Meet Miss Douglas County

The Miss Douglas County pageant looked a bit different this year as in, there wasn’t one, at least not with gowns and tiaras gracing a stage. Instead, contestants submitted online applications by simply answering a few questions and the crown went to 2021 Douglas High School graduate Carli Kleist.

Kleist was crowned in October as the 2023 Miss Douglas County.

“It wasn’t that hard to become Miss Douglas County, but I am finding it challenging to represent my county in a good way,” she said. “I just want to serve my county well and let them know I am here, volunteering as much as I can and serving the community the best I can.”

According to Miss Nevada Scholarship Organization Board Member Tiffany Kenison, in past pageants local competitions would crown a “Miss Douglas County, or “Miss Carson City,” but since the coronavirus and lack of volunteers to run the program, Nevada directors decided to make Nevada an “open state,” which means any delegate within the age guidelines can compete for the state title as Miss Nevada or Miss Nevada’s Teen without having to compete for a local competition.

“Competitions like pageants are just a dying industry,” said Kleist. “A lot people see it as a bathing suit competition and pretty girls, but its’ so much more than that. There are talents, interview skills and volunteer work involved.”

Kleist volunteers at Suicide Prevention Network and Moxy up as part of her platform or Community Service Initiative, “It’s Okay to Not be Okay: Mental Health Awareness.”

Through it she advocates for more mental health opportunities to be offered, for people to feel comfortable accepting resources and for mental health to be understood.

“I have chosen to work with Moxy Up and the Suicide Prevention Network because of how much they do for this community’s mental health as well as how many resources they offer,” said Kleist. “These places and my CSI are important to me because I have struggled with my own mental health during my life, and I want people to know that it does get better and that it’s okay to not be okay all the time.”

This was Kleist’s second time competing as Miss Douglas County. She applied in the 2019-2020 competition but did not win a title. When deciding to try again, she realized the best thing she could have done, was to keep trying.

“Honestly just do it,” she said. “Don’t hold back. If you want to then you should. Because that is exactly what I did. I decided I wanted to and I didn’t know whether I would be good enough or not, but I just did it and I have had more fun volunteering and meeting other women than I have in a while.”

Kleist said the benefits of the competition is worth it all.

“For me it’s not only the friendships I made, but scholarships and opportunities,” she said. “It’s a nonprofit organization that awards so many scholarships to many women and to me that means a lot.”

Kleist is currently a University of Nevada, Reno, student studying criminal justice. After that she plans to attend law school to become prosecutor or district attorney.

“I found a little note with my top three careers — and it was dancer, artist and lawyer,” she said. “I don’t know where the thought to become a lawyer came from, because I was little when I wrote it, but it’s the one I chose to pursue.”

Visit https://missnevada.org or https://www.facebook.com/MissAmericaNV/ or on Instagram at missnevada.mao for more.