Tanisha Nicole Brito (born September 11, 1980) is a beauty queen who has competed at both

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...

and

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, ...

. Her home town is

Waterford, Connecticut Waterford is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. It is named after Waterford, Ireland. The population was 19,571 at the 2020 census. The town center is listed as a census-designated place (CDP) and had a population of 3,074 ...

. Brito graduated from Waterford High School in 1998. She attended

Clark Atlanta University Clark Atlanta University (CAU or Clark Atlanta) is a private, Methodist, historically black research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Clark Atlanta is the first Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the Southern United States. Found ...

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 ...

which gave her the residency permission to compete in that state's pageant. Brito's first major pageant was the 2000

Miss Connecticut The Miss Connecticut competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Connecticut in the Miss America pageant. Connecticut has won the Miss America crown once (Marian Bergeron, 1933), and is the only New England st ...

state pageant, where she finished second runner-up. The following year she competed in Georgia, where she won a non-finalist interview award. She returned to Connecticut in 2002, where she won the swimsuit award and

crown. Brito was a top ten finalist in the

Miss America 2003 Miss America 2003, the 76th Miss America pageant, was televised live from Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Saturday, September 21, 2002 on the ABC Network. Erika Harold of Illinois won the pageant. Results Placements Order of ...

pageant. On November 6, 2004, Brito was crowned

Miss Georgia USA The Miss Georgia USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Georgia in the Miss USA pageant. This pageant is directed Greenwood Productions under the ownership of Miss Tennessee USA 1989 Kim Greenwood and ...

. She competed in the

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 Miss North Carolina USA, North Carolina. Fifty-one state titleholders competed for the title of Miss USA in the Hippodrom ...

pageant held in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

on 11 April 2005, but failed to make the cut at the nationally televised pageant. While preparing for the

pageant, Brito attended the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

at Avery Point so as not to disadvantage her studies.

References

Profile of Brito on the Miss Connecticut website
(accessed 3 May 2006)
Profile of Brito on the official Miss America website
(accessed 3 May 2006)

(accessed 3 May 2006)

External links

Official WebsiteOfficial Miss Connecticut websiteOfficial Miss Georgia USA website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brito, Tanisha 1980 births Living people People from Waterford, Connecticut Miss America 2003 delegates Miss USA 2005 delegates Clark Atlanta University alumni