Raised awareness in home country

Too young, too soon: Former Miss Venezuela Eva Ekvall dies of breast cancer at28

Eva Ekvall, former Miss Venezuela (2000) and third runner up for Miss Universe (2001), passed away at 28 in a Houston hospital on Saturday after a nearly two-year struggle against breast cancer.

Just 17 years old when she won the Venezuelan title, Ekvall went on to become a model, actress and news anchor for Venevision. After giving birth to her daughter, Miranda (with husband, radio producer John Fabio Bermudez), in 2009, Ekvall noticed a lump in her breast. She initially connected it with her pregnancy rather than a genetic connection to cancer. Ekvall was diagnosed with the disease in February 2010.

Ekvall is credited with raising awareness about breast health in Venezuela, a country where breast augmentations are common but talk about mammary cancer is taboo.

In her book, Fuera de Foco (Out of Focus), published in December 2010, Ekvall documented her fight against cancer over an eight-month chemotherapy and radiation treatment, as well as a double-mastectomy and reconstructive surgery. The book, which features photographs of Ekvall bald and without makeup, also includes personal tales and emails between family and friends.

Ekvall is credited with raising awareness about breast health in Venezuela, a country where breast augmentations are common but talk about mammary cancer is taboo. She was also involved with a breast cancer advocacy group, SenosAyuda.

"Gracias por tanto en tan poco tiempo," said the group in a tribute — "Thank you for so much in so little time."

Ekvall is the second notable to die of cancer in Houston over the past week. Just last Thursday, Christopher Hitchens, noted author and atheist, pundit and polemicist, died at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center of complications stemming from esophageal cancer.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”