rodriguez told media after being crowned Miss Universe Buenos Aires.

In September 2023, the Miss Universe Organisation announced that from 2024, there would no longer be age limits for pageant contestants and every woman, above the age of 18, would be eligible to participate.

"2024 is the first year in which the Miss Universe pageant changes the paradigm that came from throughout history and begins to accept people of all ages with all types of bodies and heights. There is no requirement to apply, only being over 18 years old. So, in that context, at 60 years old, I could participate," she said.

That rule change allowed Rodriguez to throw her hat in the ring and she admitted that a key factor which could have tilted things in her favour was the passion and the confidence she showed to represent women from her generation.

"I am the first of this generation to start with this. I think the judges saw my confidence and my passion to represent the women of my generation," she said.

By winning the Miss Universe Buenos Aires crown, Rodriguez now has the chance to make her year even more memorable, by winning the Miss Universe Argentina 2024 which is scheduled to take place on May 25.

"I am determined to fight for the crown of Miss Universe Argentina 2024," she said.

And for all of those who wonder how she manages to look youthful at 60, Rodriguez told the New York Post its because of her healthy lifestyle.

"The basic thing is to have a healthy life, eat well, do physical activity. Normal care, nothing too extraordinary and a little genetics," she said.

The Miss Universe pageant will be held in Mexico on September 24.