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Ms. America® 2022-23 Crown Goes to
a Military Veteran
 
Athena Fleming Begins Her Journey as
Ms. America® 2022-23

Brea, California – Athena Fleming, representing the West Coast was crowned Ms. America® 2022 at the national pageant held Saturday, October 29, 2022, at the Curtis Theater in Brea, California.
 
Athena Flemings walk across the stage to accept the crown as Ms. America® 2022 marking her first steps on a journey that will take her from spotlight to spotlight representing an organization that enriches the lives of women across the country, who are passionate about giving back to others through volunteer service and being the inspiration that helps others achieve their dreams.
 
MS. AMERICA® 2022 is a native of Southern California, a military veteran, and a media relations professional. This Coast Guard veteran was once a professional cheerleader with the Los Angeles Kings Ice Crew. As a spokeswoman with Dress For Success, Athena created her international campaign, Positively Social, and teaches meaningful interactions through media, volunteer and community events.

59 women applied through the pageant website to be a contestant in this year’s pageant. Being accepted as a contestant was based on application, photo, and interview over the phone. Then it was narrowed down to 32 contestants where 24 women from across the country ended up competing on stage.  The pageant is based on four areas of competition: Evening Gown, Interview, Sportswear and On-Stage Question, each worth 25% of their total score.  Other optional titles awarded were USA International® 2022 which is for women 40 years of age and up Ms. International Beauty® 2022 which is for women 50 years of age and up, Mrs. International Beauty® 2022 is for married women and the winner of the Ms. International® 2022 is based on her ability to do consistently well throughout all areas of the pageant; judges competition scores, ads sold in the program book and People’s Choice thru Internet Voting. 

SPECIAL AWARDS
Special Awards were judged through a separate panel of judges which has no bearing on who wins Ms. America nor any national title.
 
People’s Choice Award – Nicole Mellecker, Ms. Midwest winning $9,203.00 in cash.
Ms. for America Award 2022 – Carla Vanderloop, Ms West Illinois
America Ms. Award 2022 – Athena Fleming, Ms. West Coast
Spirit of Pageantry Award – Lisa Tauai, Ms. Southwest America
Empowering Women Award – Kristin King, Ms. Western States
Spirit of America Award – Cheyenne Bennion, Ms. Idaho
Power of the Crown Award – Athena Fleming, Ms. West Coast
Crown for a Purpose Award – Kimberly Lattimore, Ms. California Coast
Media Award – Talisha Huddleston, Ms. Southeast America
Photogenic Award – Desirie Abapo, Ms. Orange County Regional
Congeniality Award – Mai-Lea Dejong, Ms. Southern California
Community Service Award – Desirie Abapo, Ms. Orange County Regional
Woman of Distinction Award – Carla Vanderloop, Ms. West Illinois and Carlie Gintoli, Ms. Florida (tie).

MS. INTERNATIONAL® 2023-24
LISA TAUAI

Lisa is a retired United States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel where she specialized as a Registered Dietitian for over 20 years, honorably serving in 8 locations around the world.  Her platform is the power of plant-based nutrition for performance, which she practices daily as an avid vegetarian and personal dietitian to our warfighters and their families.  Since being crowned Ms. International® 2023-24, she has already made 8 appearances in the Las Vegas community and appears live on News 3 Las Vegas every month sharing her nutrition expertise to over 650,000.  Additionally, she was recently selected for the cover of Crowns Magazine set to be released in January 2024.  Lisa plans on using her title as Ms. International® 2023-24 to further her reach in helping others prevent and even reverse disease through the power of nutrition.

MS. INTERNATIONAL BEAUTY® 2022-23
Carla Ann Vanderloop

MS. INTERNATIONAL BEAUTY® 2022 went to Carla Ann Vanderloop, Ms. West Illinois. Ms. International Beauty® 2022 represents women 50 years of age and up who are single divorced or married with a dedicated platform they are an advocate for. Carla’s platform is “Pages of Life – (L)iving (I)t (F)ully (E)veryday…” Owner of CA Image Consulting, Carla Ann has mentored women for 30+ years. A former Packer Cheerleader coach, Humanitarian Award Recipient, Public Speaker and Co-Founder of Warm Hands, Warm Hearts Project, she has been instrumental in collecting and distributing 65,000 cold weather gear items since 2008. 

MRS. INTERNATIONAL BEAUTY® 2022-23
ANDREA ROBERTS

MRS. INTERNATIONAL BEAUTY® 2022 went to Andrea Roberts, Ms. Pacific Coast. Mrs. International Beauty® 2022 represents women 25 years of age and up who are married with a dedicated platform they are an advocate for. Andrea’s platform is Community Service and Youth Mentoring. She is a mom of 5 children and has had a dance studio and gymnasium for 30 years.  She likes to play golf, piano, and drums.  She founded the Benefit “Dance Your Heart Out” and is a “Hope Studio” for “Dancers Against Cancer!"   

USA INTERNATIONAL® 2022-23
KRISTIN KING

Kristin Kings walk across the stage to accept the crown as USA International® 2022-23 making her first steps on a journey that will take her from spotlight to spotlight representing an organization that enriches the lives of women across the country, who are passionate about giving back to others through volunteer service and being the inspiration that helps others achieve their dreams. Kristin’s platform is Domestic Violence Awareness - No Longer Afraid. No Longer Ashamed! Kristin is a wife, mother, and grandmother. She is an Engineering Manager honored by the Global Beauty Awards for Best in Science. A domestic violence survivor, she is an Ambassador for the NO MORE campaign sharing her story, educating, and fundraising.

CLASSIC AMERICA® 2025-26
LISA TALLARIGO

CLASSIC AMERICA® 2025-26 is a title for women who are a size 14 and up. This title was created to allow women to compete in a pageant without the title labeling them as a plus or curve’ woman. The pageant appointed Lisa Tallarigo from California as its inaugural queen who competed in the 2021 International pageant. If the Classic America® title had been available, she would have won which is why she was offered to represent the title. Lisa accepted, stating, “This title is the beginning of a whole new way of representing women who are Size 14 and up!” Lisa has over 20 years of experience in the pageant industry and has won over 13 state, national and international titles. She is the CEO of We Are Real Talk, a show via the Internet. This year at the pageant she interviewed all the contestants before the pageant and after the contestants competed in Judges Interviews.