Faith Jenkins

Biography

For updated info and pictures of Faith, please visit her Facebook page.

As Miss Louisiana 2000 Faith Jenkins became a distinguished young leader with a bright future.  After placing 1^st runner up at the Miss America 2001 competition, Faith gained a national presence and began traveling extensively addressing important issues facing her community and our nation.

Speaking Tour

Faith has addressed notable academic institutions, business groups, state agencies, political groups, and student organizations.  As a role model, Faith has encouraged thousands of young people by telling her personal story of perseverance and determination.  During her speaking tour she addressed students in some of the most economically depressed areas of the nation, motivating them to set goals and live their dreams.  And in an effort to reach out to disenfranchised teens, Faith took her message one step further:  juvenile prisons and boot camps where hundreds of teenagers were imprisoned.

As a result of her commitment to encourage others, thousands of young people have found Faith to be a realistic role model and have been motivated by her messages and the rewards of her hard work.

Platform

Faith’s education platform allowed her to meet with a variety of public officials and community leaders to address juvenile crime prevention and pressing education issues. Some of her memorable experiences include meeting with President Clinton’s Secretary of Education, Richard Riley, and Burl Cain, the warden of the largest maximum security prison in America—where she also spoke to prisoners and visited death row.

With the help of the Governor of Louisiana, Faith helped send a significant message to school students on the importance of reading and education. Faith launched "Drop Everything And Read" day, and in just two years, an unprecedented number of over 250,000 school students, public and elected officials participated by simultaneously Dropping Everything to Read across the state.

Miss America 2001

Faith set precedence at the Miss America 2001 national competition. She is the only contestant in Miss America history to be awarded the following three top awards:  Swimsuit, Talent (for her vocal rendition of Nancy Wilson's classic "If I Could"), and the coveted Quality of Life National Community Service award for her platform on literacy and education.

One of her favorite experiences following Miss America was traveling to Athens, Greece, where she appeared at a variety of events.

Background

Faith is originally from Shreveport, Louisiana. She graduated with a B.A. in Political Science from Louisiana Tech University and obtained her J.D. from Southern University Law School where she ranked no. 1 in her law class. Faith eventually moved to New York to pursue a range of career interests and to practice in the litigation group at one of the nation’s leading law firms.

Faith enjoys judging and emceeing Miss America state pageants each summer and often returns to the Miss America pageant to reunite with friends.

To contact Faith, you may e-mail her at:
contact@faithjenkins.com