A Kentucky news reporter Elle Smith, decided to go in for her very first pageant; and has been crowned Miss USA at the River Spirit Casino Resort in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Monday. “A little over a year ago, I sat in bed and watched Miss USA. I remember watching @andreiagibau @sthephaniemariemiranda @mariahclayton_ and so many more incredible women grace the stage, and thinking; ‘I want to be on that stage. I want to be like them,’ ” she wrote on Instagram. Elle was presented the crown by her fellow black woman Asya Branch; who was the first black woman from Mississippi to win the Miss USA in 2020.
The 23-year-old beauty Queen, works full-time as a reporter in Kentucky and said being a journalist is; “a role I take very seriously.” During the pageant’s question and answer round; she spoke about subjects including honesty and sustainability, revealing that her; “most important core value” was honesty.
“We’ve got to look at it from a macro and also a micro level,” Smith said, encouraging businesses to be more environmentally conscious. “So at the macro level, companies need to switch to green energy; I think that’s something we can all agree on.” “But then, at the micro level, we all know how to reduce, reuse, and recycle; and those are all things we can implement in our daily life.” She continued.
Elle Smith graduated from the university in May 2020 with a degree in broadcast journalism. She now works as a full-time reporter at WHAS, an ABC affiliate in Louisville, Kentucky.
It was not made immediately clear whether Smith will continue with her job as a journalist, but she will soon head to Israel to compete for the title of Miss Universe on the 12th of December. Congratulations Queen!