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First Asian American Woman Crowned as Miss Texas

NBC Texas

From North Texas to the Miss America stage, the newly crowned Miss Texas is making history.

“My name is Averie Bishop. I am the 85th anniversary Miss Texas and the first Asian American woman to represent our state,” she said.

Bishop is also a first-generation SMU graduate and SMU law school graduate.
She’s the daughter of a Filipino-immigrant mother and fourth-generation Texan father.

“It’s such an emotional feeling because when I was a kid, I never dreamed of becoming Miss Texas because I didn’t think that anyone looked like me as Miss Texas,” she said.

Bishop says her mother introduced her to a special pageant circuit as a teen.

“My mom signed me up for an Asian-American cultural pageant within our community, so I got to wear Filipino attire and reconnect with her culture,” she said.

Competing in the Miss Texas pageant over the weekend was also a race against time. WATCH