RENO, Nev. — Thursday night, Miss North Carolina USA and Charlotte’s very own Cheslie Kryst was crowned Miss USA.
- Cheslie Kryst was crowned Miss USA.
- The full-time attorney from Charlotte is an alumna of the University of South Carolina and Wake Forest.
- She is the first Miss NC USA to win Miss USA since 2009.
The 27-year-old lawyer who represents prison inmates for free won the Miss USA title Thursday night, describing herself as a "weird kid" with a "unibrow" who's now part of the first generation of truly empowered women.
Asked in the final round to use one word to summarize her generation, Kryst said "innovative." "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."
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Kryst earned a law degree and an MBA at Wake Forest University before becoming a civil litigation attorney who does pro bono work to reduce sentences for inmates. In a videotaped message played during the two-hour event at a hotel-casino, she told a story of when a judge at a legal competition told her to wear a skirt instead of pants because judges prefer skirts.
She told reporters afterward she'll never forget being in law school at Wake Forest participating in a moot court competition in Louisiana with a panel of judges who provided very little feedback to here and her partner. "We stood there for 30 minutes after practicing for months and all you said was wear a skirt next time?" she said. "It was very frustrating. Don't tell females to wear different clothes while you give the men substantive feedback on their legal arguments."
New Mexico's Alejandra Gonzalez, the first runner-up, and Oklahoma's Triana Browne, the second runner-up, helped highlight the diversity of the competition on stage as the three finalists along with Kryst, who is African American. Gonzalez is Latina and Browne is of white, African American and Native American descent.
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. Kryst and Gonzalez faced each other holding hands during the moments before the winner was announced, then embraced with the news.
Kryst also runs a fashion blog that focuses on work-wear fashion for women. Kryst is the first Miss NC USA to win Miss USA since Kristen Dalton in 2009.
She will go on to represent the United States in the Miss Universe pageant.
Charlotte mayor Vi Lyles congratulated Kryst on Twitter.