MISS USA 2020, Asya Branch and her success story!

 Asya Branch, the newly crowned Miss USA 2020 has proven to the world that nothing is impossible! She was the first Black woman to be crowned Miss Mississippi and represent the state at the Miss USA 2020 beauty pageant that was held on Monday 10 November 2020 at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee. She is the first Black woman from Mississippi to win the title of Miss USA. And now she would be representing the country at the Miss Universe pageant. Talking about her reaction and state after the grand win, she said:  

“I’m still over the moon and so excited and so grateful for this moment and opportunity. It still just really doesn’t even seem real,”

Asya Branch [Source: New York Post]

She wants to set an example that hard work can achieve anything in life, even impossible thing! 

She added: 

“It is a true honor and I’m grateful to be able to serve as an example for young minorities who might not feel like they have a chance,”

Asya Branch and her main focus of work

Asya is decided on what she wants to concentrate on during the one year that she remains with the crown. She said that she wants to focus on fighting for prison reforms. She also wants to advocate for the betterment of conditions for at-risk children of the world. Talking about her childhood days, she said: 

“As a former child of an incarcerated parent, I spent 10 years of my life struggling and trying to find my way and needed guidance to help succeed.”

Asya Branch [Source: NYDN]

She will be doing this work at present digitally due to the pandemic. But Asya has already collaborated with an organization called Day One wherein they collected and distributed stationary and stamps to the inmates in Lee County. This will help the imprisoned people to communicate easily with their loved ones outside. She strongly believes that this process would help them heal faster and get back to society soon. She opined: 

“I think that so often emphasis and focus is put on the inmate and the crime and all of the negative things, and we forget about the family that’s left behind. They could be struggling financially which really leads to emotional distress,”

She also wants to advise the children whose parents are now in jail. She said: 

“The hardship that you may face due to the circumstances, they don’t define you and they don’t define your future. You are so much more than any negativity that comes your way. Use it as a stepping stone to help propel you to your future. I think that we should use our hardships to help strengthen us.”

Asya and her life

Asya is 22 years of age now and was born in Detroit in Michigan. She had faced a lot of hardships in her life as well. She was the sixth child of eight siblings. Her father was a military retiree and her mother had served as a teacher's assistant. When she was 10, her father was arrested for armed robbery and kidnapping. And her life changed from that day. 

She started competing in beauty pageants during the senior year of high school. In 2018, she won the crown of Miss Mississippi in Miss America. And in 2019  came her Miss Mississippi USA win. She said that these competitions helped her raise her self-esteem and confidence and increase her communication skills. 

Asya Branch [Source: Miss Mississippi]

Asya is extremely grateful to the people for their immense love and support for her during the various competitions. Asya was at Harvard University for her summer schooling. Later, she joined the University of Mississippi and now runs her own company named Branch Beauty. She has a height of 5 feet and 5 inches and has brown hair and eye color. 

Asya will not move to New York to carry on her funcations as new Miss USA 2020.