SALLY E. YI (Iota Tau-Harvard) PhD student at Princeton University Miss New Jersey Collegiate America 2024
Living in New York City during the height of COVID-19, Sally Yi (Iota Tau-Harvard) experienced what many Asian- Americans sadly endured during those years from 2020 on — discrimination and hate crimes. And despite being a women, gender and sexuality major — which arguably could have given her a deeper understanding than most of what women face in this country and all over the world — she was not prepared for what was coming as a result of the pandemic. Sally was physically assaulted on the street, a horrendous act that sparked a domino effect of depression. Afterward, she hid herself and her feelings from her loved ones while hiding her body under ill-fitting clothes that made her feel safe while walking outside. However, in 2022, she fought back in a surprising way. Sally decided to enter the Miss New York USA pageant, despite having never competed in pageants or even being familiar with the process. She was driven by the determination to use that stage and her interview time to present herself on her own terms and in her own words.
So, that’s exactly what she did.
“I was shocked by how much discipline it took to practice walking in a gown, work out and talk about myself concisely,” Sally recalled. “The experience of preparing for the pageant gave me a completely different goal from the one I had previously achieved — taking the LSAT and applying to graduate school. I was using a completely different part of my brain, which was scary and difficult, but thrilling at the same time.” Sally said she was extremely proud of herself after the experience, but what she was even more energized by was the diverse cadre of women competing for the title. “The last time I had been in a group of extremely diverse women with wide-ranging interests, beliefs and backgrounds was in my Alpha Phi chapter in college,” Sally explained. “Though I was about to ‘age out’ of competing for ‘Miss’ titles, I took a leap and competed at America’s Ideal Miss in Atlanta, Georgia, which opened my eyes to this huge community of girls and young women committed to self- improvement and self-confidence.” Sally had not heard of the Miss Collegiate America organization until she connected with Stephanie Skinner, an Alpha Phi from the Eta Iota Chapter at the University of Pennsylvania. Together, Sally and Stephanie led an anti-
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