Erin O'Flaherty

Last updated
Erin O'Flaherty
Born
South Carolina [1]
Title Miss Missouri 2016
Predecessor McKensie Garber

Erin O'Flaherty is an American beauty pageant titleholder who held the title of Miss Missouri in the Miss America 2017 pageant. She is the first openly lesbian contestant to compete in Miss America. [2]

Contents

Pageants

In 2013, she was crowned Miss University of Central Florida. [3] While there, she was an ambassador for Children's Miracle Network. [4] She took a couple years off from pageant competition, however, she wanted to compete before she surpassed the age eligibility. [5] In 2016, she was crowned Miss Missouri in the Miss America pageant. Also in 2016, she became the first openly lesbian contestant to compete in Miss America. [2] Her platform is suicide prevention, a cause close to her heart from losing her best friend to suicide and experiencing her first funeral at the age of 13. [6] As an advocate for suicide prevention, she works with The Trevor Project, a hotline for LGBT youth, and The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. [7] Her talent is a vocal performance. [8]

Personal life

Erin O'Flaherty is originally from Florence, South Carolina. [8] O'Flaherty came out as gay when she was 18. [1] She attended the University of Central Florida, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in accounting. [6] During an interview at UCF, O'Flaherty's dream job was to be a cashier as a child. She loved balancing her grandmother's checkbook every Sunday and was fascinated with the transaction process. As her strength for rules, organization, and numbers increased with her entrepreneurial drive, her dream of owning or operating a small business was created. [4] She currently lives in St. Louis, Missouri as the Director of Operations for Captiva Marketing. She enjoys world traveling, kayaking to see wildlife in Wekiwa Springs, and playing soccer. She also enjoys singing, which contributes to her talent in pageants. [4]

In 2018, a short documentary was made about her life story called "Crowning Change" that premiered to audiences at film festivals around the world. [9] [10] [11]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Mansouri, Kavahn. "New Miss Missouri Erin O'Flaherty Is Proud to Be Gay". The Riverfront Times. Archived from the original on September 2, 2016. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  2. 1 2 Shepherd, Ken. "Erin O'Flaherty hoping to become first openly lesbian Miss America". The Washington Times . Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  3. ↑ Coyne, Amanda. "Meet Erin O'Flaherty, the First Openly Gay Beauty Queen to Compete at Miss America". Cosmopolitan . Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 "Meet Someone Who Looks Forward to Balancing Her Checkbook – Miss UCF". UCF News - University of Central Florida Articles - Orlando, FL News. 11 October 2013. Retrieved 2016-09-13.
  5. ↑ "Former Miss UCF Wins Miss Missouri Title". UCF News - University of Central Florida Articles - Orlando, FL News. 24 June 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  6. 1 2 Mansouri, Kavahn. "New Miss Missouri Erin O'Flaherty Is Proud to Be Gay". Archived from the original on 2016-09-14. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  7. ↑ Nichols, James Michael (2016-09-09). "Meet The First Openly Gay Miss America Contestant In History". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  8. 1 2 "Erin O'Flaherty: Miss Missouri is Miss America's first openly gay contestant". 11 September 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  9. ↑ Crowning Change (2018) - IMDb , retrieved 2019-08-06
  10. ↑ lgbttorontofilmfestival (2018-09-25). "Short Film: CROWNING CHANGE – THE ERIN O'FLAHERTY STORY, 17min., USA, LGBT". LGBT Toronto Film Festival. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
  11. ↑ "Miss Missouri's Groundbreaking Role Is Subject of New Documentary, Crowning Change". Riverfront Times. Archived from the original on 2019-08-06. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Miss Missouri
2016		Succeeded by
Jennifer Davis


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