From ‘Go Find Rich Husband’ to Finding Herself: Mia Dio on Self-Worth and Miss Universe Cuba

For the 92 million monthly active users who scrolled through TikTok during the height of the pandemic (watching trendy dances, viral recipes, and comedic skits) Mia Angelina Donadio Cancio—known online as Mia Dio—likely stood out with her over-the-top Russian accent and dating commentary. But what many don’t realize is that the persona was just that: a character, inspired by someone she met during one of the darkest periods of her life, before TikTok ever entered the picture.

The 24-year-old Miami native, and one of 18 women selected to compete in the Miss Universe Cuba pageant, had a turbulent road before rising to fame. Long before she built a TikTok audience of over five million, Donadio was working as a secretary at a construction firm in Miami, where she says she experienced repeated sexual harassment from her boss. He scrutinized her clothing, made inappropriate comments about her appearance, and even pressured her to drink alcohol while she was underage.

Desperate to escape the abusive workplace, she began dating a Russian man who, she later discovered, had a “criminal record for human trafficking.” He claimed it was all a misunderstanding tied to his work as a promoter, and justified housing her with Russian models as a way to help her afford rent.

“He was so emotionally abusive, but I would take it. He’d tell me, ‘Sometimes I wake up in the morning and try to be as mean to you as possible, and I’ve never seen anyone take it the way you do.’ Like, he would literally admit to being cruel,” she told HipLatina. “I was so broken in my childhood, I didn’t develop the necessary tools to use my voice, defend myself, or set boundaries because I didn’t think I deserved that.” 

It was in that shared apartment where Donadio met a Russian roommate who would quietly shift the course of her life. They didn’t speak the same language, but relied on Google Translate to communicate. Over time, the woman began to open up, revealing that she had a sugar daddy who funded her lifestyle and covered the cost of the apartment. She introduced Donadio to a new way of thinking: that all relationships are transactional.

“Just by hanging out with her for a couple of months, that advice stuck. She taught me everything is a transaction,” Donadio recalls. “She eventually left after four months. She was still married, living a fabulous life, and she was happy. All she wanted was to get out of survival mode. And then she’d have her secret lovers on the side. But she got what she wanted.”

However, there’s a part of that transactional school of thought that Donadio didn’t quite buy into. “I never wanted to be with a man in that capacity, because if you give a man the opportunity to feed you, you also give him the opportunity to starve you,” she explained. 

One day many years later, she started thinking about her old Russian roommate. On a whim, she picked up her phone, slipped into a Russian accent, and recorded a video meant just for her. She posted it to TikTok without any expectations, and woke up to 100,000 followers.

“Then I got my first sponsor,” she says. “They offered me $4,000 for a TikTok. I remember the offer came in and I thought, ‘I was taking sexual harassment at work for $2,000 a month and working 40 hours a week, and now you’re telling me that this all-woman-owned vibrator company wants to give me four grand for 30 seconds of me just being funny?’ I literally broke down that someone thought I was worth that much.”

Since then, Donadio has maintained an active presence on social media, blending comedy with authentic reflections on her struggles with infertility and her growing advocacy work.

Most recently, she’s turned her attention to the issue of period poverty in Cuba, a cause that ties closely to her competition in Miss Universe Cuba. The pageant only resurfaced last year, marking Cuba’s long-awaited return to the Miss Universe stage in 2024.

Cuba originally joined the global competition in 1952, the same year Miss Universe was officially founded. But by 1960, following Fidel Castro’s rise to power, the island withdrew from the pageant world entirely. Castro dismissed beauty contests as a “superficial whim” and banned them altogether, redirecting national focus toward ideological reform. As a result, Cuba vanished from the international spotlight for over six decades, until 2024.

Just like with banning participation in the pageant, Castro’s rule over Cuba limited many freedoms for those on the island, including freedom of speech, access to information, the ability to protest, and even personal economic autonomy. “I made the promise not to return to Cuba until it was free,” says Donadio, whose mother was born in Cuba. “Censorship isn’t just about being told what you can’t say, it’s about being afraid to think. They’ve been indoctrinated. And I have the privilege of being the seed of a Cuban that was able to germinate and flourish in a free country that allowed me to think the way I want to think.”

With ongoing protests on the island beginning in July 2021, where the Cuban government has a long history of incarcerating citizens for dissent, it’s understandable why many remain silent, fearing not only for their own safety but for that of their children. Yet, some still choose to speak out.

A key moment of inspiration came with the release of the song “Patria y Vida” (Homeland and Life), which quickly became a rallying cry and unofficial anthem of the resistance. Released in February 2021 by a group of Cuban and Cuban exile artists, the song flipped the regime’s long-standing slogan “Patria o Muerte” (Homeland or Death) into a declaration of life and liberty. Since then, “Patria y Vida” has echoed through Cuban households and protests alike, fueling a new wave of courage among citizens to speak out against the ongoing human rights violations on the island. 

“I think to talk about what’s happening in Cuba, you have to recognize all of the systems placed against our brothers and sisters on the island for them not to be able to fight. And that’s why I admire people that, despite all of that, still decide to raise their voice,” Donadio says. “But I am never going to call someone to be vocal if they’re living in Cuba. I understand the social responsibility of thinking about your children or thinking about your parents and what could happen to them if you decide to open your mouth.”

That said, Donadio does call on influencers from the exile to speak up about what’s happening on the island, especially those who have the freedom to do so. “There needs to be more influencers from exile that talk about what’s happening without the fear of repercussions,” she says. And that’s exactly what she aims to do through her platform with Miss Universe Cuba. As someone who has spent years navigating social media and understands the weight and responsibility that come with visibility, Donadio is grounded in purpose, using every microphone handed to her to speak her authentic truth, which oftentimes means amplifying the silenced voices of Cubans still on the island.

The Miss Universe Cuba 2025 pageant will take place on July 8 at Milander Park in Hialeah, where 17 candidates, including Donadio, will compete for the crown. Marianela Ancheta, Miss Universe Cuba 2024, will pass the title to the winner, who will go on to represent Cuba at the international Miss Universe competition on November 21 in Thailand. The event will be broadcast from 7 to 9 p.m. on MegaTV and the Miss Universe Cuba YouTube channel, with both free and VIP tickets available to the public.