Kimberly Clarice Aiken Cockerham (born October 11, 1974) was Miss America 1994.

Pageantry

Miss South Carolina 1993

She won Miss Columbia and

Miss South Carolina The Miss South Carolina competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of South Carolina in the Miss America pageant. The pageant was first held in Myrtle Beach and moved to Greenville starting in 1958 and remained in ...

1993 en route to her 1994 Miss America crown. She was the first African American woman to be crowned

Miss America 1994

Although she did not win any preliminary awards , she was still selected as a top 10 finalist and excelled during the live pageant with a stirring vocal rendition of "Summertime" for her talent, and impressive showings in the swimsuit, evening gown, and interview competitions. Aiken was 18 years old when she won the coveted title of Miss America, and was only the fifth woman of African descent to be crowned. Aiken's pageant coach was CB Mathis of CB's Limited in

Lancaster, South Carolina The city of Lancaster () is the county seat of Lancaster County, South Carolina, United States, located in the Charlotte Metropolitan Area. As of the United States Census of 2010, the city population was 8,526. The city was named after the famou ...

. Aiken used the plight of the homeless as her platform. Aiken has made numerous television appearances and was once recognized by ''People'' Magazine as one of the "Fifty Most Beautiful People in the World".

Education and career

She was initiated as a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority at Epsilon Tau Chapter. After graduating from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

, Aiken pursued a career in public accounting with

Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewat ...

LLP, one of the

Big Four accounting firms The Big Four are the four largest professional services networks in the world, the global accounting networks Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The four are often grouped because they are comparable in size re ...

. Today, she is an image consultant and motivational speaker. A professional speaker for nearly ten years, she entertains and inspires audiences with her programs, using her varied experiences and sharing stories of overcoming obstacles, such as brain surgery. She is also a regular columnist for ''Pageantry Magazine''.

Personal life

She is the daughter of Valerie and Charles Aiken of

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 ...

. She is founder for the HERO Foundation. She married Haven Cockerham in 1998 and has two children.

References

External links

SC African-American History Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aiken, Kimberly Clarice 1974 births Living people African-American beauty pageant winners Miss America 1994 delegates Miss America winners People from Columbia, South Carolina New York University Stern School of Business alumni Delta Sigma Theta members Ernst & Young people 20th-century American people 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people