Deshauna Barber had a mic drop moment during the 2016 Miss USA pageant.
The Department of Commerce IT analyst and Army Reserve logistics commander didn't mince words when asked her thoughts on women in the military during the interview round of competition, and it earned her the title of Miss USA 2016.
"The Pentagon recently made the decision to open up all combat jobs to women," said judge Joe Zee, noting how it was a personal issue for Barber. "Now some have questioned if this has put political correctness over our military’s ability to perform at the highest level. What are your thoughts?"
The newly crowned queen wasted no time with her impeccable response.
"As a woman in the United States Army, I think it is an amazing job by our government to allow women to integrate into every branch of the military," she said as the crowd erupted.
"We are just as tough as men. As a commander of my unit I am powerful, I am dedicated and it's important to recognize that gender does not limit us in the United States Army."
She followed it with an equally compelling speech on being #ConfidentlyBeautiful.
"To me confidently beautiful means understanding its not always about your appearance. It’s not always about who you are around and how they feel you look, where they feel you come from or your economic background. Serving in the military has taught me that being confidently beautiful is about being able to earn respect from people regardless of what you look like. As a woman in the military, people associate beauty with weakness and they learn very quickly that I’m extremely strong, and though I’m small, I’m powerful. Confidently beautiful is being myself and being very happy with who I’ve become."
Her competitors didn't fare quite as well during the interview portion. Miss California Nadia Mejia was clearly rattled by her question about economic inequality, struggling to pull her thoughts together. Miss Hawaii was thrown a curve about whether she would vote for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, which she respectfully side-stepped, which helped her come in as runner up.
Barber broke into a sob as her name was announced as the winner, and even hosts Terrence J and Julianne Hough had a hard time holding back their excitement.
