Pageant Press: Miss SEO 2008, Kylie Johnson, is small-town girl with big ambition

PROFILE: Miss SEO 2008, Kylie Johnson, is small-town girl with big ambition

Her head might still be in the clouds after winning the Miss Southeastern Ohio pageant, but her feet are planted firmly on the ground. Twenty-year-old Kylie Johnson said she never thought she would have an opportunity to be in a pageant, let alone win one.

[Left: Muskingum College junior Kylie Johnson, 2008 Miss Southeastern Ohio. Photo By Michael Neilson/The Daily Jeffersonian]

"I'm a small-town country girl, I grew up on my grandpa's farm in Zanesville ... I never realized there was a pageant until I talked to Ashleigh Lemon, last year's Miss SEO," said Johnson. "We became friends and she asked me to be in the pageant with her. My first experience was in the 2006 Miss SEO pageant. I gained a lot of self-confidence in myself, developed poise and learned a lot, so, I decided to do it again this year (enter the pageant). The experience teaches you how to be professional. I applied everything I learned the year before and gave it my all."

...Her plans are to continue her education and eventually be a spokesperson for conservation on the international level.

Beauty, brains and a down-to-earth personality, you couldn't ask for anything more.

Sorry guys, she has a boyfriend.

CLICK HERE for the entire Daily Jeffersonian article by Judie Perkowski.