Miss Kentucky Elle Smith won the Miss USA pageant on the evening of Nov. 29.
Smith is a broadcast journalism graduate of the University of Kentucky and currently works as a news reporter in WHAS11 Louisville. While at UK, Smith served as vice-president of the school’s National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) chapter, the station said.
She will now go on to compete in the Miss Universe pageant in Israel.
The international pageant is set to move forward despite a contestant testing positive for Covid-19, the Miss Universe organization said in a statement.
Israel has imposed travel restrictions in the wake of the Omicron coronavirus variant and is barring entry of tourists for the next two weeks.