Miss Florida USA Faces

The Miss Hollywood USA & Teen USA Pageants are always a highlight in our host cities social calendar. The Marriott Hollywood Beach was a beautiful location right on the world famous Broadwalk as The Hollywood Jaycees staged another great competition. The fifth edition of the revived (45 years from 1930 – 1975) pageant is a gathering of our South Florida pageant family as they join our hometown dignitaries and political leadership for a pre-pageant VIP party and reception.

Krizia Toledo (Hollywood Teen USA 2007), Rachel Rose (South Miami USA 2009) and Miss Rivera (left) &

Ms. Rivera with sister queens Phillipa Valencia (Pinecrest Teen USA) and Vania Pedraja (Sunset Place Teen USA)

Then it was down to the Grand Ballroom as a capacity crowd awaited the delegates. The competition was tough and the pageant well run as this year’s Pageant Director Deb Gronvold along with her committee members and volunteers of The Hollywood Jaycees put together a pageant on par with several state pageants. It was also great catching up with Florida USA & Teen USA alumni LauRen Merola who will represent Pennsylvania in Las Vegas. All in all it was a fun weekend and now we head to Daytona Beach as The Road to Hollywood continues!

Team Kendall USA, Team Pinecrest USA and Team South Miami USA were in the house.

Natalia Lopez (Pinecrest USA), Victoria Sanjurjo (Broward County Fair 2008); Danielle McCrimmon

(Miss Miami Tropics Teen); Jasmine Avery (Kendall Teen USA) and Kristen Sabina (Miss Miami Tropics Pre-Teen)

Who knew? Miss District of Columbia USA also happens to be a fledgling attorney. Chelsey Rodgers, a student at Howard University Law School, is heading for the Miss USA competition in April, and she spoke with Legal Times about what it’s like to be a law student and a beauty queen.

I am in my last year. 66 days away from graduation. Not that I’m counting or anything.

I’m going into corporate securities and business litigation. I took a job with McKee Nelson.

I still haven't figured that out yet to be honest. When I get that answer I’ll get back to you. It involves a lot of iced coffees.

It's interesting because when I started doing pageants I have to admit I had a bad misconception of what pageants were, but what they are looking for are young ladies who speak and carry themselves confidently and young ladies who can serve as good role models.

What sort of feedback do you get from professors or other students about being a beauty queen?

Well, my school is very supportive. Howard is just incredibly supportive in the first place. People really reach out to help each other.... Every now and then we do get a pageant joke or two. One time in class I got a question on arraignments, and I hadn’t done an arraignment since the previous semester. My answer was obviously wrong, and the professor looked at me and I paused and said “And world peace.”

My classmates gave me a standing ovation....You never know when a pageant technique might come in handy.

I do think it has, and I'm going to say that because with litigation you're dealing with being able to speak on your feet. I always say that the toughest interview I've ever had in my life is a pageant interview....There's no fear factor like being in a pageant interview because you have no idea what the next question is.

It’s a lot of mental preparation. I'm going to end up missing two and a half weeks of school which you know really, really breaks my heart, but it’s a lot of mental preparation for interviewing....And there's a lot of gym time. That might be my second degree right now.

If you win the Miss USA pagent, how will McKee Nelson handle you being gone for your first year?

When I expressed my desire to compete they were very supportive, and I mean the entire firm was very supportive....Besides, what law firm wouldn’t want a Miss USA to go out and meet with their clients.

Anticipating this year’s Miss USA pageant, Miss Florida USA 2008 Jessica Rafalowksi went on a shopping spree at Trust^ABBoutique, an upscale women’s clothing store located in North Miami Beach. Rafalowski was prepping for the dressy casual/cocktail attire category at the televised event, to be held on April 11^th in Las Vegas. The merchandise she selected, totaling $1,000, was provided by boutique owner Andrea Bakalarz, whose philosophy is personalized service for the style-conscious woman.

Bakalarz commented, “We are pleased to have Miss Florida wear the clothes that

Trust ^AB Boutique carries because our collections embody the modern young woman. They are classy, stylish and sophisticated. As a style expert, it was a great honor to work with Miss Florida to prepare her for such an important occasion.”

Trust^AB is located in Biscayne Commons at 14741 Biscayne Blvd. in North Miami Beach. For more information on Trust^AB, call 305-957-7033 or visit www.trustboutique.com.

Jessica Shopping for Miss USA & looking like a supermodel in her Trust AB clothing

Kudos to Miss Tampa Teen Brianna Lupo who was a special guest at Neiman Marcus Premier Fashion show Thursday March 7th at the Tampa Palms County Club. There was shopping, Diner, and a charity runway fashion show. It was a great evening of fashion and philanthropy in the Hillsborough region. Way to go out and get involved Brianna.

Going online Saturday night will be the best of shots from The Miss Ormond Beach USA Pageant to be held at The Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center. We have found a great host for all of our pictures before they are formally posted here on our home page starting on Monday. Visit http://virb.com/missfloridausa! Always trying to stay ahead of the communications curve here at Miss Florida USA.

In our ongoing attempt to be everywhere on the internet we now have an active Face Book Site. We love the interaction and ability to contact our friends and keep them up to date with the latest in pageant news and pictures. Surf to www.FaceBook.com/MissFloridaUSA and say hello!

» 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!

This week’s edition of our Picture of The Week heads to The Philippines as the joy of winning is endearing in any country and language. Here we have the newly crowned beauty queen Patricia Fernandez reacts as her crown falls during coronation night. Even with tiara’s flying the emotion and reaction of the moment is celebrated with our Picture of The Week!