• Miss USA 2024 Alma Cooper will compete in Miss Universe on November 16 in Mexico.

• Cooper is a United States Army officer and West Point graduate.

• The new Miss Universe will be crowned by Sheynnis Palacios, the first Miss Nicaragua to win.

Miss United States 2024 Alma Cooper hopes to become the 10th An American will win Miss Universe.

More than 100 women are competing for the prestigious crown. The winner will be announced Saturday evening in Mexico.

Here’s how Cooper, a US Army officerheaded towards the Miss Universe scene.

Alma Cooper always dreamed of competing at Miss USA.

“The competitions were like the Super Bowl in my house,” Cooper told Business Insider after winning the Miss United States title in August. “It really started from watching at home and being inspired by other women who have walked the same stage.”

Cooper’s mother had participated in the Miss America system, paying the competition fees with the money she earned teaching dance classes. When Cooper decided to compete in Miss Michigan Teen USA, she followed her mother’s lead.

“I got a job at Auntie Anne’s, the pretzel shop, so I could pay my own pageant fees because I wanted to compete so badly,” Cooper said. “I didn’t have a coach or anything.”

Cooper purchased her dress for Miss Michigan Teen USA 2016 on Facebook Marketplace. The second year she competed, in 2017, she placed first runner-up.

Cooper kept her pageant dreams alive while attending West Point, the United States Military Academy.

The pageant queen told BI she went to West Point with a vision board with photos of alumni Miss Michigan USA winners. She wanted to be the first active-duty Army officer to win the competition.

Cooper, a second lieutenant and military intelligence officer, graduated in the top 5 percent of his class of 2023.

Cooper is now a Knight-Hennessy Fellow at Stanford University, where she is pursuing a master’s degree in data science.

“Being at West Point built my character,” Cooper said. “It’s a place where every person is committed to a culture of excellence, to being part of something bigger than themselves.”

“I carry that with me in every aspiration and pursuit that I pursue – whether it’s at Stanford, whether it’s as an officer in the military, whether it’s at Miss USA,” she added.

Cooper believes that courage is an essential element of the military and pageantry.

“Being able to be intrinsically motivated, to have personal courage, is one of the values ​​of the Army,” she said. “And getting on stage in front of millions of people, a nationally televised audience, and wearing a swimsuit, that in itself is a way of demonstrating personal courage and believing in yourself.”

Cooper won the Miss USA 2024 pageant on August 4, becoming the first Afro-Latina woman to win the title.

During the interview, Cooper, who represented Michigan in the competition, spoke about his unique journey in the country. Miss United States scene.

“As the daughter of a migrant worker, a proud Afro-Latina woman, and a United States Army officer, I am living the American dream,” Cooper said during the pageant. “If there’s anything my life and my mother have taught me, it’s that circumstances never define our destiny.”

Cooper later told BI that she wanted to use her platform as Miss United States to elevate “the voices of individuals whose stories cannot be heard, whose stories cannot be shown.”

“I think the most important thing anyone can take away from my story is that if you’re someone who wants to do it all, you really can,” she added. “There are no limits to yourself except those you accept.”

Cooper won the Miss USA title after a tumultuous year for the organization.

Cooper was crowned by Savannah Gankiewiczwho assumed the title of Miss USA 2023 after Noélia Voigt resigned in May.

Voigt and Miss Teen USA 2023 UmaSofia Srivastava relinquished their crowns the same week. It was the first time a winner had relinquished her title in the pageant’s 72-year history.

Following their resignations, BI spoke with more than a dozen people connected to Miss USA and Miss Teen USA on the controversy and how CEO Laylah Rose’s leadership had an impact on the organization.

Despite the scandal, Cooper publicly congratulated Voigt and Srivastava.

“I am really grateful to receive the support and encouragement from Noelia and Uma,” she said. Today.com in September. “It really means a lot to me.”

Cooper will represent the United States at the Miss Universe finals in Mexico City on November 16.

The winner of the 73rd edition Miss Universe the competition will be crowned by Sheynnis Palacioswho was the first Miss Nicaragua to win the title.

The last American to win Miss Universe was R’Bonney Gabrielwho won the title in January 2023.

Read the original article on Business Insider