Future Miss America contestants might want to keep a close eye on the future Miss New Yorks from now on. Miss New York Kira Kazantsev made Miss America Organization history by becoming the third Miss New York to win consecutively. This year, Miss Virginia Courtney Paige Garrett was the first runner up and Miss Arkansas Ashton Campbell was the second runner up.
Kazantsev is a 22-year-old who grew up in Manhattan, New York and is a daughter of Russian immigrants. She can speak three languages, namely Russian, Spanish and English. She has a very impressive academic resume, which includes a triple bachelors degree in political science, global studies and geography from Hofstra University. Kazantsev also hopes to acquire a master’s degree in business administration and a juris doctorate. Not only did she win the top prize at the pageant, she also won a $50,000 dollar scholarship, which will prove helpful considering she has been accepted to Fordham University’s law school.
Her platform as Miss America 2015 is “Love Shouldn’t Hurt: Protecting Women Against Domestic Violence.” She revealed to NPR that she faced an abusive relationship while she attended college. She says, “I definitely had friends that saw [my experience of domestic violence] and tried to help and didn’t know what to do, and at that point I isolated myself. I was completely isolated from any help they were offering me. The main goal is to get people talking about it. If people are willing to talk about it, they’re not scared of it, it’s not taboo.”
When competing in the competition her talent was singing “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, sitting barefoot on the stage and tapping a plastic red cup. Her talent was inspired by Anna Kendrick’s performance in the movie Pitch Perfect . She wore a blue jumpsuit with gold embellished shoulders while getting the audience to participate in her performance by having them clap along while she performed. Later, her attire in her crowning moment was a stunning, long white gown with embellished sleeves.
She also impressed the judges when it came to the question portion of the competition when she made it to the top five. The subjects of the questions ranged from gun control, to politics, to college rape, to domestic violence. Judge Lee Meriwether asked Kazantsev how women should challenge the male dominance in Congress and what cause they should join together and lead. She came up with an impressive response, saying that women in Congress should strive towards bringing awareness to women being sexually assaulted in the military. This, of course, received a big applause from the audience.
During her first week as Miss America 2015, Kazantsev has already faced criticism from the president of pro-life group National Right to Life for having interned at Planned Parenthood over a three-month period, FOX News reports. This started a war on Twitter after people discovered her internship experience was listed on her LinkedIn profile.
The president of the pro-life group Carol Tobias spoke to FOX411, saying: “ It would be a tragedy if someone who is looked up to by many young women actually buys into the Planned Parenthood abortion agenda. Unfortunately, most people in the country don’t know that Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider. This will cast a shadow on her entire reign.”
CEO and Chairman of the Miss America Organization fought back with a statement explaining that Kazantsev used the internship to create awareness of child abuse while writing her college thesis. He also pointed out that the Miss America Organization judges look for “a well-rounded young woman” and directed the attention back to how accomplished Kazantsev is.
It will be exciting to see what Kira Kazantsev does next especially during her reign as Miss America this year. Throughout the next year, she will be traveling and raising awareness for her platform of domestic violence. This one seems anything but cookie-cutter: With a pro-woman agenda and controversial experiences, this will prove an interesting year for the newly crowned queen.
Let’s hope she continues to make history.
