Crowned For Success

Pageant Queens have never exactly been known for their cool factor,

but Miss USA Elle Smith is changing all that. In fact, her go-to Instagram hashtag is #pageantryreimagined. You may have caught the 5’10” biracial stunner in Jack Harlow’s music video for his hit “Churchill Downs,”  She’s also been spotted alongside A-list celebrities on numerous red carpets and even this year’s Met Gala after-parties. In fact, when asked about her top pinch-me moment so far, she has a hard time picking just one.

“I’d have to say Super Bowl weekend,” she shares. “I had just moved to LA and it was my first introduction to the glam and the fast-paced lifestyle of the role. It’s definitely a plus to be able to go to all these things. It’s a lot of fun.”

Yet in all honesty, the life-changing moment she was awarded the Miss USA title was pretty much a complete blur. “I’ve watched my crowning video so many times. It was a rush of emotions: surrealness, excitement, shock, all these different things. You can see in my face I had no clue,” Smith, 24, admits. “Because my facial expressions were like, ‘Oh Lord, what just happened?’ You really don’t know who’s going to win. I was just praying. ‘Lord, one, help me smile my behind off if I don’t win and two, please lord, let me win.’”

Born and raised in Springfield, Ohio by her mother, a music teacher and her father, a photographer, pageantry never crossed her radar. It was when she moved down south to attend the University of Kentucky, later landing a reporting job at a local news station post-graduation, that she took notice. By then, she had adopted Kentucky as her home state, having grown up visiting relatives often and attending camp in the summer prior to heading to the Bluegrass State for college. “I love the people of Kentucky,” she says. “They are the most welcoming and the most kind. Southern Hospitality is a real thing and they welcomed me with open arms.”

She soon realized something else was big in the south: pageantry. In Kentucky, she says, “it seemed like everyone was competing in pageants. And I was thinking ‘What is this?’ But I started paying attention.” It was watching the late Cheslie Kryst nab the 2019 Miss USA crown that put Smith on her own path to the title. “In that moment, seeing a biracial beautiful Black woman win — and she was just a powerhouse: lawyer, educated, career-driven. I was like, “All right, I want to do this.’”

It took her inner circle a minute to get on board. “I remember texting my mom. I said, ‘Mark off your calendar. I’m competing in Miss Kentucky USA.’ She responded, ‘What is that?’ And I was like, oh Lordy, okay, nobody knows. I think they were all a little doubtful at first because it was something new. They had never heard of it.’”

For Smith, it was a remarkably quick road to victory that she humbly attributes to beginner’s luck. After entering the competition for 2020’s Miss Kentucky USA, she won and immediately started training for Miss USA. While splitting her time between her job as a reporter and national competition prep, a typical day for Smith began at dawn.

“I’d wake up around 5 a.m.,” she recalls. “I’d do a workout, start looking for stories to cover around 7:30, hop in the shower, get on a call, do editorial work from 9:00 to 6:30 p.m., come back, eat dinner, go work out again with my trainer, then do interview prep.”

All that, mind you, was on top of her travel and appearance duties as Kentucky’s state title holder. “Those were long days,” she recalls. “But you feel your most confident when you prepare the most. So, it helped me a lot.”

One of the biggest challenges for Smith: doing the answering and not the asking. “As a journalist, I was used to posing the questions and having control of the conversation, so it was a switch for me to be on the other side.”

By November 29, 2021, the night of the streamed and televised Miss USA competition, she was ready to break expectations. “My mom said to me, “Let’s aim for Top 15,’” she laughs. “I was like, ‘Mom, aim higher!’”

The significance of her win — and opening the door even further for representation in the pageant world — isn’t lost on her.  “Immediately, I got a flood of messages, talking about what it meant for all these different people. It’s a big honor. I want to represent all women who take a chance on themselves. I think a lot of people are skeptical of pageantry, but I’m a true testament that it can change your life. You don’t have to grow up doing it. And then also as a Black woman, as a biracial woman, representing for the culture — all the curly girls and the curvier girls. So that’s what I hope people take away from my reign.”

She’s extremely proud of the diversity of her class of contestants, many of whom she remains close with. “I love bragging on my class. We were so dope in different ways. I am an ethnicity of course, but then also my occupation. We had the first transgender woman compete, who was absolutely incredible. That community needed to see that and the pageant world needed to have that. I was so happy for her — it changed the game in the forefront. We had veterans, we had all different people. Our class, I think, we were truly representative of the modern-day woman. These women made me want to be better. I really do think Miss USA is a showcase of women’s power as a whole.”

Being chosen as the winner of an assemblage that impressive has been a lot to take in. “Sometimes I have to take a step back and realize, like, ‘Okay girl, you’re fine, you deserve to be here. You deserve to be in these spaces.’”

And while, yes, since winning, she’s been on the VIP list of countless star-studded events, her favorite part of the role has been the platform to give back. “Philanthropy, historically, has been a massive part of pageants and I think it should continue,” she states. The Miss USA organization currently partners with Smile Train, the world’s largest charity providing corrective surgery for children with cleft lips and palates and Best Buddies, a nonprofit that focuses on those with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

“I didn’t really know much about either, but now I’ve been able to do a deep dive with both and work closely with them,” she says. “It’s been eye-opening with regard to their missions and the people they’ve connected me with. I think it’s most impactful when you get to see the work firsthand, meeting the families and the children and getting to hear their testimonies. It’s very powerful. My favorite little boy from Smile Train — Santiago — lives in Mexico City. He’s precious. I watch his videos all the time.”

Smith’s travel and professional duties don’t leave much time for a relationship at the moment. “I will say, my DMs are an interesting place,” she teases. “But I am focused on myself and my career right now.”

Once her reign is up at the end of the year and it’s time for her to crown a new title holder, Smith plans to remain on the West Coast and potentially pursue an acting career. The only downside? She misses certain unique Kentucky comforts, bemoaning: “I can’t find any decent sweet tea!”