Kryst hastened to point out she and her fellow beauty queens were far from token victors based on race. “Three of the last four Miss USAs were women of color — there was Kara McCullough, there was Deshauna Barber — and that was important for me to see,” Kryst told CNN in December 2019. “People didn’t think, ‘Oh, that’s enough (Black winners),'” she said. “It’s still possible for us to be successful on your own merit. And it doesn’t matter if you look like the last winner, (if) you look like the last three. If you’re the best, you’re the best, and you can win.” Kryst’s priorities and perspective on life and leadership also emerged during the 2019 Miss USA contest and her reign.
