missNY

I can’t even describe how excited I am! I mean, it might be the sleep deprivation, as I am running on around 3 hours of ZZZs, but I doubt it.

Jack Dyville, our producer for the Miss New York 2014 pageant, called it- Lightning Struck again! Kira Kazantsev was crowned Miss America 2015 last night in Atlantic City and I was there to witness this historical moment! 🙂

Miss America!
(Her head shot for Miss New York)

Never in Miss America history has a state won the coveted 4-point crown 3 years in a row. But of course, that didn’t mean we as a state weren’t wishing Kira would take the crown after Nina Davuluri. After all, New York has a history full of firsts:

Bess Myerson, Miss America 1945, was the first Jewish Miss America (and first Miss New York to win Miss America)
Vanessa Lynn Williams, Miss America 1983, was the first African American Miss America.
Nina Davuluri, Miss America 2014, was the first Indian American Miss America, and the first to perform a Bollywood fusion dance on the Miss America stage.

Kira’s headshot for Miss America

If you’re just jumping on the bandwagon that is my blog, let me remind you that I had the privilege of competing with this and 20 other young women from across the state in May for the title of Miss New York. I am not one to lie, or sugar coat things, or hide my true feelings, but I will tell you straight up that Kira is one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. She’s engaging, intelligent, and is just BUBBLY. I don’t even know how to describe it without going cliche and saying she’s just “Happy” (her talent piece last night!). She exudes a spark in her personality that shines through on stage, but more importantly offstage.

Again, I won’t lie. When I was headed down to Staten Island to compete of course I wanted to win, and yes if I couldn’t win I had someone else as “my Miss New York,” but when the show was over I understood the judges’ decision and was so happy for Kira. When I first saw her on stage at Miss New York the year before (as Miss Cosmopolitan) I loved her and when she was on stage last night at Miss America I loved her. She’s a great representation of the Miss New York organization and will be a phenomenal Miss America.

Kira’s Miss Cosmopolitan headshot

I am also a singer for my talent, and while you may be thinking rude, harsh thoughts about her talent, let me tell it to you straight: I’m not head over heels in love with Kira’s talent. I admit that. But it’s catchy. It’s trendy. It gets you talking and it got us (the audience) standing up and clapping along. It’s modern and fun. Plus, she’s honest with it. She hasn’t been studying vocal performance since she could crawl. She’s someone any little girl can look up to and think “Wow, she’s Miss America!— Mommy, can I be Miss America?” She’s someone people can aspire to be like and actually reach without dedicating their lives to a performing art. Kira’s story reminds me a bit of Kellye Cash, Miss America 1987’s (minus the smart part, because Kira most certainly is intelligent!)

“I did lots of things. I was a pianist, but not quite good enough to get a music scholarship; an athlete, but I didn’t play a varsity sport; smart, but not smart enough to get an academic scholarship. So competing in the Miss America program was an opportunity to get a scholarship for school.”

As she stated, it’s not all about talent, or all about intelligence

Also, I want to remind people- especially those who aren’t 100% familiar with the Miss America system, of the judging process. Yes, scores are “erased” before the final night (for areas of competition during finals), however they ARE used throughout the evening.

Scoring which determines top 5, as per Miss America, is:

Composite Score – 30% (of the preliminary competition): Determines semi-finalists.
Lifestyle and Fitness in Swimsuit – 20% : determines who moves on to top 12
Evening Wear – 20%
Talent – 30% : NOT used to determine who is eliminated after the talent competition. Instead, a combination of all the above scores (composite, L&F, EG, Talent) determine top 5 (out of top 10)
On-Stage Question is used for the final ballot to remind judges of the interview portion:
Final Ballot – Each judge ranks the Top 5 contestants in the order he/she believes they should each finish. The outcome of the pageant is based solely on the point totals resulting from the final ballot.

Let’s just say Kira scored a 5 in talent (which I don’t believe, as I was there and the audience had a blast, clapping along and really enjoying her performance).
Even with a 5 in talent, her total score could still be in the 80s (out of 100), which would certainly be enough to gain her a top 16 spot. With that top 16 spot she would obviously move along past Lifestyle and Fitness, as she looked great on stage.

Rocking her Catalina swimwear on the Miss America stage

After swim, there was evening wear. I am so thrilled that she stuck to her guns and her own personal style in keeping with the same silhouette and design of her Miss New York gown which was so controversial. For those of you who didn’t see, Kira’s gown for Miss New York was almost the exact same design as the one she wore at the national pageant, just in a white jersey instead of a green satin.

Deja vu!

Personally, I loved the material and the clean lines of the new version, but I do wish it had some color. I was kind of bored during the final evening gown walks because all but 2 girls had yellow, cream, or white gowns. Either way, Kira was definitely in the top. She exuded confidence on stage and looked very red carpet worthy.

Next was her talent performance, which I’ll remind you all that this wasn’t the defining area of competition as to whether or not she makes top 5. Like I stated earlier, I don’t love the talent, but I understand it and I commend Kira for sticking by what she believes in. There were no smoke nor mirrors, nor trying to create a talent for the stage (which I’ve seen done before). Plus, I happen to find Wilson (the name of her cup) to be a pretty fun prop for use in schools and hospitals when she’s on her Miss America tour.

“The reason why I chose to do that talent is I wanted every single little girl in America to be able to see that you can do that talent — you can do whatever talent you want on national television — even with a red cup — and still be Miss America and have the time of your life. I literally in that minute and 30 seconds had the most fun I’ve ever had, and that’s because I stayed true to myself and I did what I wanted to do for my talent, no matter what everybody else told me, and it paid off. I’m very happy about it.” -Kira Kasantsev, Miss America 2015

Look at that smile! She’s HAPPY 🙂

Sure, it may not have been the best, but taking in the rest of her phenomenal performance throughout the evening (and the week!) I have no question as to why she was selected as a top 5 finalist. Then BAM, she nailed her on-stage question with almost a perfect answer (My only wish is she had 5 more seconds to mention Kirsten Gillibrand by name).

To wrap up this congratulatory post, here are some shots of Kira’s crowning moment. 🙂

Congratulations Kira, and I’m so thrilled to be able to say that I now know 3 beautiful, intelligent, and wonderful Miss America titleholders. 🙂

Wondering what’s in the water in New York for this crazy tradition of #winning? I hope it’s not tiger blood… Personally, I think it’s just a deep love and pride of this amazing state we call home. 🙂

Warm (and exhausted) regards,

Crowning Adventures

Three in a Row! Congratulations Kira!

Miss New York 2014 Recap