Nia Sanchez was crowned Miss USA 2014 on 8th June 2014 at the Raising Cane's River Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Sanchez is the first contestant from Nevada to be crowned Miss USA. She later represented the USA at Miss Universe 2014 on 25th January 2015 and was placed as the first runner-up at the end of the event finale.
Nia was born in California to David Sanchez, a military veteran conceived in an army installation in Germany, and mother Nicole Sanford, who was conceived in an army installation in Iran. Her fatherly granddad, Wilbur Sanchez, is Mexican and her fatherly grandma is German, while her mom is of Spanish, and other European mixture. When she was 8-years-old Nia and her sibling (David, Jr.), moved to Menifee, California with their dad, and she went ahead to graduate from Paloma Valley High School in 2008.
Nia was 13-years-old when she entered the beauty pageant industry when she participated in Miss San Jacinto Valley and the age of 19, she was crowned Miss Citrus Valley USA, which qualified her to take part in the Miss América Latina competition in Ecuador. She later participated in Miss California USA 2010 and was placed as the second runner-up at the end of the event finale. Sanchez has also competed in and won Miss Riverside County USA 2011 and Miss Hollywood USA 2012, both of which resulted in unsuccessful Miss California USA bids.
On 12th January 2014, Nia represented South Las Vegas and was crowned Miss Nevada USA 2014 by Chelsea Caswell. She represented Nevada at Miss USA 2014 on 8th June 2014 and was crowned as the winner at the end of the event finale and became the first titleholder representing Nevada to bring home the crown and the fourth Hispanic to win Miss USA after Laura Harring in 1985, Lynnette Cole in 2000, and Susie Castillo in 2003. This was the first time since Miss USA 2007 that the contest had not been held in Nevada.
During the final question and answer round of the competition, she was asked by judge Rumer Willis about the high rate of sexual assault among undergraduate women to which she responded, "I believe that some colleges may potentially be afraid of having a bad reputation and that would be a reason it could be swept under the rug, because they don't want that to come out into the public. But I think more awareness is very important so women can learn how to protect themselves. Myself, as a fourth-degree black belt, I learned from a young age that you need to be confident and be able to defend yourself. And I think that's something that we should start to really implement for a lot of women."
“I prayed for this to happen. I’d been working at it for over a year now. Ever since I got home from Hong Kong, I knew that I wanted to be Miss Nevada USA. My family prayed. My friends prayed, and all weekend they kept sending me messages saying, ‘We’re praying for you.’ Those positive vibes worked!” Nia stated after winning.
After winning Miss USA 2014, Nia was caught up in a controversy regarding her residency. After competing in Miss California USA in 2010, 2011 and 2012, Sanchez reportedly created a paper trail to establish her eligibility to compete in Miss Nevada USA. Supposedly Sanchez had worked at Disneyland until November 2013 and had become Miss Nevada USA in January 2014, although competition rules state that Miss Nevada USA eligibility requires six months residency in the state. Sanchez stated that she owns a home in Las Vegas and listed herself as based in Los Angeles as a marketing ploy due to the types of opportunities available in Los Angeles relative to those available in Las Vegas.
Nia later represented the USA at Miss Universe 2014 and completed as the first runner-up at the end of event finale. Nia’s placement as the first runner-up was the highest achievement for the United States since Miss Universe 2012 Olivia Culpo was crowned on 19th December 2012 at the AXIS, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Nia as Miss USA 2014 spent her time bringing and raising awareness to subjects close to her heart like helping children and empowering women.
The 23-year old hazel-eyed world traveler has once lived in a women’s shelter with her newly divorced mom has worked at Hong Kong Disneyland. She explained, “My mom was a full-time stay-at-home mom. When she went to get a divorce, she didn’t have an income to leave. Women’s shelters are good at helping women get on their feet and be able to stand on their own. We went there while she was finding a job.”
She is fifth degree black belt in taekwondo and she was 8-years-old when she started practicing. By age 12 she started teaching and by the time she was 15 she was a certified instructor. She brought up her experience with taekwondo during the interview segment of the Miss USA pageant. Nia has also studies jazz and ballet for five years. Since graduating from high school, Nia has been a regular globe trotter. She has been to twelve different countries ranging from Dubai to the Great Wall of China.
Due to her own childhood experience, Nia now takes times to teach Sunday School and martial arts “Stranger Danger” classes to children at the Shade Tree shelter in Las Vegas. Nia told in one of her interviews that there is a part of the reason why she works at the women’s shelter is because of a past unhealthy relationship.
“I feel like I can relate to them, and to the women, as well, because there was a point in my life when I was 21 when I went through a very unhealthy relationship. I was lucky that I got out of it before it got abusive, but it was aggressive, and I feel like I can really relate with women on that level more personally... It can almost be a little embarrassing, but I feel like I am where I am today because I grew so much.” Today, however, the model seems to be quite happy with her husband and actor Daniel Booko. The couple got marries on 17th October 2015 in California.
Celebrating her six years of being crowned as Miss USA, Nia posted on her social media account a picture of her winning with a caption, “6 years ago today I became #MissUSA it was such an honor to represent our country on a national and international level. June 8th 2014 changed my life forever. That day and still to this day I am so thankful to God for the opportunity. I didn’t have a picture-perfect life that you might think a “beauty queen” might have. So, I know God was working behind the scenes in so many ways.”
Congratulations to the queen.