A 28-year-old full-time lawyer from North Carolina was crowned Miss USA 2019 on Thursday night. Cheslie Kryst of Charlotte, who represents prison inmates for free, described herself as a "weird kid" with a "unibrow" who's now part of the first generation of truly empowered women. Asked in the final round to use one word to summarize her generation, Kryst said "innovative." MISS USA SARAH ROSE SUMMERS RECALLS BACKLASH OVER MISS VIETNAM, MISS CAMBODIA COMMENTS: 'IT REALLY BROKE ME' "I'm standing here in Nevada, in the state that has the first female majority legislature in the entire country," she said at the event held for the first time in Reno. "Mine is the first generation to have that forward-looking mindset that has inclusivity, diversity, strength and empowered women. I'm looking forward to continued progress in my generation." New Mexico's Alejandra Gonzalez, the first runner-up, and Oklahoma's Triana Browne, the second runner-up, helped highlight the diversity of the competition on stage as the three finalists along with Kryst, who is African-American. Browne, whose father is white and mother is African-American, said she's a proud member of the Chickasaw Nation. She's in a partnership with Nike to promote a brand that celebrates Native American heritage. Gonzalez, whose mother immigrated to the United States from Mexico, founded a nonprofit that teaches children the importance of being literate. MISS USA 2019 CO-HOSTS VANESSA AND NICK LACHEY TALK MIXING BUSINESS WITH PLEASURE Nevada's Tianna Tuamoheloa, who made it to the final five, was the first woman of Samoan descent to compete in the event, which dates to 1952. Savannah Skidmore, a former state basketball champion from Arkansas who has a second-degree black belt in Taekwondo and is pursuing a law degree, also made the final five. Kryst and Gonzalez faced each other holding hands during the moments before the winner was announced, then embraced with the news. Kryst said she didn't feel nervous as she advanced through the elimination rounds. "I just kept hearing my name get called," she said. As she waited for the winner to be announced, "All I could think was, 'This is really cool.'" MISS VIRGINIA COURTNEY LYNNE SMITS TALKS COMPETING FOR MISS USA, PURSUING UNITED STATES ARMY RESERVES Kryst earned a law degree and an MBA at Wake Forest University before becoming a civil litigation attorney who does pro bono work to reduce sentences for inmates. In a videotaped message played during the two-hour event at a hotel-casino, she told a story of when a judge at a legal competition told her to wear a skirt instead of pants because judges prefer skirts. "Glass ceilings can be broken wearing either a skirt or pants," Kryst said. She told reporters afterward she'll never forget being in law school at Wake Forest participating in a moot court competition in Louisiana with a panel of judges who provided very little feedback to here and her partner. "We stood there for 30 minutes after practicing for months and all you said was wear a skirt next time?" she said. "It was very frustrating. Don't tell females to wear different clothes while you give the men substantive feedback on their legal arguments." EX-MISS UNIVERSE PAULINA VEGA SAYS SHE IS CONSIDERED ‘PLUS SIZE’ BY MODELING AGENCY AFTER GAINING 2 POUNDS Kryst, who now advances to the Miss Universe competition, was crowned by 2018 Miss USA Sarah Rose Summers of Nebraska. She said her interest in pageants began when she was 10 years old, watching her mother ride a horse-drawn carriage in a parade when she was named Mrs. North Carolina in 2002. "It was a time in my life when I didn't' know who I was and wasn't confident in myself. I was that little weird kid who had a unibrow and didn't have any friends. My hair was always pulled back. I thought I want to be just like her," she said. Kryst went on to compete in pageants in high school. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP "I can't say pageants make you beautiful. I think they make your more confident in the person that you are," she said. "I'm still that same weird kid. I still like reading books. And at the end of the day, I like to sit by myself in my house and just watch movies. But I think pageants taught me all that, and my mom was really the one who introduced me to that and drew me to pageantry." The Associated Press contributed to this report.<doc-sep>During Nia's freshman year of undergrad, her father was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. After suffering two relapses years later, he received a stem cell donation from Nia and has since been in remission. This turn of events led her to Miss America, the organization revealed. "I had to find a way to pay for myself to go to school and so I entered this competition," she said. "It became much more than just the scholarship money for me, it was also about the mentorship, leadership and sisterhood you find in this program."<doc-sep>
The new Miss USA used this word to define her generation (CNN) — The new Miss USA is an attorney who spends part of her time working on the behalf of prisoners for free. Cheslie Kryst, a 28-year-old from Charlotte, North Carolina, was crowned as the pageant’s 2019 winner Thursday night at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada. For her last question in the final round, she was asked whether the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements have gone too far. “I don’t think these movements have gone too far,” she said. “What #MeToo and #TimesUp are about are making sure that we foster safe and inclusive workplaces in our country. “As an attorney, that’s exactly what I want to hear and that’s exactly what I want for this country. i think they’re good movements.” Kryst practices civil litigation for a law firm and also does free legal work for prisoners who may be sentenced unjustly, helping them to seek reduced punishments, one of her biographies on Miss USA’s website reads. 'The Redemption Project with Van Jones' For more on the criminal justice system, watch CNN's new Original Series Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT. As Miss USA, Kryst will be eligible to compete in the Miss Universe competition. Besides working in law, she operates a blog on fashion, White Collar Glam. She was inspired to start the blog after “struggling to fund appropriate, affordable and professional clothing,” and she intends to someday start a workwear clothing line, the Miss Universe website says. Kryst has a law degree and a master’s of business administration degree from North Carolina’s Wake Forest University, and an undergraduate business degree from the University of South Carolina, where she was a track athlete. Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly spelled Cheslie Kryst’s name.