Lynnette Marie Cole-O'Nan (née Cole; born February 9, 1978) is an American television personality, actress, and beauty pageant titleholder who won the title Miss Tennessee USA in 2000. She went on to become the first woman from that state 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, ...

pageant,(1 April 2004)
Chattanooga’s Stephanie Culberson Representing Tennessee At Miss USA
, chattanoogan.com ("In 2000, Columbia’s Lynnette Cole was the first from the state to win the coveted title.") which was held in

Branson, Missouri Branson is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. Most of the city is situated in Taney County, with a small portion in the west extending into Stone County. Branson is in the Ozark Mountains. The community was named after Reuben Branson, postm ...

on February 4, 2000. Cole hails from

Columbia, Tennessee Columbia is a city in and the county seat of Maury County, Tennessee. The population was 41,690 as of the 2020 United States census. Columbia is included in the Nashville metropolitan area. The self-proclaimed "mule capital of the world," Colum ...

and was twenty-one years old when she won the national crown.(27 February 2000)

''Fayetteville Observer'' ("Lynnette Cole says she is half Puerto Rican and half white The 21yearold who was Miss Tennessee won the Miss USA crown on Feb 4")

Family background

Cole is of Puerto Rican heritage. At ten months old, she was living in foster care with her older brother when they were adopted by Gail and Larry Cole, who had to move interstate to circumvent a law prohibiting adoption of children from a different race. Her adoptive parents had previously been foster parents to a succession of over 100 children.

Pageants

Cole's first major pageant win came in 1995 when she won the title Miss Tennessee Teen USA.(14 August 1995)
TEEN USA CONTESTANTS SERIOUS ABOUT ISSUES
''Wichita Eagle'' ("Miss Tennessee Teen USA - Lynnette Cole") She was a top six finalist at the Miss Teen USA pageant in that year, and won the Miss Photogenic award, finishing fourth overall. Cole would later win the 1997 Miss Teen All American title. After winning Miss Tennessee USA Cole competed for and won the title of Miss USA 2000, becoming the second Hispanic woman to win Miss USA after

Laura Harring Laura Elena, Countess von Bismarck-Schönhausen (née Martínez Herring; March 3, 1964), known professionally as Laura Harring, is a Mexican-American actress. In 1985, Harring became the first Hispanic woman crowned Miss USA. She later began her ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

. Cole went on to compete at 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, held in Nicosia,

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

later that year.(4 February 2000)
Tennessean Crowned Miss Usa 2000
''Kingman Daily Miner'' (Associated Press) Her performance was enough to secure her a spot among the five finalists,(13 May 2000)
Miss India Wins Miss Universe Pageant
''Gainesville Sun'' (Associated Press) and brought the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

back into the semifinals (after Kimberly Pressler had failed to advance the year before, breaking a streak of consecutive placements that had been going since 1977). She also placed fifth overall. She became the first woman to place in the top five at all three pageants and her record was not surpassed until 2006 by

Tara Conner Tara Elizabeth Conner (born December 18, 1985) is an American model, television personality, and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss USA 2006 and has also competed in the Miss Teen USA and Miss Universe pageants. Apart from her r ...

. This was the first time in the Miss Universe pageant history that two women of Puerto Rican heritage (Cole and Puerto Rico's Zoribel Fonalledas) participated at the same time representing different countries. As Miss USA, Cole was a representative of the

Miss Universe Organization 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 Str ...

. Her "sister" 2000 titleholders were

Lara Dutta Lara Dutta (born 16 April 1978) is an Indian actress, entrepreneur and the winner of the Miss Universe 2000 pageant. She was previously crowned as Miss Intercontinental 1997. In her career, she has primarily worked in Hindi films. She is the ...

(

, of India) and Jillian Parry ( Miss Teen USA, of Pennsylvania).

After the Crown

Since winning Miss USA, Cole has become a television host for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

, CMT,

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

, MTV,

VH-1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Communi ...

and made many appearances on ''

As the World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other s ...

''. Along with her hosting career, she has appeared in numerous print advertising campaigns and commercials. Cole also directs a local preliminary for Miss Tennessee USA.(10 December 2008)
A Gallery of Black Beauty Queens
PhilStar.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Lynnette 1978 births American people of Puerto Rican descent Living people Miss Tennessee USA winners Miss Universe 2000 contestants Miss USA 2000 delegates Miss USA winners People from Columbia, Tennessee American adoptees 1995 beauty pageant contestants 20th-century Miss Teen USA delegates 20th-century American people