Miss Florida USA Faces

» Sisters are state title contenders But off the runway, they're not competitive
By SANDY STRICKLAND

The sisterly bond is too strong. Though they're in that most competitive of arenas - beauty pageants - there's no rivalry between these two Westside sisters. No comparing trophies. No trying to outdo each other. Besides, there's a six-year age gap between them.

Kimyata Perry, who will be 20 in September, has been crowned Miss First Coast USA, and Kayla Perry, 14, Miss First Coast Teen USA, soon will be competing for their respective state titles. They are the first sisters to win preliminaries in the same year for the Miss Florida USA system, said their mom, Kimberly Perry.

Perry, a UPS supervisor who's won her share of contests, taught them early on to stick to their goals. She reminds them before every competition that she and her husband, Emerson, a computer applications specialist at Shands Jacksonville, "have a vision for you to be the best you can be and to make a contribution to society by always blessing others."

Two years ago, when Kimyata was first runner-up for Miss First Coast, Mom told her that her goal was still ahead of her and not to be disappointed. She didn't compete last year but took the crown in May.

The sisters have a room full of trophies and about 300 crowns packed in boxes. But it's not about accumulating titles. They want to promote volunteerism and be an influence for good in the community.

Kayla, who will attend Ed White High School in the fall, said her big sister is a wonderful role model, a good student and avid reader who "speaks very well and makes me want to speak better."

Not surprisingly, Kimyata said her favorite part of competitions is the interview.

Kimyata volunteers two days a week in Tallahassee, where she is a junior at Florida State University. (The Stanton College Preparatory School graduate got three scholarship offers.)

When she was 13, she began volunteering at the LeRoy Butler Foundation Youth Camp. Most recently, she passed out books at the annual Reading Celebration at Metropolitan Park while Kayla sang. Kayla also works with special education students at Kernan Middle School.

Kimyata entered her first contest when she was 4 and competed for six years before stopping to play softball and run track. In high school, she was a majorette. She didn't compete again until her junior year. She's been taking Spanish for six years and wants to be a bilingual pediatrician.

Kayla started when she was 4 months old, competed until she was 4, took a break and resumed two years ago. When she was 18 months old, she was one of three pageant winners chosen from across the country to appear on Oprah. Kayla plans to study fashion design at FSU.

Win or lose, the sisters, who attend Faith Christian Church in Arlington, said their faith in God has always sustained them.

» Kudos & Did You Knows

- Kudos to Miss Kendall USA 2008 Stephanie Jiminez who led The Miami Dade Community College contingent at The National Conference for Best Buddies International hosted by Indiana University. Ms. Jiminez was also credited for starting the outreach program at Miami Dade was quite the celebrity as she is seen here pictured with our pageant troika of Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA. Way to represent The Sunshine State Stephanie!

- Kudos to the Teen USA Team of Halavin Productions who were special guests at the International Sister Cities Convention at The Broward County Convention Center. Miss Homestead/Florida Keys Teen USA Alyssa Rivera; Miss Southeast Florida Teen USA Rossana Pujol; Miss Broward County Teen USA Constancia Vilomar and Miss Oakland Park Teen USA Shayra Medal were quite the hit as both statewide and international leaders were in attendance. Way to do some power networking Team Halavin!

» 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!

We go to the mid east for this edition of our Picture of The Week. A reader submitted this picture from a beauty pageant at a hotel in north Lebanon. The Pageant participants posed for photographers in camouflage combat gear to salute Lebanese soldiers but it looks more a case of "crisis, what crisis?" Yes it’s a small pageant world after all for our Picture of The Week Winner!