Our new Miss USA is an Army officer and she totally nailed last night’s pageant questions
We officially have a new Miss USA and we are completely stoked about her! Her name is Deshauna Barber, she’s from the District of Columbia, she’s an IT analyst at the Department of Commerce AND a logistics commander in the Army Reserve. Oh, and she’s only 26 years old.
Deshauna seriously won us over last night with her thoughtful, compelling, spot-on answers to some pretty tough questions. At one point a judge asked: “The Pentagon recently made the decision to open up all combat jobs to women. Now some have questioned if this has put political correctness over our military’s ability to perform at the highest level. What are your thoughts?”
Deshauna didn’t miss a beat and stepped right up for woman power, as she spoke from her own experience: “As a woman in the United States Army, I think it is an amazing job by our government to allow women to integrate into every branch of the military. We are just as tough as men. As a commander of my unit I am powerful, I am dedicated and it’s important to recognize that gender does not limit us in the United States Army.”
Yet another sound bite from Deshauna knocked our socks off. She spoke on what it means to be “confidently beautiful” saying: “To me confidently beautiful means understanding its not always about your appearance. It’s not always about who you are around and how they feel you look, where they feel you come from or your economic background. Serving in the military has taught me that being confidently beautiful is about being able to earn respect from people regardless of what you look like. As a woman in the military, people associate beauty with weakness and they learn very quickly that I’m extremely strong, and though I’m small, I’m powerful. Confidently beautiful is being myself and being very happy with who I’ve become.”
Congratulations Deshauna. We are in total awe of you. Thank you for inspiring us with your service, your wisdom, and your words.
