Angela Perez Baraquio

Who is Angela Perez Baraquio?

Angela Perez Baraquio Grey, known professionally by her birth name of Angela Perez Baraquio, was crowned Miss America 2001 on October 14, 2000 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, becoming the first Asian American, first Filipino American, and first teacher ever to win the pageant. She participated in the pageant as Miss Hawaii 2000. A member of a now prominent Hawaii family, she is the eighth of ten children born to an immigrant couple from the Pangasinan province of the Philippines. A politically conservative, pro-life Catholic, Baraquio has been publicly active in supporting various Republican politicians and in speaking out against abortion. She is also an educator whose platform as Miss America was character education. Since 2004, Baraquio has co-hosted the eponymous Hawaii television show Living Local with the Baraquios. She also helped host the Miss America 2002 pageant and has appeared as a panelist on MTV's Pageant School: Becoming Miss America and on the conservative talk show, Hannity, of the Fox News Channel. Baraquio is also a professional public speaker and author and has worked as a celebrity spokesperson for a Hawaiian bank and a hotel.