Delia’s team won first place in the Global Beauty Masters qualifying round with a mermaid theme. Model Chelsea Brugger is a professional cosplay model. Cosplayers wear costumes and represent certain characters in movies, cartoons etc. Pictured: Isabelle Scott, Delia Lozano and Denise “China” Morgan. (submitted photo)[/caption] Where there’s life, there’s hope. But where there’s life, there’s also strength . . .beauty . . . creativity . . . and an indomitable spirit. Lots of great people come out of Immokalee - people with strength, beauty, creativity and an indomitable spirit. For instance, Delia Lozano is a born and raised Immokalee girl, graduated from Immokalee High School in 2001. Today, she owns a beauty salon in Naples - DL on 5th Avenue - and tonight she and her beauty team will be in the spotlight. The TLC network is airing the first in a series called Global Beauty Masters at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 17, showcasing beauty and “integrating hair, make up, nails and styling.” Qualifying was in Orlando and then the team won the right to compete at the Global Beauty Masters in Las Vegas last year. Delia has appeared on a similar show last year on the Disney Channel. Delia’s team has three members who work together to create the fantastic illusions seen in high fashion: Delia designs the hair, Isabelle Scott of Miami does the body painting and Denise “China” Morgan of Fort Lauderdale adds spectacular nail decoration. Delia found Denise on Instagram when her first nail tech had to drop out suddenly and she met Isabelle who judges comic cons. Delia is a veteran of New York Fashion Week and done a lot of work on Univision. Delia is making a huge name for herself in the world of beauty, but it all started for her right here in Immokalee. Her parents are Joe Lozano, well known in the community for many things including the Cinco de Mayo celebration and Harvest Festival, and Eva Martinez. She said her father taught Delia and her siblings to work hard for what they want - a foundation she has discovered is serving her well. Her creations are amazing - and require a lot of dedication to her art. Delia admits she wasn’t much for school and will always be very grateful to the TAP program, which motivated her to stay in school and continue with her education. She graduated from Sunstate Academy and then got her start at Sal’s on the Edge salon in Immokalee. She opened her own salon 3.5 years ago and recently opened DL Salon on Fifth Ave. in Naples. At her salon, Delia caters to “normal clients” ages 3 to 80, but it’s the “crazy stuff” she really loves and has been doing it for six years. Competition has always been her dream. She said she likes to be outside the box and make people stand out. Fashion is her passion. Delia is still teaching cosmetology at iTECH, always teaching students new trends and cautioning them to set goals.” Crawl then walk.” She tells her students it doesn’t matter where you come from. Reach your goals. Try it. “I’ve been let down a lot of times,” she explains. “Dust yourself off, keep going. It’s okay to lose - you learn from your mistakes. However, this is her last year teaching. She’s going to devote herself to her new salon, competition and even designing her own razor. Delia always had her eye on her future. She knew she wanted to be involved in high fashion and looked to Carlos Dimas, another Immokalee native who was making inroads in the path she wanted. He put her on immediately when he found she was from Immokalee, but had to prove herself by correcting a color job gone bad. “I stuck to him like glue,” Delia recalls, traveling with him to smaller beauty competitions and soaking up all the experience she could. Her mentor, Dimas made a name for himself in the world of hair fashion by winning the title of 1997 Supreme World Champion from New York and Third Place Overall World Champion from the Hair World 2000 Olympics. She worked with Dimas over three years, learning and gaining experience. Her knowledge and talent served her well. When he saw the result her mentor commented. “You were worth keeping.” Delia and her team qualified for the Global Beauty Masters competition in Orlando and then the team won the right to compete at the Global Beauty Masters in Las Vegas last year. There are national, international and two online competitions. Delia flatly admits that competition is brutal. In the qualifying round, her team had two weeks advance notice of the mermaid theme, but only two minutes for the national competition. One time her team came in to the “war room” to work and all their equipment was missing. At a national level competition, they had to make do with whatever they could scrounge up. Themes include Diamond in the sky and making a cancer patient’s beauty dream come true. For the grand finale, they had to outdo the competition in Hollywood Glamour. No matter how intense the competition is, Delia said the love of what they do makes the competitors good friends. The best part of this experience, she notes, is “meeting the world” - people with the same passion. To create her dream career, Delia has built a network surrounding herself with successful people that she wants to be like. Still, she said, “I can’t forget about Immokalee.” “In this world you have to have passion,” she said, and a passion for beauty - and maybe being a little outrageous - suits Delia Lozano just fine. If you want to know more you can check it out at GlobalBeautyMasters.com.