Only one Miss USA has hailed from Arkansas, Terry Utley of Cabot crowned in 1982. Kimberly Forsyth, also of Cabot, the 2006 Miss Arkansas USA, hopes to change that to two.
Forsyth left Sunday for New York and the preliminaries leading up to the crowning of Miss USA 2006 on April 21. The Miss USA pageant will be broadcast live, she said.
Winning Miss USA would be a dream-come-true, Forsyth said. “I’m excited about the possibility about being the second [from Arkanas], and wouldn’t it be great to have both come from Cabot,” Forsyth said in an interview Friday. Forsyth is only the second Miss Arkansas USA to reach the semi-final level since Utley won the crown; in 2005, Jessica Furrer of Conway was a semi-finalist.
Though she now resides at Little Rock, Forsyth said she calls Cabot home. She graduated from Cabot High School in 1997.
In fact, Forsyth remarked, her participation in beauty pageants began in Cabot. Entering the 1996 Miss Cabot pageant was done on a whim, she said.
“I really wasn’t a pageant person. It surprised a lot of my friends when I entered it,” Forsyth recalled.
“It was the first pageant I had ever entered. I never expected to win, I wasn’t ‘connected’ like most of the other girls. But when I did, I was hooked,” Forsyth exclaimed.
Though she continued in pageants after graduation from high school, they were second to her ultimate goal, Forsyth said. “Education came first,” she said.
Forsyth said she attended Pepperdine University, gaining a bachelor’s in business administration in 2001. She continued her studies at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, getting her master’s in business administration in 2005.
Forsyth said she enjoyed her stay in California while she attended college, but is glad to be back in Arkansas. “It is a much slower pace here. I can’t think of a better place to have grown up. I have great friends here, the people are great,” she remarked.
“But it’s hard to believe how much [Cabot] has grown. I can remember getting the first McDonald’s; now look at what’s here,” Forsyth exclaimed.
While she is not sure of the number of pageants she has entered, she has gained something from each one, Forsyth said. “It takes a special confidence to put yourself in front of people like that; now, I can handle just about any situation” she remarked.
One of her goals is to defeat the image of the not-so-bright pageant contestant, Forsyth said. Certainly, there are some who fit that stereotype, but generally they do not get very far, she said.
“I work for Kaplan Test Preparation, I teach how to prepare for and take standardized tests like the SAT, ACT and GRI. I like to use my skills in the real estate market … I think that goes well beyond being ‘blonde,’” she remarked.
No, neither has she “won” all her competitions, there have been many second and third runner-up titles, Forsyth said. While the runner-up titles are nice, they are not first and one has to learn perseverance, she remarked.
“I was runner-up for Miss Arkansas USA 2005, but I came back,” Forsyth said.
Her plans for the future? “It is hard to see beyond what is coming up, winning Miss USA would likely change everything,” Forsyth said.
“When you consider what can come of being Miss USA, it is about maximizing opportunities,” Forsyth said. “I believe that having ‘Plan B’ means you do not think ‘Plan A’ will work. Right now I am concentrating on Miss USA,” she remarked.
But it is not “all business,” there is a lot of fun, Forsyth said. “I am going to be on ‘Deal or No Deal’ on April 14. It has already been taped, I get to be one of the ‘briefcases,’ she said.
“This is just awesome,” Forsyth exclaimed.
by Ed Galucki
staff writer
TKPN
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