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On the night of Sunday, August 4, Alma Cooper was crowned as the Miss USA 2024 at the 73rd edition of the pageant held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
Her victory comes a few days after the 17-year-old Addie Carver of Mississippi was crowned as the Miss Teen USA 2024 on Thursday, August 1, at the same venue.
Kentucky native Connor Perry and Oklahoma native Danika Christopherson were the first and second runner-up respectively. The other finalists included Tennessee’s Christell Foote and Ohio’s Macy Hudson. The 73rd Miss USA 2024 pageant had participants from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Alma Cooper was crowned by Hawaii’s Savannah Gankiewicz, who assumed the title of Miss USA 2023 after the original winner Noelia Voight of Utah relinquished the same in May citing "toxic work environment," "bullying and harassment," and "mental health" reasons.
Everything you need to know about Miss USA 2024 Alma Cooper
Alma Cooper is a 22-year-old woman from Michigan. She is a second lieutenant and a military intelligence officer in the US Army. According to her bio on the Miss USA website, she graduated in the top 5 percent of her class at Westpoint Military Academy, where she led over 4400 cadets in emergency and crisis scenarios.
Later, Alma Cooper joined Stanford University to pursue a master's degree in data science and is currently a Knight Hennessy Scholar. She is a global advocate for food insecurity issues and aims to “make healthy foods available to all people.” Her life’s motto is “Demand Excellence” which she inherited from her immigrant parents.
In this regard, Alma Cooper said during her final interview round at the Miss USA 2024 pageant that she was “living the American dream” as the “daughter of a migrant worker, a proud Afro-Latina woman, and an office of the United States Army.”
"If there's anything that my life and my mother have taught me, it's that your circumstances never define your destiny," she added.
Besides, during the final walk at the pageant, Alma Cooper stated that winning the Miss USA 2024 title would provide her with the “opportunity” to show that “if you can see me, you can be me.”
"I want to show that through demanding excellence, success is accessible," she stated.
Alma Cooper, who previously won the Miss Michigan 2024 crown and title earlier this year, would now go on to represent her country at the Miss Universe 2024 stage to be held in Mexico in November.
For those unaware, Miss USA 2024 was aired live on The CW and was hosted by Haitian actress and TV personality Garcelle Beauvais, and Emmy Award-winning TV host, podcaster, and New York Times best-selling author Keltie Knight.
Among the presenters were Miss USA 2022 winner Morgan Romano, and celebrity makeup artist and social media influencer Patrick Starr.
The judge's panel saw the likes of shoe designer Jojo Bragais and former Miss USA titleholders Lu Parker and Carole Gist.
For the first time in Miss USA pageantry, women above the age of 28 were also allowed to compete, after the previous age limit of 18 to 28 was lifted. Miss Arizona Kristina Johnson became the oldest candidate ever to contest in the history of the pageant at the age of 41.
