*Alma Cooper is more than the reigning Miss USA. As the first Afro-Latina and the first active-duty service member, she is a certified history maker with a purpose. A purpose that involves laying the blueprint for success for anyone with a dream to live out their full potential.
“It feels really meaningful to represent something bigger than myself. I think that being a biracial woman, I hope to show others that if you can see me, you can be me,” Cooper, who mentioned that she doesn’t take the weight of her win lightly, told Today.com.
“For people who may be the only (competitor) or may not see a lot of people who look like them or come from places like them in spaces where they want to be, I hope that being Miss USA inspires others to chase their dreams in totality, and to know that I see them, that they are seen, and that their voices are welcomed, and that not only do they deserve to be here, but they belong here.”
Cooper’s groundbreaking reign as Miss USA comes amid a pair of achievements that predate the start of her stint on August, 22. The West Point graduate, who grew up in a small Michigan town outside East Lansing called Okemos and graduated at the top of her class, is also a U.S. Army second lieutenant military intelligence officer, not to mention a data scientist who came out of Stanford University with a masters degree, Today.com noted.
Cooper’s Miss USA reign represents a positive change for the organization after negative headlines changed the perception of the annual event. Earlier this year, former Miss USA 2023 Noelia Voigt, former Miss USA Teen 2023 UmaSofia Srivastava, and former Miss Colorado USA 2023 Arianna Lemus each relinquished their national titles within days of one another, the site mentioned.
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Upon crowning Cooper, former Miss USA 2023 Savannah Gankiewicz references of the tumultuous year upon Cooper after taking over the crown after Voigt resigned.
“I think I can say I’ve had the most unique reign in history,” Gankiewicz said on stage.
Despite the controversy and confusion within the Miss USA organization, Cooper cited her commitment to being of service as a factor in her continuing in this year’s competition.
“I think what propelled me to want to compete is to be of service, and anyway that I can do that, that’s what I felt compelled to do,” said Cooper, who now serves as a second lie.
She added: “I’ve been grateful to receive support and encouragement from Noelia and Uma. That’s meant a lot to me.”
In addition to serving the community h, Cooper also found motivation in her father Stacey Cooper, a former officer for the U.S. Army for 24 years, and mother, Oralia Cooper, who competed in the Miss America organization and introduced her to beauty pageants and the fight of getting to the stage.
“My mom and I both come from humble beginnings. She wanted to compete in her state preliminary pageant for Miss America, but she couldn’t afford it,” she shared with Today
To further Cooper’s dream, a self-taught dancer and local dance clinic paid her pageant fees in exchange for teaching dances at the studio.
“That is how she paved the way and made her dream accessible — by leaving no stone unturned and never allowing her circumstances to define her destiny,” Cooper stated.
Cooper’s road to Miss USA came from watching pageant competitions as a girl. From seeing “some of the most talented, educated and inspirational women across the country,” the beauty queen got her first taste of pageant life at age 14 finishing as a first runner-up competing in the Michigan Teen USA competition when she was 14. In 2018 and 2019, Cooper tried her luck again, finishing as a semifinalist.
In Cooper’s eyes, the first competition, and the close calls after, “got the ball rolling in my dream to compete at Miss USA one day.” That one day resulted in a win on a national scale finally competing for Miss USA.
When asked how people can “bridge the gap between different cultures” and “foster understanding and respect” during the competition, Cooper referenced her ethnicity and upbringing.
“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,” she told Today. “If there’s anything my life and my mother taught me, it’s that your circumstances never define your destiny.”
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