For the first time ever, an active duty U.S. female Army officer was crowned Miss USA on Sunday — the same year that a trans-identifying male won the Miss Maryland beauty pageant.
On Sunday, at the Miss USA Pageant in Los Angeles, Miss Michigan, Alma Cooper, smiled as she walked the catwalk, waving to the crowd while wearing the tiara and a sash that read Miss USA, CNN reported.
Cooper — who is a second lieutenant who serves as a military intelligence officer — told judges during the Q&A portion of the pageant that “as the daughter of a migrant worker, a proud Afro Latina woman and an officer of the United States Army, I am living the American dream.”
“If there’s anything that my life and my mother have taught me, it’s that your circumstances never define your destiny: You can make success accessible through demanding excellence,” she added.
Alma Cooper, the winner of Miss USA 2024, has explained that her family values became the driving force for her success, and she…