Chanttal Mendez is a young Luso-Venezuelan who was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, where she kept happy memories of her childhood, surrounded by family, Venezuelan food, music, and the characteristic joy of the Venezuelan people. At the age of 10, she moved with her family to Portugal, influenced by the existence of Portuguese roots in the family – her maternal grandmother was Portuguese. The family ended up settling in Aveiro, a city in north-central Portugal, where Chanttal built her life and adapted to a completely different reality.
In the exclusive interview with Agência Incomparáveis, Chanttal Mendez spoke about how she lives between two cultures. The young woman believes that growing up with Venezuelan and Portuguese references never caused one identity to nullify the other, having built her own identity from both. In her daily life, she preserves elements of Venezuelan culture through food, expressions in Spanish, and the music she listens to with family, while also adopting many Portuguese habits, feeling Portuguese in many situations as well.
Chanttal Mendez currently attends Universidade Lusíada do Porto, where she studies International Relations, an area she chose because of her curiosity about what happens beyond borders and how relations between countries work. Her journey in beauty pageants began in Venezuela, where she won the title of Miss Princesita at the Centro Português and participated in Mini Belleza Venezuela. In Portugal, she continued on this path, being crowned Miss Teen Aveiro 2023 and Miss Teen Popular, later representing Aveiro at the national final of Miss Teen Portugal. Recently, she was crowned Miss Aura Portugal.
The 20-year-old aspires to complete her degree, develop social projects with visibility from beauty pageants, and one day represent Portugal in a major international competition. Chanttal Mendez states that she wants to give meaning to her crown, using it to inspire and give voice to important causes, while remaining open to discovering the various versions of the person she wants to become in the future.
