Carole Anne-Marie Gist (born May 8, 1969) is an American TV host, model and first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

woman to win the

Miss USA Miss USA is an American beauty pageant that has been held annually since 1952 to select the entrant from United States in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operated both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA, until 2020, ...

title. Gist first won the title of

Miss Michigan USA The Miss Michigan USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Michigan in the Miss USA pageant. It is currently directed by Proctor Productions. Their first Miss USA victory was in 1990, and notable because ...

and went on to win the Miss USA crown on March 2, 1990, in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...

. The 1990 pageant had representatives from

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

(

Brenda Leithleiter Brenda Leithleiter Sharman (born 1968) is an American model and beauty queen from Vinings, Georgia who has competed in the Miss USA pageant. Leithleiter won the Miss Georgia USA 1990 title in November 1989. She went on to represent Georgia in t ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

(Karin Elizabeth Meyer),

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

(Tiffany Tenfelde),

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

(

Gina Tolleson Gina Marie Tolleson (born March 26, 1969) is an American model and beauty queen who was crowned Miss World America 1990 and also Miss World 1990. Miss World Gina won the title of Miss South Carolina USA 1990 and was the first runner-up at Miss ...

, who as first runner-up then went on to represent the country at the

Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Miss Int ...

pageant, winning the title) and Karin Hartz of

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

making up with Gist the Top 6 finalists. Gist, a

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

native, 20 years old at the time, eventually became first runner-up to

Mona Grudt Mona Grudt (born 6 April 1971) is a Norwegian television presenter, model, editor and beauty queen who was crowned Miss Universe 1990. She is so far the only Norwegian to capture the Miss Universe 1990, Miss Universe title. Miss Universe She bec ...

of Norway in the

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...

pageant of that same year. She was also the first contestant from Michigan to win Miss USA, and broke the five-year streak of winners from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Personal life

Gist is a graduate of

Cass Technical High School Cass Technical High School (simply referred to as Cass Tech) is a public high school in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, United States.

in Detroit. At the time of her coronation, she was a junior marketing and management major at

Northwood University Northwood University (NU) is a private university focused on business education with its main campus in Midland, Michigan. Opened in 1959, more than 33,000 people have graduated from the institution. History Northwood University opened as North ...

Midland, Michigan Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Michigan. The city's population was 42,547 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Midland Micropolitan Statistical Area, part of the larger Saginaw-Midland-Bay City Comb ...

References

1969 births Cass Technical High School alumni Living people Miss Universe 1990 contestants Miss USA 1990 delegates Miss USA winners People from Midland, Michigan Television personalities from Detroit Northwood University alumni African-American beauty pageant winners 20th-century American people 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people {{US-pageant-bio-stub