Pageants To Politics: Women Who Conquered in Pageantry, Politics, and Political Journalism

Image Credits: Katie Hansen

Pageant queens are trained to be articulate, strong, powerful, and graceful throughout their years of participating in pageant competitions. This is a great launching pad into journalism and politics. These successful pageant queens have empowered other women through their political and journalistic works as well as through their pageant titles.

Shannon Bream: Fox News Channel Supreme Court Correspondent, Host for Fox News @ Night, Anchor, Miss Virginia 1990, Miss Florida USA 1995

Shannon Bream (DePuy) graduated Liberty University with a major in Business in 1993 and graduated from Florida State University College of Law in 1996. Bream competed in Miss America’s Miss Virginia 1990 competition, while she was at Liberty. She went on to win the title of Miss Virginia in 1990 and placed in the Top 10 at the Miss America 1991 competition. In 1995, While at FSU College of Law, Bream competed for and won the title of Miss Florida USA 1995. Bream placed in the Top 6 at the Miss USA 1995 competition. She was also awarded the honor of being the first female commencement speaker at Liberty’s graduation in 2013. Bream was the Supreme Court Correspondent for Fox News before becoming a host for the network. She is currently the host of Fox News’ “Fox @ Night” after being with Fox News since 2007.

Gretchen Carlson: Author, CBS Correspondent, Fox News Anchor, Miss Minnesota 1988, Miss America 1989

Gretchen Carlson graduated from Stanford University with honors as well as having studied for a year in England at Oxford University. At the age of 13, she performed with the Minnesota Symphony as a soloist on the violin. While at Stanford, Carlson won the title of Miss Minnesota in 1988 and went on to win the title of Miss America in 1989. Carlson was the first Miss America to win the crown with performing on the classical violin as her talent. Carlson was recently named the new Chairwoman of the Miss America Board of Directors in January of this year. In 2000, she hosted the CBS show “The Saturday Early Show” and was a correspondent for CBS during that time. She then went on to host her own show at Fox News entitled “The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson”. Later in her career, Carlson made history by filling a lawsuit against, then Chairman of Fox News, Roger Ailes. The lawsuit accused him of sexual harassment and other similar allegations. Prior to the lawsuit, Carlson co-hosted Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” for over 7 years. She is now the founder of the Gift of Courage Fund.

Erika Harold: Illinois Attorney General 2018 Candidate, Attorney, Miss Illinois 2002, Miss America 2003

Erika Harold graduated from the University of Illinois and graduated from Harvard Law School. During her enrollment process to Harvard Law School she found out some seemingly devastating news. She was not able to afford the tuition fee that the prestigious law school required. Harold then realized that the Miss America Organization is the biggest scholarship provider in the world for young women. She competed for the title of Miss Illinois in 2002 and went on the win the title of Miss America in 2003. During her time as Miss America, she told her personal story of overcoming the hardships of bullying with over 100,000 young students in the nation. Harold went on to work as an attorney for Sidley Austin LLP and Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella, P.C. In the year 2015, Harold was appointed to the Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Equality. Currently, she is a Commissioner for the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism. Early on March 21, 2018, Harold won the Illinois Attorney General Republican primary. She is now in the running for Illinois’ Attorney General.

Lauren Matsumoto: Member of the Hawaii House of Representatives from the 45^th District, Founding Member of the Echelon Board of the Salvation Army- Hawaiian and Pacific Islands, Miss Hawaii 2011

Lauren Matsumoto graduated from the University of Hawaii and graduated from Hawaii Pacific University. During her time at the University of Hawai’i, she competed as a Divison 1 scholar-athlete in Women’s Water Polo. After graduation from the University of Hawai’i, Matsumoto competed for and won the title of Miss Hawaii 2011. The following year, Matsumoto competed for the Miss America crown. There she was awarded for her success at raising the most money, at the national level, for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and was a finalist for the Quality of Life award. Matusmoto performed a jump rope routine on the Miss America stage to the theme song of Hawai’i 5-0. She subsequently won the talent portion of the competition. At the age of 25, Matsumoto began her political career and quickly began her service in the Hawaii House of Representatives in 2012. In 2015, Matsumoto was elected to the Women In Government National Board as the Western Regional Board Director.