Miss Mississippi USA 2020 Asya Danielle Branch was crowned Miss USA 2020 on 9th November 2020 at the Exhibition Centre and the Soundstage at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee and became the first Black woman to be crowned Miss Mississippi USA in the history. Soon after she was crowned Miss USA 2020, the diva’s support to ex- President Donald Trump started to circle around and she received a huge amount of backlash. The diva’s homophobic comment also surfaced around for which she issued a public apology and was appreciated for her honesty.
In a recent interview, Asya explained that being the first black woman to be crowned Miss Mississippi USA 2020 felt like an honour and privilege to her. She believed that it was and opportunity or a platform for her to serve as an example for young girls like her who aspire to dream but never have someone to look up to. Asya mentioned that when she looks back to the time when African-American women were not allowed to participate in the beauty competition to the time now when she a woman of colour is holding onto the crown and will be representing the country of the USA at Miss Universe 2020 stage; she feels happy and looking at the progress she feels that there is a long way to go more.
Talking about her love for pageantry, Asya shared that people fail to understand how deep these beauty pageants are and have believed that it’s just about the looks but there is more. A diva who has the responsibility to represent a province, state, or later country needs to work on so many aspects of themselves, they must keep working on themselves constantly that will expand one’s horizons and develop them as individual. These efforts really help give the life skills that one needs to carry through whatever career path they decide to go down. The newly crowned queen feels that pageantry is very relevant because they help in pushing the women towards beyond their limitations and expectation for a brighter future. These help them in shaping themselves in a way that they will be proud of in future and especially helps in embracing oneself.
Asya also talked about her involvement in the prison reform and mentioned that she knows how it feels when you’re not able to get any source of help when your parents are not around. She went onto explain that she began working with children of incarcerated parents and other at-risk youth who may have gone through similar circumstances to be there for them. She started this because she wanted to be there for those children and help them to work towards their future just like she did.
Miss USA 2020 Asya Branch feels that everyone has their own perception of beauty. Beauty comes in all different shapes, sizes, colours, forms, personalities but she strongly feels that we should embrace all types of beauty. “Everyone's beautiful in their own perfect way, and I think that's something that we as a nation should recognize and really embrace,” she added.