Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
North Carolina Lawyer Cheslie Kryst Named Miss USA 2019
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
May 3, 2019

Share

RENO, Nev. — A 27-year-old lawyer from North Carolina 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.

“I’m standing here in Nevada, in the state that has the first female majority legislature in the entire country. 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 Kryst

Asked in the final round to use one word to summarize her generation, Cheslie Kryst of Charlotte 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.”

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.

Browne 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. Gonzalez, whose mother immigrated to the United States from Mexico, founded a nonprofit that teaches children the importance of being literate.

Kryst Earned a Law Degree and an MBA

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 said she didn’t feel nervous as she advanced through the elimination rounds.

“I just kept hearing my name get called,” she said. As she waited for the winner to be announced, “All I could think was, ‘This is really cool.’ ”

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.

“Glass ceilings can be broken wearing either a skirt or pants,” Kryst said.

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.

Photo of Miss USA 2019
Miss North Carolina Cheslie Kryst, center, gets mobbed by her fellow contestants after winning the 2019 Miss USA final competition in the Grand Theatre in the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nev., on Thursday, May 2, 2019. Kryst, a 27-year-old lawyer from North Carolina who represents some prison inmates for free, won the 2019 Miss USA title Thursday night in a diverse field that included teachers, nurses and members of the military. (Jason Bean/The Reno Gazette-Journal via AP)

Kryst Now Advances to the Miss Universe Competition

“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.”

“I can’t say pageants make you beautiful. I think they make your more confident in the person that you are.” — Cheslie Kryst

Kryst who advances to the Miss Universe competition, was crowned by 2018 Miss USA Sarah Rose Summers of Nebraska. 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.

“It was a time in my life when I didn’t’ know who I was and wasn’t confident in myself. I was that little weird kid who had a unibrow and didn’t have any friends. My hair was always pulled back. I thought I want to be just like her,” she said.

Kryst went on to compete in pageants in high school.

“I can’t say pageants make you beautiful. I think they make your more confident in the person that you are,” she said.

“I’m still that same weird kid. I still like reading books. And at the end of the day, I like to sit by myself in my house and just watch movies. But I think pageants taught me all that, and my mom was really the one who introduced me to that and drew me to pageantry.”

DON'T MISS

Braves’ Jurickson Profar Hit With 80-Game PED Ban

DON'T MISS

Watch: City Demolishes Historic Chinatown Building to Make Way for Housing

DON'T MISS

The Mystery of Melania Trump’s Wedding Dress and an eBay Sale

DON'T MISS

Heading to Sierra? Prepare for Heavy Snow

DON'T MISS

Mexican National Caught in Fresno County Pleads Guilty to Fentanyl Trafficking

DON'T MISS

CA Snowpack Is Near-Average. What Does This Mean for Water Supplies?

DON'T MISS

Shohei Ohtani Adds Another No. 1 to His Resume: MLB’s Best-Selling Jersey

DON'T MISS

Tush Push Is the Hottest Topic at the NFL League Meetings

DON'T MISS

U.S. Bank Executive Terry Dolan Dies in Plane Crash Near Minneapolis

DON'T MISS

Trump Administration Will Review Billions in Funding for Harvard

UP NEXT

Gronk-a-Mania Set to Run Wild Over WrestleMania Weekend

UP NEXT

Head of Amazon’s TV and Film Steps Down

UP NEXT

Prosecutor Seeks 18-Month Suspended Sentence for Depardieu if Convicted of Sexual Assault

UP NEXT

Plant-Based Eating in Middle Age Linked to Healthier Senior Years

UP NEXT

Woman Accuses Actor Gérard Depardieu of Sexual Assault on Film Set

UP NEXT

Topgolf Coming to the Central Valley? Chukchansi Gold to Open First Swing Suite

UP NEXT

‘Juntos’ Tour Brings Regional Mexican Superstars to Fresno This Summer

UP NEXT

Jury Finds Greenpeace Liable for Hundreds of Millions in Damages

UP NEXT

Jesse Colin Young, Singer Who Urged Us to ‘Get Together,’ Dies at 83

UP NEXT

Tracy Morgan Says He’s OK, Food Poisoning Caused Incident at Knicks-Heat Game

Heading to Sierra? Prepare for Heavy Snow

1 hour ago

Mexican National Caught in Fresno County Pleads Guilty to Fentanyl Trafficking

1 hour ago

CA Snowpack Is Near-Average. What Does This Mean for Water Supplies?

2 hours ago

Shohei Ohtani Adds Another No. 1 to His Resume: MLB’s Best-Selling Jersey

3 hours ago

Tush Push Is the Hottest Topic at the NFL League Meetings

3 hours ago

U.S. Bank Executive Terry Dolan Dies in Plane Crash Near Minneapolis

3 hours ago

Trump Administration Will Review Billions in Funding for Harvard

4 hours ago

Former MLB Pitcher CJ Wilson of Fresno on New Torpedo Bats: ‘Still Room for Innovation’

4 hours ago

Man Arrested After Shooting at Fresno’s Switch Nightclub

4 hours ago

Who Is Fresno’s ‘Fake’ ICE Agent? He Speaks Up

5 hours ago

Braves’ Jurickson Profar Hit With 80-Game PED Ban

NEW YORK — Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar has been suspended for 80 games without pay for performance-enhancing drug use. Major ...

22 minutes ago

Jurickson Profar
22 minutes ago

Braves’ Jurickson Profar Hit With 80-Game PED Ban

48 minutes ago

Watch: City Demolishes Historic Chinatown Building to Make Way for Housing

Photo of First Lady Melania Trump
1 hour ago

The Mystery of Melania Trump’s Wedding Dress and an eBay Sale

1 hour ago

Heading to Sierra? Prepare for Heavy Snow

Miguel Obed Romero Reyes, 25, of Sinaloa, Mexico, pleaded guilty Monday, March 31, 2025, to trafficking more than 200,000 fentanyl pills after authorities seized the drugs during a traffic stop on Interstate 5. (DOJ)
1 hour ago

Mexican National Caught in Fresno County Pleads Guilty to Fentanyl Trafficking

2 hours ago

CA Snowpack Is Near-Average. What Does This Mean for Water Supplies?

3 hours ago

Shohei Ohtani Adds Another No. 1 to His Resume: MLB’s Best-Selling Jersey

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) lines up for the goal line Tush Push play during the NFL championship playoff football game against the Washington Commanders, Jan. 26, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP File)
3 hours ago

Tush Push Is the Hottest Topic at the NFL League Meetings

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend