Kimberly Vernon was shocked when she won the centennial “Miss California” pageant title June 15 at the Visalia Convention Center. Vernon, who represented Santa Clara County, will compete for the “Miss America” title next January.
Vernon grew up around different mediums of arts, but found her love and passion in the performing arts. She performed in musicals as a child and did ballet and jazz dance.
Years ago, her dance teacher asked her if she’d be interested in competing for “Miss Santa Clara’s Outstanding Teen,” the teen division for Miss America Opportunity, but Vernon was uncertain about competing. Her teacher told her she could win “hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in scholarships” and have the opportunity to perform during the competition.
Vernon, who was 16 at the time, decided to give it a try and she won the talent award for the teen division. She performed ballet on pointe.
Vernon, who graduated from California State University, Fullerton with double majors in theater and cinema television arts with a minor in American studies, advocates arts education for the “Arts for All” organization as a “Miss California” titleholder.
Vernon was inspired by Crystal Lee, a Chinese American, who won “Miss California” in 2013 and was runner-up in “Miss America” in 2014 to Nina Davuluri, an Indian American.
“Watching (Lee) go from that local stage to then being runner up to ‘Miss America’ was so inspiring for me as a 16-year-old, who also was Asian American and also did ballet,” Vernon, who is of Japanese and Belizean descent, told the Nichi Bei News in a virtual interview.
Vernon, a Yonsei, grew up in a multiracial family. Her mother is of Japanese descent and her father is of Belizean descent. Her older half-sisters are half-Japanese and half-Irish, her grandma is of Irish descent, her aunt is Filipina and her sister-in-law is Mexican.
She added that her Grandma Mary babysat and raised her. Although Vernon didn’t look like her grandmother, she made Vernon “feel so special and so beautiful because of my differences…” Vernon said her grandmother complimented her hair and skin color.
“Growing up in this multiracial household really did help me see the world in a different way and even if we don’t look the same, we can all love the same. That’s something I do carry with me as ‘Miss California’ because I do represent such a diverse state,” Vernon said.
Vernon overcame a few challenges being from a multiracial family. Once when she was in elementary school, she and her grandma were getting ice cream when a classmate asked her who her grandma was, noting how different Vernon looked from her.
She added that having darker skin tones than her siblings was “a challenge, but I overcame that as I got older and now, I love being in the sun, love being tan and really embracing that part of myself.”
Being part-Japanese American, Vernon grew up attending Japanese school at the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin in the city’s Japantown. She participated in an after school dance group and recalled performing at the San Jose and San Francisco Obon festivals. In addition to attending Japanese school in the ethnic enclave, Vernon and her family went to Shuei-Do manju shop “almost every weekend.”
Vernon added that her grandmother on her mom’s side was incarcerated at Topaz (Central Utah) during World War II. Her grandfather, who went to school in Utah, was not incarcerated. Vernon said her grandmother was among those who did not like to speak about her camp experience.
In addition to acknowledging her family’s hardships, Vernon is “very, very proud” of her multiracial background.
She noted that her fellow Asian American, Lee, sewed the seeds of inspiration for her to be a “Miss California.” According to the Miss America Website, Debra Maffett was the last “Miss America” from California in 1983.
“To have the potential to be the Miss California to bring that crown home back to our state is something that is really exciting for me,” Vernon commented.
Nichi Bei News staff writer Derek Tahara is a Yonsei or fourth-generation Japanese American born and raised in Sunnyvale, Calif. He earned his B.S. in Journalism at the University of Oregon. He is a lifelong fan of the Golden State Warriors and San Francisco Giants.
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