Who Won Miss USA 2024? Miss Michigan to Represent U.S. at Miss Universe [PHOTOS]
Meet the new Miss USA. On Sunday, August 4, Alma Cooper of Michigan became the third woman to hold the Miss USA title in 2024.
Cooper, a 22-year-old Army officer, was crowned at a ceremony in Los Angeles broadcast live on The CW. The Stanford University alum takes over from the previous Miss USA Savannah Gankiewicz of Hawaii. Gankiewicz assumed the title in May after Noelia Voigt of Utah stepped down. Though Voigt publicly cited mental health reasons as her reason for handing back the crown, in a leaked resignation letter, she complained of a toxic work environment and poor management within the Miss USA organization, CNN reported.
Miss Michigan Alma Cooper received her Miss USA crown from the 2023 titleholder Savannah Gankiewicz at the August 4 pageant, which was held at the Peacock Theater in L.A.
Cooper is a second lieutenant and military intelligence officer. She graduated in the top 5% of her class at West Point, the Lansing State Journal reported. Cooper also has a master’s degree in data science from Stanford.
“As the daughter of a migrant worker, a proud Afro-Latina woman, and an officer in the United States Army, I am living the American dream,” Cooper said during the Q&A portion of the pageant, which was hosted by RHOBH star Garcelle Beauvais and Keltie Knight of E! News.
Miss Kentucky Connor Perry was the first runner-up at the pageant. Miss Oklahoma Danika Christopherson was the second runner-up.
Cooper has said that she hopes her pageant success as an Afro-Latina woman will inspire other women of color.
“Other contestants may be drawn to pageants for their glitz and glamour, but I see the stage as an opportunity to represent the many girls of color who often go unseen and unheard, and to inspire others to free themselves from circumstances and perceptions about who they are,” she wrote in an essay about why she wanted to compete for the Miss USA title.
Cooper will represent the United States at the upcoming 73rd Miss Universe pageant in Mexico. Winners from more than 100 countries will compete for the title at the event later in 2024, where the current Miss Universe, Sheynnis Palacios of Nicaragua, will crown her successor. A date has not yet been announced.
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