Meet Miss Slovakia, Vanessa Bottanova, a 19 year-old student who represented her country in the 2017 Miss Universe Pageant shown on FOX TV the evening of November 26, 2017.

We have a connection! Sue Podhorsky Corbin, Gloria Podhorsky Streeter, and others in the family came on our 2008 Treasures of Slovakia Tour. We found lots of long-lost family for them in a number of western Slovak villages including the Bottan family in Vistuk who now live in Piestany.

The American Podhorskys are connected through Gisele Bottan, their grandmother. Little did anyone dream on that first visit that Vanessa would be chosen Miss Slovakia for the Miss Universe Pageant.

While her family in Slovakia won’t able to attend the Pageant, three generations of the “new” American family – Sue and Mike Corbin, daughter Erica Weier, and Erica’s daughters Sydney and Delaney –planned to be there November 26th in Las Vegas, NV, waving many mini Slovak flags to cheer Vanessa on.

When you go hunting for family you never know what you will find!