Elle Smith
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
June 19, 1998
Elle Smith | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ellen Elizabeth Smith June 19, 1998 Springfield, Ohio, U.S. |
| Education | University of Kentucky (BA) |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)[1] |
| Beauty pageant titleholder | |
| Title | |
| Years active | 2021–present |
| Eye color | Hazel[1] |
| Major competitions |
|
Ellen Elizabeth "Elle" Smith (born June 19, 1998) is an American journalist and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss USA 2021. As Miss USA, she represented the United States at Miss Universe 2021, and placed in the Top 10. Smith had won Miss Kentucky USA 2021, and is the second woman from Kentucky to win Miss USA.
Ellen Elizabeth Smith was born June 19, 1998[2][3] in Springfield, Ohio, to parents Samuel Clayborne and Lydia Smith; she is biracial, being born to a black father and a white mother. Her black ancestors were enslaved on a plantation in Kentucky, before migrating to Ohio in the aftermath of the American Civil War.[4][5]
Smith graduated from Shawnee High School in 2016, where she was an honors student involved in choir, orchestra, volleyball, and drama.[5] Afterwards, she moved to Lexington, Kentucky, to enroll in the University of Kentucky, graduating with a degree in broadcast journalism and a minor in political science in 2020.[6][5][7] While a student, Smith served as vice president of the university's chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists.[8] After completing her degree, Smith became an on-air reporter with WHAS-TV in Louisville, Kentucky, covering Southern Indiana within the Louisville metropolitan area.[5][9][10]
