Sharlene Wells Hawkes

Women in Public Service

The only foreign-born, bilingual Miss America (1985). Born in Asunción, Paraguay, Sharlene Wells Hawkes spent twelve years in South America (including high school) before returning to Utah to attend BYU, where she graduated magna cum laude and won top awards for broadcasting. She was crowned BYU Homecoming Queen, Miss Utah, and eventually Miss America, for which she played the Paraguayan harp and sang in Spanish for her talent presentation in front of a record television audience of over 100 million. Later, Hawkes became one of the first women to work on-air for ESPN, where she earned national recognition including an Emmy nomination. Currently, Hawkes is the spokesperson and adviser for ASCEND, a non-profit organization that provides life skills mentoring to African and South American countries.