She is the first Filipina to win the title after Gemma Cruz (1964), Aurora Pijuan (1970) and Melanie Marquez (1979).
First runner-up was Miss Dominican Republic and second runner-up was Miss Finland.
Lara has a national vocational qualification in media productions and communication) graduate from Filton College in Britain where her mother worked as a nurse.
She first studied for one year at UST, and continued her schooling wherever her mother worked (first in Bahrain then in the UK). Her father is a native of Bicol.
In 2001, when she was 17, Lara competed in the Bb. Pilipinas contest, though she never reached even the semifinals.
Somebody encouraged her to join again this year and she finally won the crown.