Cheslie Corrinne Kryst (; April 28, 1991 – January 30, 2022) was an American television correspondent, model, and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned

Miss USA 2019 Miss USA 2019 was the 68th Miss USA pageant. It was held at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada, on May 2, 2019. Nick Lachey and Vanessa Lachey served as hosts, while Lu Sierra served as commentator, all for the second consecutive time and ...

. Kryst was also an attorney and had served as a correspondent for ''

Extra Extra or Xtra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * ''Extra'' (newspaper), a Brazilian newspaper * ''Extra!'', an American me ...

'' from October 2019 until her death. For her work on ''Extra'', she was nominated for two

Daytime Emmy Awards The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (N ...

Early life and education

Cheslie Corrinne Kryst was born on April 28, 1991 in Jackson, Michigan to an

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 ensl ...

mother and a

Polish-American Polish Americans ( pl, Polonia amerykańska) are Americans who either have total or partial Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 9.15 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing about 2.83% ...

father. She had four brothers: Asa, Chandler, Jet, and Brooklyn; and a sister, Page. Her mother, April Simpkins, competed in pageantry and was crowned Mrs. North Carolina US when Kryst was a child. The family moved from Michigan to

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, when Kryst was young, and later settled in

Rock Hill, South Carolina Rock Hill is the largest city in York County, South Carolina and the fifth-largest city in the state. It is also the fourth-largest city of the Charlotte metropolitan area, behind Charlotte, Concord, and Gastonia (all located in North Carolina, ...

, where Kryst attended Northwestern High School. The family later moved to Fort Mill, South Carolina, and Kryst transferred to

Fort Mill High School Fort Mill High School (FMHS) is a public high school in Fort Mill, South Carolina, United States. It is part of the York County School District 4. Achievements Two-time National Blue Ribbon School – 2004, 2018 Marching Band 24 S.C. ...

, graduating in 2009; both cities are suburbs in the

Charlotte metropolitan area The Charlotte metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as Metrolina, is a metropolitan area of the U.S. states of North and South Carolina, within and surrounding the city of Charlotte. The metropolitan area also includes the cities of Gastoni ...

. After graduating from high school, Kryst moved to

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is List of municipalities in South Carolina, the second-largest ...

, to attend the Honors College at the University of South Carolina. She graduated '' cum laude'' from the

Darla Moore School of Business The Darla Moore School of Business is the official business school of the University of South Carolina. Founded in 1919, the Moore School is located in Columbia, South Carolina and currently enrolls over 5,500 undergraduate and 800 graduate stu ...

with a degree in

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

and human resource management in 2013, where she was also a member of the

Alpha Lambda Delta Alpha Lambda Delta () is an honor society for students who have achieved a 3.5 GPA or higher during their first year or term of higher education. History Alpha Lambda Delta was founded in 1924 by the Dean of Women, Maria Leonard, at the Universi ...

honor society, Gamecocks women's track and field team, and

mock trial A mock trial is an act or imitation trial. It is similar to a moot court, but mock trials simulate lower-court trials, while moot court simulates appellate court hearings. Attorneys preparing for a real trial might use a mock trial consisti ...

. After finishing her undergraduate degree, Kryst enrolled in

Wake Forest University School of Law The Wake Forest University School of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of Wake Forest University. Located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Wake Forest University School of Law is a private American Bar Association (ABA) accredite ...

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in ...

, graduating with a Juris Doctor and

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...

in 2017.

Law career

Following her graduation, Kryst became licensed to practice law in both North Carolina and South Carolina and began working as an attorney at Poyner Spruill LLP, practicing complex civil litigation. She also worked '' pro bono'' not only for clients who were low-level drug offenders, but also with

Brittany K. Barnett Brittany K. Barnett (formerly Byrd) is an American attorney and criminal justice reform advocate. Through the organization Buried Alive, which she co-founded with Sharanda Jones and Corey Jacobs, she came to national attention when she and her c ...

of the Buried Alive Project, to free a client sentenced to life imprisonment. She was the founder of the

fashion blog Fashion blogs are blogs that cover the fashion industry, clothing, and lifestyle. Definition A fashion blog can cover many topics, such as specific items of clothing and accessories, beauty tips, trends in various apparel markets (haute couture ...

White Collar Glam, dedicated to helping women dress professionally in white-collar jobs.

Pageantry

Kryst began her pageantry career as a teenager, winning Miss Freshman at Northwestern High School in

, and later Miss Fort Mill High School in Fort Mill, South Carolina. After taking several years off from pageantry, Kryst made two attempts to win the

Miss North Carolina The Miss North Carolina competition selects the representative for the state of North Carolina to compete in the annual Miss America competition. The competition has been held in Raleigh every year since 1978. Prior to that, it was held in vario ...

title, placing in the top ten her first attempt and first runner-up on her second attempt.

Miss USA 2019

In 2016, Kryst competed in Miss North Carolina USA 2017, where she placed as the fourth runner-up to Katie Coble. She returned the following year and placed in the top ten, before returning again for Miss North Carolina USA 2019, where she won the title, representing

Metrolina The Charlotte metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as Metrolina, is a metropolitan area of the U.S. states of North and South Carolina, within and surrounding the city of Charlotte. The metropolitan area also includes the cities of Gastonia ...

. She was crowned by Kaaviya Sambasivam, Miss North Carolina Teen USA 2018, as the outgoing titleholder Caelynn Miller-Keyes was unable to attend the crowning due to the filming of season 23 of '' The Bachelor''. As Miss North Carolina USA, Kryst was given the right to represent North Carolina at the

competition, held at the Grand Sierra Resort in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

. She went on to win the competition and became the third woman from North Carolina to win the title, following Chelsea Cooley and Kristen Dalton, who were crowned

Miss USA 2005 Miss USA 2005 was the 54th Miss USA pageant, held in Baltimore, Maryland on April 11, 2005. It was won by Chelsea Cooley of North Carolina. Fifty-one state titleholders competed for the title of Miss USA in the Hippodrome Theatre on April 11, ...

and

Miss USA 2009 Miss USA 2009 was the 58th Miss USA pageant, held at the Theatre for the Performing Arts in Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 19, 2009. At the conclusion of the final night of competition, Kristen Dalton of North C ...

, respectively. At 28 years and 4 days old, Kryst became the oldest woman to be crowned Miss USA, breaking the previous record held by Nana Meriwether, who was 27 years, 6 months and 26 days old upon assuming the title. After winning Miss USA, Kryst crowned Laura Little as her successor for the Miss North Carolina USA title. With her win, 2019 became the first year that all four major United States-based pageants were won by women with African ancestry; other titleholders were

Zozibini Tunzi Zozibini Tunzi (born 18 September 1993), also known as Zozi Tunzi, is a South African model, actress and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Universe 2019. Tunzi had previously been crowned Miss South Africa 2019. She is the third ...

of South Africa (as

Miss Universe 2019 Miss Universe 2019 was the 68th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Stage 1 of the Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, United States on 8 December 2019. At the end of the event, Catriona Gray of the Philippines crowned Zozibini Tunzi of S ...

), Nia Franklin (as

Miss America 2019 The Miss America 2019 pageant/competition was the 92nd Miss America pageant, though the Miss America Organization celebrated its 98th anniversary in 2018. This discrepancy is due to national pageants not being held from 1928–1932 or in 1934 beca ...

), and Kaliegh Garris (as

Miss Teen USA 2019 Miss Teen USA 2019 was the 37th Miss Teen USA pageant. It was held at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada on April 28, 2019, and was hosted by Miss USA 2014 Nia Sanchez and Tim Tialdo. The 2019 competition served as the second consecutive t ...

). Previously, she had been crowned Miss North Carolina USA 2019. As Miss USA, Kryst took a one-year leave of absence from her law career to fulfill her pageantry duties. She represented the United States at the

competition on December 8, 2019 and finished in the top ten. Her national costume was inspired by four American female icons:

Rosie the Riveter Rosie the Riveter is an allegorical cultural icon in the United States who represents the women who worked in factories and shipyards during World War II, many of whom produced munitions and war supplies. These women sometimes took entirely new ...

, the Statue of Liberty, Maya Angelou, and

Lady Justice Lady Justice ( la, Iustitia) is an allegorical personification of the moral force in judicial systems. Her attributes are scales, a sword and sometimes a blindfold. She often appears as a pair with Prudentia. Lady Justice originates from the ...

. Kryst's reign was originally scheduled to end on spring 2020, but due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, she became the longest reigning Miss USA titleholder on June 5, 2020, surpassing Nia Sanchez's previous record of 399 days. Her reign ended with a total of 557 days on November 9, 2020 and she crowned Asya Branch of Mississippi as her successor at the

Miss USA 2020 Miss USA 2020 was the 69th Miss USA pageant. It was held at the Exhibition Centre and the Soundstage at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, on November 9, 2020. Akbar Gbaja-Biamila and Allie LaForce served as hosts, while Cheslie Kryst and Christi ...

pageant.

Television hosting

In October 2019, Kryst became a New York correspondent for ''

'', after serving as a special correspondent in September 2019. Her interview with actor

Terrence Howard Terrence Dashon Howard (born March 11, 1969) is an American actor. Having his first major roles in the 1995 films ''Dead Presidents'' and '' Mr. Holland's Opus'', Howard broke into the mainstream with a succession of television and cinema roles ...

was the first to break the news that the actor planned to retire from acting following the final season of the television series ''Empire''. In 2020, Kryst received a nomination for Outstanding Entertainment News Program at the

47th Daytime Emmy Awards The 47th Daytime Emmy Awards, presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), honored the best in U.S. daytime television programming in 2019. The winners in leading categories were presented in a remotely-produced spe ...

due to her position as a New York correspondent for ''Extra''. She was nominated again for the same award the following year at the

48th Daytime Emmy Awards The 48th Daytime Emmy Awards, presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), honored the best in U.S. daytime television programming in 2020. It took place on June 25, 2021, as a remotely-produced special due to the CO ...

Death

On January 30, 2022, Kryst jumped to her death from 350 West 42nd Street, a 60-story high-rise apartment building in Midtown Manhattan, where she resided and was last seen on the 29th floor. On January 31, her death was ruled a suicide by the coroner. Kryst's mother April Simpkins released a statement, where she stated that Kryst had " high-functioning depression".

Explanatory notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kryst, Cheslie 1991 births 2022 deaths 2022 suicides 21st-century African-American women 21st-century American women African-American beauty pageant winners African-American bloggers African-American lawyers African-American television hosts African-American women lawyers African-American women writers American beauty pageant winners American bloggers American people of Polish descent American television hosts American women television presenters American women bloggers Beauty pageant contestants from North Carolina Female suicides Lawyers from Charlotte, North Carolina South Carolina lawyers Miss North Carolina USA winners Miss Universe 2019 contestants Miss USA winners People from Jackson, Michigan People from Fort Mill, South Carolina People from Rock Hill, South Carolina South Carolina Gamecocks women's track and field athletes Suicides by jumping in New York City University of South Carolina alumni Wake Forest University alumni Wake Forest University School of Law alumni