Osmel Sousa

At the beginning of July 2019, Sousa announced, through his social networks, that he will assume the direction of the Miss Argentina beauty pageant.

On 8 February 2018, Sousa announced his public intention to retire from the position and was ultimately succeeded by Gabriela Isler as national director for the Miss Venezuela pageant.

On 6 February 2018, Sousa publicly announced his retirement from the Miss Venezuela organization after forty years of tenure.

In 2007, Sousa joined with Lupita Jones, a former Miss Universe (1991), and Carlos Calderón, emcee of "El Gordo y La Flaca", in judging Univision's Hispanic beauty contest Nuestra Belleza Latina.

In 1996 he became the franchise manager for the Mister World for Venezuela; In 1998, he achieved his first success in this contest for male beauty, awarding the first title of Mister world to Venezuela, which was won by Sandro Finoglio.

In October 1981 Ignacio Font Coll died and Osmel Sousa became the president of the Miss Venezuela Organization. During his thirty-year career he has been considered to be the driving force behind the large number of Miss Venezuelas who go on to become Miss World, Miss Universe, Miss International and Miss Earth.

Osmel Sousa has been involved in a number of controversies over the years, with everything from whether the color and style of dress that he picked was appropriate, to whether or not he advised plastic surgery for a particular contestant to the charge that he creates "fashion mannequins". In 1979, Maritza Sayalero was the first Venezuelan contestant to admit that she'd had plastic surgery. Sousa changed the way that the Miss Venezuela contestants achieved success and public attitudes on plastic surgery In Venezuela, and other countries plastic surgery received much more general acceptance and even became fashionable.

In the 1970s, Osmel Sousa undertook advising selected contestants, many of whom went on to win the Miss Venezuela crown, at the same time he started designing nightgowns for most of the contestants. His first success was María Antonieta Cámpoli, who became Miss Venezuela in 1972, and went on to be 2nd runner-up in the Miss Universe contest.

In 1969, Osmel Sousa went to work for the publicity company in charge of organizing the annual Miss Venezuela contest. He was assigned to work with the Venezuelan Committee of Beauty. Sousa continued working with that committee when, in 1970, Ignacio Font Coll reconstituted it as the OPPA Advertising Agency, which in turn was the predecessor of the actual Miss Venezuela Organization.

Osmel Ricardo Souza Mancilla (born 26 September 1946) is a Cuban-Venezuelan beauty pageant entrepreneur, and the former president of the Miss Venezuela Organization.