13 things about Miss USA 2024 Alma Cooper

Alma Oralia Minerva Cooper is an American-Mexican soldier and beauty queen born in Okemos, Ingham County, Michigan, United States to her African-American father Stacey Cooper and Mexican mother Oralia Minerva Cooper. Stacey is a retired U.S. Army major who served 24 years in the military.

Oralia is a migrant farm worker who migrated to the U.S. at age 6. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho, USA and her master’s degree in educational administration from Saginaw Valley State University in University Center, Michigan.

BIOGRAPHY

Alma attended Mason High School in Mason, Michigan and competed on varsity basketball, track and volleyball teams at Okemos High School in Okemos. She is the fifth Miss USA winner to not place in Miss Universe following Barbara Peterson in 1976, Kimberly Pressler in 1999, Shauntay Hinton in 2002 and Rima Fakih in 2010.

On March 17, 2025, Alma turned 23. Here are 13 more things about her:

1. She skipped third grade.
2. After spending one year at Mason High School, she transferred to Okemos High School.
3. She was the only female mathematical science major in her class at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in West Point, New York, USA and was selected as one of the academy’s three Knight-Hennessy scholars.
4. Her sister Brooke Cooper, who was born in 1996, is cognitively impaired.
5. She was Miss Michigan Teen USA 2017 first runner-up.
6. From 2018 to 2023, she was a Fashion Hope clothing drive ambassador.
7. In 2019, she graduated from Okemos High School.
8. From 2019 to 2023, she attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point where she graduated with honors and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics.
9. In 2024, she visited Mexico.
10. She won Miss Michigan USA 2024.
11. She won Miss USA 2024 while she was an active-duty U.S. Army officer.
12. She was a Miss Universe 2024 candidate.
13. She did not attend Miss USA 2025.

TIMELINE

Alma is 5’9″ tall. She is the first active-duty U.S. Army officer to compete in Miss Michigan USA and the first Afro-Latina to win Miss USA.

2010s

• On September 24, 2016, she competed for the Miss Michigan Teen USA 2017 crown at McMorran Auditorium in Port Huron, St. Clair County, Michigan. She was runner-up to Kenzie Weingartz.
• In January 2018, she joined Fashion Hope.
• In May 2019, she graduated from Okemos High School.
• In August 2019, she entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

2020s

• From July 2021 to August 2021, she was an intern at the U.S. Army Center for Army Analysis in Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
• In May 2023, she became a U.S. Army second lieutenant.
• In July 2023, she left Fashion Hope.
• In May 2023, she graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
• In August 2023, she entered Stanford University in Stanford, California, USA to pursue her master’s degree in data science.
• On October 26, 2023, she went to Chase Center in San Francisco, California, USA to watch Solána Imani “SZA” Rowe‘s concert.
• On April 21, 2024, she represented Okemos at Miss Michigan USA 2024 and competed against 64 other candidates at the McMorran Entertainment Center in Port Huron. She won the title.
• On August 4, 2024, she represented Michigan at Miss USA 2024, competed against 50 other candidates at the The Biltmore Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California and won the title.
• She and her fellow Miss Universe 2024 candidates María Fernanda Beltrán, Naomi Méndez, Raynae Myers, Rhea Singha and Suchata Chuangsri were chosen to participate in Miss Universe 2024 press tours and cultural exchanges in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico on November 6, 2024.
• On November 16, 2024, she represented the U.S. at Miss Universe 2024 and competed against 124 other candidates Arena Ciudad de México (Arena CDMX) in Azcapotzalco, Mexico City, Mexico. She was unplaced.
• On October 3, 2025, Anne Jakrajutatip‘s company JKN Universe filed a lawsuit in New York against Layla Rose Loiczly‘s company VVV Global Ent for its failure to pay her $100,000 salary as Miss USA 2024.
• On October 24, 2025, she did not attend the coronation of her successor Miss USA 2025 Audrey Eckert at the Grand Theater of the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada, USA. Hours before the show started, she wrote on social media, “After much consideration, I’ve made the extremely difficult decision not to attend this year’s Miss USA pageant and crowning ceremony. As I close this chapter, I do so with the knowledge that I finished what I started with integrity and my self-worth held high, just like the crown I was honored to wear.”