Lynnette Marie O'Nan (née Cole) is an American director, former model and beauty pageant titleholder who won the title Miss Tennessee USA 2000. She went on to become the first woman from that state to win the Miss USA pageant,[2] which was held in Branson, Missouri on February 4, 2000.
Lynnette Cole | |
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| Born | Lynnette Marie Cole 1978 or 1979 (age 45–46)[1] |
| Beauty pageant titleholder | |
| Title | |
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Cole is from Columbia, Tennessee and was twenty-one years old when she won the national crown.[3]
Family background
editCole is of Puerto Rican heritage.[3]
Pageants
editCole's first major pageant win came in 1995 when she won the title Miss Tennessee Teen USA.[4] She was a top six finalist at the Miss Teen USA pageant in that year, and won the Miss Photogenic award, finishing fourth overall. Cole later won the 1997 Miss Teen All American title.
After winning Miss Tennessee USA Cole competed for and won the title of Miss USA 2000, becoming the second Hispanic woman to win Miss USA after Laura Harring at Miss USA 1985. Cole went on to compete at the Miss Universe pageant, held in Nicosia, Cyprus later that year.[1] Her performance was enough to secure her a spot among the five finalists,[5] and brought the US back into the semifinals (after Kimberly Pressler had failed to advance the year before, breaking a streak of consecutive placements that had been going since 1977). She also placed fifth overall. She became the first woman to place in the top five at all three pageants and her record was not surpassed until 2006 by Tara Conner.
Cole has directed a local preliminary for Miss Tennessee USA.[6]
References
edit- ^ a b (February 4, 2000). Tennessean Crowned Miss Usa 2000, Kingman Daily Miner (Associated Press)
- ^ (April 1, 2004). Chattanooga’s Stephanie Culberson Representing Tennessee At Miss USA Archived July 8, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, chattanoogan.com ("In 2000, Columbia’s Lynnette Cole was the first from the state to win the coveted title.")
- ^ a b (February 27, 2000). [1], Fayetteville Observer ("Lynnette Cole says she is half Puerto Rican and half white The 21yearold who was Miss Tennessee won the Miss USA crown on Feb 4")[dead link]
- ^ (August 14, 1995). TEEN USA CONTESTANTS SERIOUS ABOUT ISSUES, Wichita Eagle ("Miss Tennessee Teen USA - Lynnette Cole")
- ^ (May 13, 2000). Miss India Wins Miss Universe Pageant, Gainesville Sun (Associated Press)
- ^ (December 10, 2008). A Gallery of Black Beauty Queens, PhilStar.com
