Hoover native Briana Kinsey named Miss District of Columbia 2017

Hoover native Briana Kinsey this week was crowned Miss District of Columbia and now will compete in the Miss America competition in Atlantic City in September.

Kinsey, who graduated from Hoover High School in 2011 and the University of Alabama in 2015, now lives in Washington, D.C., where she is doing post-baccalaureate work at American University and working full-time as an eyewear consultant at MyEyeDr.

The 24-year-old has been competing in and winning pageants in Alabama for a decade but never one that qualified her for the Miss America competition until now.

“It’s very weird. You’ve always heard about it, and you’ve always dreamed about it, but it’s one of those things you never believed it would happen to you,” Kinsey said. “It’s all kind of a little surreal, but I think it’s a huge accomplishment. I worked really hard, so I’m very excited. I’m just thrilled for the opportunity to be able to represent the district at the Miss America Pageant.”

Kinsey sang Mandisa’s “Born For This” as her talent at the Miss District of Columbia pageant at The Howard Theatre on Sunday. She also won the Miss America Community Service Award for her work with the Daring to Defeat Diabetes organization she founded years ago.

That scholarship was $1,000, but she also received a $10,000 scholarship for winning the Miss District of Columbia title. In the past 10 years, she has earned about $60,000 in scholarship money from pageants, plus an $80,000 Presidential Scholarship from the University of Alabama for her academics, she said.

Her major at Alabama was biology and pre-med studies, and she now is taking courses at American University to further prepare her for medical school. She would love to attend medical school this fall at Georgetown University or Howard University but also has applied at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, University of South Alabama and a few other schools on the East Coast, she said.

Her goal is to become a doctor that specializes in pediatric endocrinology so she can help children with endocrine disorders, including diabetes, she said.

Her mother, maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother all have been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, and her pageant platform from the start has been to spread awareness about the disease and help fight for a cure, she said. One of the best ways to do that is to raise money for the American Diabetes Association, which leads the fight in the United States, she said.

Over the past six years, Kinsey has raised more than $15,000 for the American Diabetes Association with events such as the Dance Away Diabetes competition for middle and high school dance teams that she has organized at the Riverchase Galleria every year since 2011, she said.

She also created a Dare to Defend Diabetes Girl Scout badge that Girl Scouts can earn for working to raise awareness about the disease.

Kinsey, the daughter of Robert and Velda Kinsey, won her first pageant as Miss Jefferson County Outstanding Teen in 2008 and then was Miss Birmingham Outstanding Teen in 2009. She was first runner-up in the Miss Alabama Outstanding Teen pageant both of those years, she said. Also, she placed first runner-up in the Alabama Junior Miss Pageant, now referred to as the Distinguished Young Women of Alabama pageant, in 2010.

She then went on to win the Miss Birmingham Pageant in 2011, Miss Hoover Pageant in 2012, Miss Marble Valley Pageant in 2013, Miss North Jefferson Area Pageant in 2014 and Miss Leeds Area Pageant in 2015.

She competed in the Miss Alabama Pageant five times and placed in the top 10 her first year and top five the past three years, she said. Because of her age, this was her final year to be eligible to participate in a competition linked to the Miss America organization.

Now that she has won the Miss District of Columbia title over 18 other contestants, she has just 2 ½ months to prepare for the Miss America Pageant. She plans to spend time doing mock interviews, practicing walking, working on her talent and working out with her trainer, she said.

“I know it will be a lot of hard work in the coming months, but I’m ready for a challenge,” she said.

Tricia Lloyd, executive director of the Miss District of Columbia pageant, said she is happy to be working with Kinsey.

“She’s wonderful. She’s sweet. She’s kind,” Lloyd said. “She’s a great representative for the District of Columbia.”

Kinsey and the other Miss America contestants will move into a hotel in Atlantic City on Aug. 30. The pageant is scheduled to be broadcast live on ABC from Boardwalk Hall from 8 to 10 p.m. central time on Sept. 10.