 She is also the first winner from Puerto Rico to have noticeable mixed (African and Indigenous) heritage features, different from her four predecessors (Marisol Malaret, Deborah Carthy-Deu, Dayanara Torres, and Denise Quiñones) that have distinctly European features.Rivera's win came only five years after Denise Quiñones, the most recent winner from Puerto Rico, won the crown.As Miss Universe, Rivera represented the Miss Universe Organization, both in the United States and internationally.