The Miss USA Pageant 1998 winner was Shawnae Jebbia. Shawnae was an unknown, inexperienced pageant competitor who came to the pageant with little expectation other than to make top 10. Shawnae entered the Miss Mass contest on a dare. After winning Miss Mass she had less than 60 days to prepare for Miss USA. Miss Mass had never won Miss USA before.
Most competitors (Miss California, Texas, Missouri, Florida and others) have extensive pageant experience. They have coaches for clothing, interview, how to walk and large budgets provided by the their respective state. Miss California (the favorite) was a former Miss Teen USA, Miss Missouri was runnerup Miss Teen USA and Miss Texas always has a team of coaches, advisors and a large budget to work with.
Given that Shawnae didn't have any experience or advisers its a real miracle she won. Her Mom did a lot of advising and Shawnae did get some help and advice, just not the kind of advice that many other contestants get with years of pageant experience. The Interviews were her weakest area, simply due to the limited time she had to prepare. She had never before been in front of a live audience 5,000 screaming people and a TV audiance of 50 million people. Considering her inexperience, lack of time to prepare I think she did a bang up job. She clearly excelled, no she set the bar a little higher in years to come in swimsuit and evening gown. She designed her own evening gown and I believe she set the standard of being fit in swimsuit for years to come.
Her mother and I talked with the judges after the contest and they said she was natural, fresh, athletic and wholesome. The fact that she wasn't over coached or practiced helped her. I don't think the pageant industry was ready for an inexperienced unknown to win?
This was a rare and tremendous experience for her mom and I. We had 2 wondrous years while she was Miss USA, then off to Miss Universe in Hawaii, then Miss USA 1999 in Branson and then Miss Universe 1999 in Trinidad, where we were guests of her friend and roommate, Wendy Fitzwilliam, Miss Universe 1998. Some will be surprise to know that we were pulling for Wendy to win Miss Universe. Shawnae was told that Miss USA had won 2 of the 3 prior years and it would be impossible for her to win. I am not sure that under any conditions Shawnae could have won Universe, Wendy was a true winner and a great Miss Universe.
We are very proud of our daughter and this video was a labor of love and great to relive the wonderful memories.
Mom & Dad
Tags: Shawnae Jebbia Miss USA 1998 CBS Shreveport Louisiana Donald Trump Universe Beauty Pageant
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