Another Year, Another Miss USA

Story by Jaslene Barnes. Photo courtesy of WLKY.com

It’s that time of the year, where America crowns a new Miss USA! Miss USA has been going on since it first started in1952. When you become Miss USA, you influence other young women and children to find their voice and to become more confident in themselves. As Miss USA, you also get lots of advertising deals. 

This year’s winner is Miss Kentucky, Elle Smith! Elle is a 23-year-old Louisville reporter who graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2020. She is the first bi-racial women to win Miss USA and she is the 4th black women to win the title. The ones that came before her were: Carole Anne-Marie in 1990, Deshauna Barber in 2016, Kára McCullough in 2017 and Kaliegh Garris in 2019.

Since you might be wondering what she’ll use her platform for, Elle said, “As Miss USA, my job is to connect with people. I should be able to speak with a three-year-old, I should be able to speak with a 90-year-old veteran or the CEO of a business, and we do that every single day at work. You're speaking to a wide range of personalities and meeting different people with different perspectives, and so I think that's the big thing that I take from work and then translate it to Miss Kentucky USA, which I hope I can translate to Miss USA.” 

 Jaslene Barnes is an 8th grade scholar at Friendship Woodridge International School.