The 27-year-old soldier and professional model from Perris is a psychology graduate of Norco College in Riverside County. She succeeds last year’s winner Tiffany Johnson and will now prepare to represent her home state at Miss USA 2023 in Reno, Nevada on a date yet to be announced.

“Blessed and grateful. I’m truly grateful and excited for the year ahead. Thank you to the coach and all the sponsors who helped me along this journey,” she shared online.

Giselle Burgos of Boyle Heights was named first runner-up while Samantha Ramos of Fullerton, Athenna Crosby of NorCal, and Jaanu Patel of Huntington Beach were the second, third, and fourth runners-up, respectively.

Rounding out the Top 18 were Issah Rose Mata, Natalie Benson, Dominique Mihaljević, Lilian Thorington, Akanksha Kumar, Bella Rodriguez, Kalea Pitel, Brittany Butler, Fallon Williams, Nicole Duran, Tabitha Swatosh, Jasmine Signorino, and Viktoria Fox.

At the same event, Miss California Teen USA 2023 Taliya Ariana Peiris, 18, of the Bay Area was also crowned. She succeeds Cassidy Hill (Miss Teen USA 2022 second runner-up) and will now go on to participate in Miss Teen USA 2023.

Her runners-up were Kalli Mejia of Gold Coast, Aricka Hickman of West Coast, Bella Rose Seeden of Temecula, and Jayden Pecoy of Yorba Linda.

Tianna Clark, the beauty queen is also a member of the US military.

Broadcast on FYI for the second year in a row, this year’s festivities were hosted by Zuri Hall and Patrick Ta, with Nicole Adamo assisting as the pageant’s official lounge host.

Fifty-one hopefuls descended upon the River Spirit Casino Resort’s Paradise Cove Theater in Tulsa, Okla., for a shot at the crown. And if nothing else, at least they got to enjoy a little music from Ja Rule.

After the “final look,” as well as Asya Branch‘s last walk as the reigning Miss USA, here’s how things shook out for this year’s top four:
4. Sydni Bennett (Miss Illinois)
3. Ashley Carino (Miss Florida)
2. Caitlyn Vogel (Miss North Dakota)

That left Elle Smith (Miss Kentucky) as this year’s winner, and your new Miss USA.

This year’s judges included Natalía Barulích, a Croatian-Cuban model, social media influencer and singer; Sophie Elgort, an American photographer; Chloe Flower, an American composer and classical pianist; Ty Hunter, an American personal stylist; Haley Kalil, an American model and Miss Minnesota USA 2014; Alton Mason, an American model; Pascal Mouawad, a Lebanese jeweler, businessman and the CEO of Mouawad; and Oliver Trevena, an English actor and TV presenter.

As Miss USA, she represented the United States at Miss Universe 2021.