Sharlene Wells Hawkes

Sharlene Wells Hawkes, born March 16, 1964, is a Paraguayan-American author, singer, and reporter from Salt Lake City, Utah. She is best known as the winner of the Miss America 1985 title, becoming the first foreign-born and bilingual Miss America.

Hawkes was born in Asunción, Paraguay, and spent her childhood living across Mexico, Chile, and Ecuador, followed by her teenage years in Buenos Aires, Argentina. When she won the Miss America title, her parents resided in Holladay, Utah. She is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1988, she graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor's degree in communications, and she later earned a master's degree in integrated marketing communications from the University of Utah.

Her selection as Miss America 1985 was viewed by some as an antidote to the scandal surrounding the previous year's winner, Vanessa Williams. During her reign, Hawkes publicly stated her opposition to pre-marital sex, abortion, and the Equal Rights Amendment, while expressing support for the reelection of Ronald Reagan. A biography about her, written by Sheri Dew, was published by Deseret Book in 1985.

Following her time as Miss America, Hawkes pursued a career in broadcasting. She worked as a reporter covering horse racing and college football for ESPN from 1987 to 2002. She also returned to the Miss America organization in later years, serving as a judge for both the Miss America 2017 and Miss America 2025 pageants.

In addition to broadcasting, Hawkes is an author and recording artist. She co-authored "The Inside Outside Beauty Book" with Barbara Barrington Jones in 1989, and wrote "Living in but not of The World" in 1997, as well as "Kissing a Frog: Four Steps to Finding Comfort Outside Your Comfort Zone." Her musical releases include the albums "When We Will All Believe" in 1994 and "Songs of the Morning Stars" in 1996.

Since 2007, Hawkes has focused on assisting veterans and their families, including establishing a program that brought the wives and daughters of military personnel killed in the line of duty to the Miss America pageant. In 2015, she was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Defense to the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Armed Forces. As of August 2016, she served as the executive vice president of Story Rock Electronic Publishing and as president of its military division, Remember My Service, which produces historical records for military personnel.