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2020 Miss Washington USA Contestants

Amber Bruce

Amber Bruce

Puyallup

Amber is beyond excited to be competing for the opportunity of a lifetime. This 26 year old plus sized model is always a joy to be around. She advocates for body positivity and self love through the social media campaign #BeautyBeyondSize. Amber has taken her platform all over the United States. Being Miss Washington USA would allow Amber to continue to inspire and empower women on a broader scale through such a prestigious organization.

Angelika Orlowski

Angelika Orlowski

Burien

Angelika Orlowski, 27, is a marketing major. She is planning on earning her teaching certificate so she can teach English as a second language while exploring the world before coming back home to help sleep train newborns. One of her goals is to write her own series of children’s books targeted for children with special needs.

Anna Schilter

Anna Schilter

Pullman

From working in Alaska at a helicopter company, to Maine as an outdoor hiking guide, Anna has always had a zest for adventure. She serves as a University Administrator at Washington State University in Pullman. Anna studied abroad in Spain before graduating with her degree in International Affairs and Spanish from Eastern Washington University. When she isn’t working, Anna can be found rock climbing at the University of Idaho or recreating in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

Ariana Navarro

Ariana Navarro

West Seattle

Ariana, 22, is a student and full time Boeing employee. She enjoys going on hikes, traveling, volunteering and shopping sprees. She recently graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in Business Management. She has served as Rotaract (Rotary) President for two terms and is currently in school for her MBA! She dreams of opening up her own nonprofit organization one day focusing on youth leadership development for those from underrepresented backgrounds.

Bailey Bercik

Bailey Bercik

First Hill

Bailey’s grandmother was one of the first female electrical engineers in America. Following in her footsteps, she was blessed with her dream job at Microsoft and proudly volunteers as a computer science teacher at Warden High School. Inspired by Bill Nye, she would love to impact children and adults as Miss Washington USA by making technology fun and accessible. Bailey also loves experimenting in the kitchen and shares her favorite restaurants and recipes on @The_GirlFieri.

Brenna Pirozok

Brenna Pirozok

Kirkland

Brenna is a Social Worker based in Seattle whose practice focuses on empowering under privileged youth and eliminating systemic racism. In addition to advocacy work, Brenna is passionate about fitness and has lost around 40 pounds overall. From this experience, she has begun to build her own health and fitness business that places emphasis on eliminating crash dieting habits and unrealistic media comparisons, while focusing on strength, inner confidence, and holistic physical and mental health.

Claire Pennington

Claire Pennington

Battle Ground

Having a passion for ensuring safety and service, Claire travels the world as a flight attendant. She strives to become part of the 6% of women airline pilots in the United States. When she is not flying, she enjoys singing, dancing and performing aerial arts. From struggling with self-confidence at a young age, Claire uses her platform, Believe to Belong, to help young girls understand that their imperfections are what make them perfect.

Delaney O’Brien

Delaney O’Brien

Seattle Pacific

Delaney pursued dance for fourteen years, enjoys painting, and is currently writing a book. At age 19, she graduated from SPU, where she helped lead a research team. Delaney recently spent fifteen months volunteering in prisons in Southern Africa, equipping inmates to transform their lives and restore relationships. Now age 21, she’s hoping to increase awareness and improve how we confront crime, addiction, mental health, and incarceration, ultimately making Washington a safer and healthier state.

Edith Gonzalez

Edith Gonzalez

Greater King County

Culture is very significant to Edith, she’s proud to be Mexican-American. She’s the representation of her parent’s American dream. Edith received her Associates in Applied Science and currently works as a Certified Registered Dental Assistant. However, Edith’s ambition is to attend dental school. Edith started her own non-profit organization called Blossom with Style. She also volunteers at Make-A-Wish Alaska and Washington as a wish granter, sharing her love on helping others passionately in her community.

Elizabeth Stryker

Elizabeth Stryker

Tacoma

Elizabeth, 23, is a graduate from Western Washington University and is returning to earn her Masters in Rehabilitation Counseling Fall 2019. She currently works for Vadis a non for profit employment agency that works with individuals that have developmental disabilities. She loves to travel, try new food, and enjoy the outdoors. She is looking forward to learning more about her community and working together with her supporters as she participates in this pageant

Gabriella Sturgill

Gabriella Sturgill

Pike Place

Gabby is a Seattle native and a University of Portland graduate, where she finished a year and a half early with her BBA in Finance and was a part of the Cheer and Dance team. She currently works for Accenture doing business development and financial analysis. She enjoys adventure sports in the PNW, yoga, dancing, and traveling. This year she has been to Japan, England, Ireland, Vietnam, and India (for her third time!)

Hannah Powers

Hannah Powers

Vancouver

Hannah Powers, 20, is currently studying Global Health at Brigham Young University. Her plans involve working abroad in order to help those living in poverty and war zones. She is also a trained dancer, with backgrounds in ballet, jazz, contemporary, lyrical, hip-hop, kickline, pom, funk, Broadway, and African! She coaches two dance teams in Washington; one middle school in Camas, and the other being her alma mater team, Mountain View High School in Vancouver.

Imani Blackmon

Imani Blackmon

University Place

Imani is a journalism major whose career goal is to be a correspondent on major entertainment news outlets. She now works with AfterBuzz TV as a host and at Disneyland as a dancer part-time. Imani takes pride in working with the Miss Amazing Pageant, a pageant for girls and women with disabilities. She’s looking forward to becoming the Washington state director for Miss Amazing and having the first ever pageant held in WA next year.

Isabella Kingston

Isabella Kingston

Lynnwood

Isabella, 21, is majoring in Biology to become the first multi-racial doctor in her family as an Anesthesiologist. Being 1 of 10 siblings, some of her best traits are patience, logic and humor. Her biggest extravagance is having the opportunity to receive a proper education. Isabella’s platform is to increase body positivity in hopes to remind women that regardless of any flaws we are all, ” Bold, Brilliant and Beautiful”.

Jennifer Zimmerman

Jennifer Zimmerman

DuPont

Jennifer, 25, Army officer, Bachelors in Psychology, alumna of Alpha Sigma Tau, victim advocate for sexual harassment and assault survivors. In her free time she enjoys spontaneous adventures, exploring new places and spending time with her beagle Tilly.  She’s currently working on a Masters in Administration-Industrial and Organizational Psychology. She plans to open a nonprofit organization focused on community service based therapy for those with mental illness.

Jesi Williams

Jesi Williams

Mukilteo

Jesi is a 20 year old business student at Capella university. By working in real estate, Jesi’s job enables her to provide housing for low income families while coordinating state funding to approve the process. This developed a passion inside her that led Jesi into the non-profit, Affordable Housing Connection, helping give supplies and opportunities to low income children.

Julie Tran

Julie Tran

Seattle Metropolitan

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela. Passionate about female empowerment, Julie Tran is an advocate for higher education. With a MS in Taxation and a BA in Accounting from the University of Washington, Julie enjoys working at Ernst & Young; a Big 4 accounting firm and donating her time to poverty alleviation non-profits. In her spare time, she adores blogging about fashion and career advice.

Kayzin Holt

Kayzin Holt

Kennewick

Kayzin is a first-generation college student attending Washington State University, majoring in Elementary Education. She hopes to utilize her skill-set and personal experience to teach students with disabilities as a special education teacher. Kayzin combines her passion of sports and helping children, as a volunteer youth basketball coach in her hometown. She loves staying active by hiking, kayaking, and exploring our beautiful state and by playing with her two fur-babies

Kirsten Georgeson

Kirsten Georgeson

King County

Kirsten is a Global Development major at Seattle Pacific University. In the future she will gain her masters in Economics and become a Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist. She is passionate about ending hunger which prompted her to create a food redistribution program to implement into schools. Her desire to serve others stemmed from her time teaching English in Cambodia. During college she worked at Walt Disney World as a train conductor.

Kristina Kovalevich

Kristina Kovalevich

Downtown Bellevue

Born in Latvia and raised in Washington, Kristina has devoted herself to mentoring teen girls in her community. Double majoring in psychology and sociology, Kristina is passionate about inspiring people to run after their dreams. Using her talents of speaking and writing, Kristina hopes her posts, on ‘Mornings with KK’ and blog, will captivate the audience to becoming the best version of themselves. Kristina’s ambition is to inspire millions through all media outlets.

Kuinn Karaffa

Kuinn Karaffa

Grays Harbor County

With a passion for justice and helping others, Kuinn is studying to become an attorney. Kuinn’s determination to make a difference is apparent in her compassionate community work. Kuinn is a Habitat for Humanity Board Member, performed countless community service hours, helped raise over $500,000 for numerous non-profits, inducted into the Rotary Club, plays piano, YMCA Youth Mentor, Citizen of the Year nominee, raises Champion Chickens, and wants to someday run for Mayor.

Layla Moayeri

Layla Moayeri

Sammamish

Recent MBA graduate, Layla, has used her experience and love for animals to start a business. The Good Doodles Treat Co., benefits animal sanctuaries and rescue organizations. Layla is passionate about animal welfare and works to promote their rights. When she is not volunteering at local animal sanctuaries, she enjoys exploring the Pacific Northwest with her dogs and traveling the world; the latest international trips being in China and Guatemala.

Mazzy Eckel

Mazzy Eckel

Bellevue

Mazzy Eckel is a sophomore at Seattle University studying Sports and Exercise Science with a Minor In Political Science. She is currently a Personal Trainer at Seattle University’s Recreation center and an independent Business owner. If Mazzy could give anyone 3 pieces of advice they would be: 1.) There is always a solution 2.) 99.9% percent of the time the way people react is not about you. and 3.) Don’t think you know everything.

Missy Colegrove

Missy Colegrove

Snohomish

Missy embodies a vivacious, goal-oriented attitude, which matches her career in youth motivational speaking. She works to instill positive character traits in elementary education. Advocating to children that their circumstances don’t define them, was inspired by overcoming all the heartbreaking tragedies she faced as a child. Also, as a part-time flight attendant, she loves to explore the world, experience other cultures, and play golf in as many beautiful places as possible.

Morgan Sibley

Morgan Sibley

Oak Harbor

Morgan, 24, works hard at 2 jobs, including freelance makeup and has participated in pageants as a Contestant and Director’s Assistant since 2012. Her most memorable experiences are volunteering in local communities and helping our youth recognize their inner beauty and confidence. Morgan also sponsors a child in a program that releases families from poverty; and the Carsyn Nielle Foundation has recently been added to her resume. Morgan is enrolling in school for esthetics.

Preeti Gill

Preeti Gill

South Seattle

As a means to explore her Punjabi roots Preeti competitively danced in the Seattle’s first all-girls traditional Bhangra team. She volunteered at Highline Hospital after discovering her love for caretaking when her family members successfully fought cancer. You can usually find Preeti watching various ted talks and self-improvement videos. Last summer Preeti somersaulted out of her comfort zone and donated all of her hair to cancer.

Preeti Gogulapati

Preeti Gogulapati

Greater Seattle

Preeti Gogulapati is a proud employee of Microsoft , where she works as a Program Manager. As a cybersecurity professional, she is actively engaged in increasing awareness in the younger generation of how to protect themselves online & in advocating for increased opportunities for women to be at the frontlines of cyberwarfare. This 23-year-old holds two Bachelors degrees in Computer Science & Economics from the University of California Berkeley.

Sabrina Pratt

Sabrina Pratt

North Pierce County

After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in the Science of Business, Sabrina went on to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a pilot. Currently working on her instrument and commercial rating, she hopes to combine her passion for aviation and service to others by flying relief missions for nonprofit organizations. With an emphasis on leading a healthy lifestyle, Sabrina spends her free time learning jujitsu and boxing at her local MMA gym.

Samantha Schubert

Samantha Schubert

South Hill

Samantha is a recent graduate of Eastern Washington University with a degree in Child Development. Currently working as a Patient Access Technician with MultiCare Hospitals, Samantha hopes to work as a Certified Child Life Specialist. With a passion for the disabled community because of her brother’s special needs, Samantha started her platform, “Miss Exceptional”, to help girls with disabilities gain self-confidence. Throughout her life, Samantha has raised over $28,000 for local non-profits across Washington State.

Sara Heimberger

Sara Heimberger

Redmond

Sara is a legal assistant in a Woodinville law firm and a University of Washington senior with plans to graduate early. This past summer she studied in Rome to compare Italian law with our own. Today she is teaching a class to college freshman to build a confident generation of college students. Her ultimate dream is to find ways to include a passion for beauty and media into a goal of becoming an entertainment lawyer.

Sarah Rachel

Sarah Rachel

Greater Tri-Cities

Sarah is a doctor that literally puts smiles on people’s faces! Treating patients and leading groups of women, Sarah knows her dental skills play only a part in a confident and bright smile. She is passionate about sharing with girls and women that they can pursue their professional and personal dreams and not settle or let fear keep them back. Sarah is accomplished in music performance, martial arts competition, volunteer work, academics, research and business.

Shannon Lynch

Shannon Lynch

South Sound

Shannon grew up in Steilacoom, Washington. After graduating from Steilacoom High School, she attended Georgetown University in Washington, DC where she studied Government in the honors program and served as captain of the cheerleading team. Since graduating, Shannon has worked as a journalist, served in the AmeriCorps, and founded the nonprofit She Votes, which works to get more young women to vote. She is the daughter of two Army veterans and the youngest of five siblings.

Shaquelle Duncan

Shaquelle Duncan

West King County

Shaquelle, 25, is a West Seattle Native with a passion for law. She is in her last year at Seattle University School of Law. She earned her Bachelors from Washington State University and her Masters from Johns Hopkins. She is the Founder and President of Legal Advocates Empowering Youth, an organization that works to provide legal education to inner-city high school students. She hopes to use her story to inspire women to embrace their adversities.

Stormy Keffeler

Stormy Keffeler

Sky Valley

“With hard work and determination, it is impossible to be ignored” being Stormy Keffeler’s inspirational quote, has pushed her to lead an exciting life! She attended college on a softball scholarship, played three years of professional football, and began a non profit called Play On Sports that is aimed to benefit young athletes in low-income families to enable them to pursue their passion just as she has.

Taylor Mann

Taylor Mann

North Seattle

Taylor Mann was born and raised in Washington State, she is currently pursuing a degree in Business Management from Edmonds Community College with plans to graduate in 2020 and then attend school to become an aesthetician. As a teenager her family endured the effects of homelessness. This experience has fueled her desire to advocate for this vulnerable population. In her spare time Taylor works as Princess Aurora visiting children’s birthday parties and community events.

Tiana Cole

Tiana Cole

Olympia

Tiana was born and raised in Olympia, Washington. She graduated from Tumwater High School and is currently a Junior at the University of Washington, majoring in Journalism. Tiana hopes to deliver breaking news as a news anchor. Tiana advocates youth to get involved in the 4-H program as she believes it has shaped her work ethic and built her character. She enjoys running, horseback riding, hiking and spending time with friends as well as volunteering.