The Law School Graduate who Became the First Asian Miss Texas in History

Averie Bishop from Carrollton, Texas, won the Miss Texas competition held on Friday at the Eisemann Center in Richardson.
Bishop, 26 years old, was the 85th champion of the contest and the first Asian-American woman to win the crown, besting forty other contenders to do so. She will represent her state at a later date in the Miss America contest. In a statement to Narcity, Bishop said that for a very long period she convinced herself that she did not deserve to be Miss Texas since she had never seen anybody who resembled her represent the state.

Bishop, a Filipino-American, competed in the almost week-long competition, performing “On My Own” from the musical “Les Misérables” and winning the early talent round.

In a TikTok video of her presentation, she revealed to her more than 800,000 followers that she was an acting/musical theater major in college before she switched to human rights and joined law school.

A first-generation law student who was born and bred in the Texas city of McKinney, a suburb of North Dallas, Bishop graduated from SMU’s Dedman School of Law last month.

Bishop’s Humble Background

Averie’s mother is a Filipino immigrant while the father is a fourth-generation Texan. She noticed at an early age that she did not identify with her primary school peers or instructors in Prosper. She says that winning the contests is such an emotional experience for her because, as a child, she never saw herself being Miss Texas since she didn’t believe anyone looked like her

Determined to be Successful

This is not the first time Averie Bishop has paved the way. Before being crowned Miss Texas on June 25, she was the first Asian-American to win Miss Lufkin in 2019 and Miss Dallas in 2020 on the Miss America pageant circuit. Her most recent accomplishment is an additional victory for diversity and representation in North Texas.

When questioned by NBCDFW about her victory, Bishop said that it was an absolutely humbling experience for her. She characterized the incident as “an out-of-body experience” and said that at that time she had completely lost touch with reality. This was her final year of eligibility, and the tournament was also a battle against time, which makes her triumph all the more impressive.

An agent of Change in the Community

In 2015, Bishop co-founded The Tulong Foundation with her mother. One of the goals of the nonprofit organization is to sponsor kids from remote communities and provinces in the Philippines.

Bishop was employed as a content creator for a TikTok learning education program last year. She uses the social media site to engage with its members and tackle prejudice within the Asian-American community.

In her TikTok and You Tube pages, she provides a glimpse into her life as a law student and beauty pageant participant. Her platform is devoted to encouraging diversity and inclusiveness throughout the whole Lone Star State.

Now Bishop begins her one-year term as the Texas Cares for Children Program’s state ambassador. She remarked, “I also get to grow my ‘Y’all Means All’ social impact campaign, which promotes the significance of diversity and inclusiveness in our Lone Star State.” The representation could not be in more capable hands.