Tanisha Nicole Brito (born September 11, 1980) is a beauty queen who has competed at both
Miss America and
Miss USA.
Brito is an experienced pageant contestant. Her first major pageant was the 2000
Miss Connecticut state pageant, where she finished second runner-up. The following year she competed in Georgia, where she won a non-finalist interview award. She returned to Connecticut in 2002, where she won the swimsuit award and
Miss Connecticut crown. Brito was a top ten finalist in the
Miss America 2003 pageant won by
Erika Harold of Illinois. She won a $5,000 scholarship for this placement. The following year, Brito gave up her Connecticut crown to Marla Beth Prete and returned to Georgia.
On November 6, 2004 Brito was crowned
Miss Georgia USA. She competed in the
Miss USA 2005 pageant held in
Baltimore, Maryland on 11 April 2005, but failed to make the cut at the nationally televised pageant, which was won by
Chelsea Cooley of
North Carolina. She gave up her crown to
Lisa Wilson in November 2006.
Brito graduated from
Waterford High School in 1998. Her home town is
Waterford, Connecticut, however she attended
Clark Atlanta University in
Georgia which gave her the residency permission to compete in that state's pageant. While preparing for the
Miss America pageant, Brito attended the
University of Connecticut at
Avery Point so as not to disadvantage her studies. Her degree is in mass media arts with a concentration in public relations. At university in Georgia she...
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