photo credit: Instagram
Miss North Carolina, Cheslie Kryst, a 27-year-old lawyer of Charlotte, has been crowned Miss USA 2019.
Cheslie is an african-american woman who represents prison inmates for free. After earning her law degree and MBA from Wake Forest University, Cheslie became a litigation lawyer who does pro bono work to reduce sentences for inmates. She said her interest in pageants began when she was 10 years old, watching her mother ride a horse-drawn carriage in a parade when she was named Mrs. North Carolina in 2002. Leading Cheslie to compete in high school pageants.
“I’m standing here in Nevada, in the state that has the first female majority legislature in the entire country,” she said at the event held for the first time in Reno. “Mine is the first generation to have that forward-looking mindset that has inclusivity, diversity, strength and empowered women. I’m looking forward to continued progress in my generation.”
Cheslie will now advance to the Miss Universe competition.
This year’s Miss USA competition showcased a lot of diversity. New Mexico’s Alejandra Gonzalez, the first runner-up, whose mother immigrated to the United States from Mexico, founded a nonprofit that teaches children the importance of being literate. Oklahoma’s Triana Browne, the second runner-up, said she’s a proud member of the Chickasaw Nation whose father is white and mother is African American. She’s in a partnership with Nike to promote a brand that celebrates Native American heritage.
Nevada’s Tianna Tuamoheloa, who made it to the final five, was the first woman of Samoan descent to compete in the event that dates to 1952. Savannah Skidmore, a former state basketball champion from Arkansas who has a second-degree black belt in Taekwondo and is pursuing a law degree, also made the final five.
Welcome to the sisterhood, @MissUSA 2019 Cheslie Kryst. ❤️#RenoTahoe pic.twitter.com/q4UVU2fXKC
— Miss Universe (@MissUniverse) May 3, 2019
Written by Clarke Jones
Source: WNCT