Miss Florida USA Faces

After month’s of hard work and preparation it’s about time our Miss Florida USA Jenna Edwards heads to Los Angeles and that other Hollywood! This past Tuesday night was a wonderful sendoff with a showing of unity for our Ms. Edwards on the soundstages of The Hollywood Production Center. A mix of pageant sponsors, preliminary directors, titleholders, friends and family all had one thing on their mind, showing love and support!

South Florida Fair Director Dan and Miss Southeast Florida USA Christian Ericksen (left)

Carey from Regalia, Judith Coffman and Amy Diaz, Miss Homestead/FL Keys 2007 (left) &

We love the girlies! (left) Pageant Director Mary Lou Gravitt presents the queens roses! (right)

Amongst the highlights of the evening was our guest of honor who was put on the spot for an impromptu speech. Ms. Edwards really touched the hearts of all of the attendees as she acknowledged the support of her many new friends and fans. This is one great role model for our entire state and we look forward to taking this group on the road as look for record support amongst our pageant family in Los Angeles.

It was such an amazingly uplifting experience as our Ms. Edwards took her Queen For A Day Program for the first time to Ft. Lauderdale’s Chris Everett Children’s Hospital for an afternoon of pageantry and friendship. We meet seven patients of the oncology unit and had a day of makeup and girlie fun along with something a little more masculine for the boys! Joining us for the afternoon were Miss Broward County USA Lyndsey Shockey; Miss Broward County Fair Jaclyn Wohlbrand; Miss Citrus USA Erica Beltre; Miss Doral USA Nataly Rosenberg and Miss Kendall USA Stephanie Jimenez along with The Apprentice 2006 Participant Marisa DeMato.

Ms. Jimenez make a new friend (left), Ms. Shockey with Mark Schumacher from The Chris Everett Hospital (center)

The party heated up when the NBC camera’s showed up to do a feature on this outstanding national charity. Miami television personality Tony Segreto lent his presence to this day and sat down with Ms. Edwards for a lengthy interview that will be part of a three part news series on QFAD. For more information on how you can become involved visit www.QFAD.org.

Fellow Hurricane Tony Segreto of WTVJ-NBC6 of South Florida (left) Smiles became the order of the day! (right)

» Miss West Broward USA to Rock Stardom!

The official website photo

Kudos to our Miss West Broward USA 2007 Chelsea Korka who is a finalist on the CW's new music/reality series, "Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for The Next Doll," a behind-the-scenes look at the process of selecting a new member to join one of the world's most successful performing and recording acts. Out of the thousands of gifted hopefuls who audition, only one young woman will make it through the challenges and undergo a total transformation to win her place in the spotlight as the newest member of the Pussycat Dolls.

The show follows the contestants weekly through auditions and challenges. After a nationwide audition process, the judges narrowed the dancers down to the final group of nine young women, who moved into a loft in Los Angeles' fashion district during the competition. Each episode has a specific theme - confidence, creativity and style are just a few of the themes addressed. Challenges include ballet dancing in toe shoes, designing an original Pussycat Doll-style outfit and learning a dance routine with male partners. The show is executive produced by Robin Antin (The Pussycat Dolls), Steven Antin ("Young Americans"), Ron Fair (Geffen Records), Laura Fuest ("Beauty and the Geek"), Jimmy Iovine (Interscope Geffen A&M Records), McG ("Supernatural," "The O.C."), and Ken Mok ("America's Next Top Model").

Ms. Korka’s winning moment (left) & rocking the microphone last Easter weekend

We are so proud of our Ms. Korka as she overcame many hurdles to compete at Miss West Broward USA and then take her title to Miss Florida USA. All along the way it was obvious she was a special woman. We wish her the best as this is the kind of opportunity that can lead to a great career. Can’t wait for the series to begin!

» Dozer Days in Ocala

Team North Central Florida USA and Team Gainesville USA got together this weekend and volunteered their entire Saturday to assisting with the 5th annual Dozer Days event in Ocala, benefitting the Children's Home Society (www.helpfloridachildren.org). Chelsea Donovan, Miss North Central Florida USA 2007; Lindsay Bolender Miss North Central Florida Teen USA 2007; Miss Marion County USA 2008 Meghan Isom and Marion County Teen USA 2008 Jaclyn Raulerson all put on their tiara’s for a good cause.

The event featured almost 100 pieces of construction equipment that children were able to ride on and operate, K-9 demonstrations, SWAT demonstrations, helicopter water drops, hayrides, facepainting, and more. The girls were in charge of the Sand Dig, where they were responsible for burying lots of "treasure" in a ton of sand and then supervising while children dug for the hidden treasure. (As you can see, the kids weren't the only ones who had fun digging in the sand!!!)

» Nicole Miller Night in South Beach

» PICTURES & STORIES WANTED!

If you enjoy reading the stories of our Miss Florida USA Family and want us to know what great things are happening either during or after you reign please email us at telair@aol.com. We love touting our sorority of outstanding Florida women. Please send us a paragraph (or two) on your appearances, awards or community service and include pictures. We want you to have all of the support of this great lifestyle we call Miss Florida USA!

» Alumni News Wanted!

If you know of any Miss Florida USA alumni in the news please drop us an email to feature them in future articles. Email all info to info@missfloridausa.com! Until next week here to good pageantry!

PICTURE OF THE WEEK!

Our Picture of The Week Committee absolutely fell for a great picture of our Miss Florida USA Jenna Edwards with one of her Queen For A Day recipients at this past Sunday’s Mercedes Tennis Championships. We are suckers for cute little girlies with our titleholders but then throw in a back story that included the entire University of Miami’s Women’s Tennis Team showing up in force for her first tennis lesson, you know good deeds are happening. For that alone we salute the recipients of our POTW title!