The new Miss America, Kira Kazantsev, was in metro Atlanta last week for some appearances. She also had her official portrait made at the Matt Boyd Photography studio in Smyrna.
Given her memorable talent performance, where she sat on the floor singing “Happy” while tapping a plastic cup, we brought a red Solo™ cup to the interview to see if she’d sing “Georgia On My Mind” or maybe “Oh, Atlanta” while tapping it on the ground.
Well, that didn’t happen.
Instead, here’s a quick recap of our interview:
Q: What’s it like being Miss America?
A: Being Miss America is life changing. It’s a complete whirlwind. I went from living in New York and trying to make my way, and now I’m Miss America and on the road, just realizing, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m Miss America.’ I’m still processing that.”
Q: What went through your mind when they crowned you?
A: I tried to live that moment as much as possible. I walked to the end of the runway and I saw my mom. It’s her victory as much as mine.
Q: Talk about your platform (domestic violence awareness).
A: It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life. I’ve learned so much about domestic violence. It goes to women being seen as lesser beings than men. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Domestic Violence does not discriminate. It has no barriers. I want to be able to attend women’s conferences and speak on important women’s issues.
Q: Since becoming Miss America incidents from your past have become public (Jezebel was first to report that as a college student she was kicked out of her sorority at Hofstra University following a hazing incident. She has since written on her blog that she only made a joke about hazing and was “never involved in any physical hazing or any degradation of physical appearance of any kind.”) How have you dealt with that?
A: It’s one more thing for me to get to speak to. No matter what’s happened in your past, you control the outcome of your future. I made mistakes. I was a kid. He who has not sinned can throw the first stone at me.
Q: What’s the least glamorous thing you like to do?
A: I love at the end of the day to take my make up off and watch ‘Top Chef’ reruns on Hulu. It’s not all glamour. We travel a lot. It’s hard to get your life packed into two suitcases. I’m not a beauty queen. I’m not a pageant girl. There is so much more to this, so many opportunities. It’ll just set me up for my future.
Q: What would you tell the millions of little girls who look up to you and want to follow in your footsteps?
A: My message is to please do what you want to do. Be true to themselves.
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