15/03/2022
Emily Suttle is crowned Miss Tennessee USA 2022 in Clarksville on Saturday.
Courtesy / Visit Clarksville March 15, 2022
Emily Suttle, Miss Franklin, was crowned Miss Tennessee USA on Saturday at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville. McKinley Farese, Miss Memphis, was crowned Miss Tennessee Teen USA.
The new titleholders and the runners-up received numerous prizes and scholarships.
Miss Tennessee USA and Miss Tennessee Teen USA will have the opportunity to represent Tennessee at the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants in 2022.
Rounding out the top five finalists among the 32 contestants in the Miss Tennessee pageant were first runner-up Miss Knoxville Emma Conn, second runner-up Miss Heart of Nashville Regan Ringler, third runner-up Miss Greenfield Macy Garner and fourth runner-up Miss Downtown Nashville Elise Stein.
The outgoing Miss Tennessee USA, Elizabeth Graham Pistole, is a Nashville fitness instructor at two local barre studios. She is also continuing her education by pursuing a master’s degree in marketing with a concentration in social media strategies online at the University of Alabama.
Pistole was driven to pursue a master’s degree so that she could have the knowledge to grow and develop her nonprofit the Dancing Divas and Dudes. The Dancing Divas and Dudes is a dance team for individuals with special needs and was inspired by her sister, Natalie, who has Down syndrome. Pistole started Divas and Dudes at 14 years old and has grown it by over 600% over the past seven years.
Other finalists among the 28 contestants in the Miss Tennessee Teen competition included first runner-up Miss Music City Natalie Anderson, second runner-up Miss Marble City Blye Allen, third runner-up Miss Franklin Kendall Raye Kuczen and fourth runner-up Miss McMinnville Grace Sparkman.
Outgoing Miss Tennessee Teen USA Annie Zhao is a high school senior and the first Asian titleholder in Tennessee USA system history. Zhao wants to become a leader in medicine as an OB-GYN and advance health care for women and children.
Zhao has instructed English to students in and outside of the U.S. since she was 14. Advancing from learning basic English out of TV shows and books as a child to making the highest possible scores on testing or winning at every Model United Nations conference she has attended, she has grown to become an English and public speaking enthusiast. One of her most important events was the deliverance of the Stop Asian Hate speech regarding racism to hundreds of Tennesseans.