Daja Breyon Davidson (née Dial; born March 22, 1993) is an American

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition in which the contestants are judged and ranked based on various physical and mental attributes. Per its name, beauty pageants traditionally focus on judging the contestants' physical attractiveness, sometimes sol ...

titleholder from

Spartanburg, South Carolina Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city had a population of 38,732 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in South Carolina, 11th ...

, who was crowned

Miss South Carolina The Miss South Carolina competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of South Carolina in the Miss America pageant. The pageant was first held in Myrtle Beach and moved to Greenville starting in 1958 and remained in ...

2015. She competed for the

Miss America 2016 Miss America 2016 was the 89th Miss America pageant, held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on September 13, 2015. Kira Kazantsev of New York crowned Betty Cantrell of Georgia as her successor at the end of the event. Accordi ...

title in September 2015 and was a Top 7 finalist. She is the third

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

to be crowned Miss South Carolina.

Pageant career

Teen pageants

Dial entered her first pageant in 2010 while a senior at Paul M. Dorman High School. She was in a pageant audience to support her cousin when the Director of another pageant encouraged Dial to compete herself the next weekend. Dial won the Miss Greater Carolina Teen 2010 title and competed for the

Miss South Carolina Teen The Miss South Carolina’s Teen competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the U.S. state of South Carolina in the Miss America's Teen pageant. Miss South Carolina’s Teen pageant is held the same week as Miss South Carolin ...

title on a platform of Juvenile Diabetes awareness and a vocal performance of "

And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" (also known in short as just "And I Am Telling You") is a torch song from the Broadway musical ''Dreamgirls'', with lyrics by Tom Eyen and music by Henry Krieger. In the context of the musical, "And I Am ...

" from the musical ''

Dreamgirls ''Dreamgirls'' is a Broadway musical, with music by Henry Krieger and lyrics and book by Tom Eyen. It is based on the show business aspirations and successes of R&B acts such as The Shirelles, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and others, and p ...

''. Dial was a Top-11 finalist for the state title.

Vying for Miss South Carolina

The next year, competing as an adult, Dial qualified for the 2011

pageant as Miss Powdersville. She competed with the platform "Type 1 & Type II Diabetes Mellitus" and a vocal performance of the

Dusty Springfield Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), better known by her stage name Dusty Springfield, was a British singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano voice, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, Pop mus ...

song "

Son of a Preacher Man "Son of a Preacher Man" is a song written and composed by American songwriters John Hurley and Ronnie Wilkins and recorded by British singer Dusty Springfield in September 1968 for the album '' Dusty in Memphis.'' Springfield's version was produ ...

" in the talent portion of the competition. She was named runner-up to winner

Bree Boyce Andrea "Bree" Boyce, (born March 25, 1989) is an American beauty pageant titleholder from Florence, South Carolina who was named Miss South Carolina 2011. Biography From first to seventh grade, Boyce attended The Kings Academy in Florence, South ...

. She competed in the 2012

pageant as Miss Lyman with the platform "Type 1 & Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus" and a vocal performance in the talent portion of the competition. She was not a Top-16 semi-finalist for the state title. She competed in the 2013

pageant as Miss Richland County with the platform "Type I and Type II Diabetes Mellitus" and a pop vocal performance in the talent portion of the competition. She was named a Top 10 Finalist for the state title. Dial, a

Clemson Tigers The Clemson Tigers are the sport, athletic teams that represent Clemson University, located in Clemson, South Carolina. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level (NCAA Divis ...

cheerleader at the time, was also named Miss Clemson University 2013. She was the first

to win the school title. In 2014, Dial won the Miss Fountain Inn title. She competed in the 2014

pageant with the platform "Type I and Type II Diabetes Mellitus" and a vocal performance of "Believe" in the talent portion of the competition. She won a Preliminary Talent award and was named Miss Photogenic. Dial placed second runner-up to winner Lanie Hudson.

Miss South Carolina 2015

On February 21, 2015, Dial was crowned Miss Greenville County 2015. She entered the

pageant at Columbia's Township Auditorium in June 2015 as one of 55 qualifiers for the state title. Dial's competition talent was a vocal performance of " I Believe", a song made famous by

Fantasia Barrino Fantasia Monique Barrino-Taylor (born June 30, 1984), known professionally by her mononym Fantasia, is an American singer and actress. She rose to prominence in 2004 for her performance of the ''Porgy and Bess'' standard " Summertime" during th ...

. Her platform is "Type I and Type II Diabetes Mellitus". Her on-stage interview question was whether " Confederate memorabilia" should be removed from

South Carolina State House The South Carolina State House is the building housing the government of the U.S. state of South Carolina, which includes the South Carolina General Assembly and the offices of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina. Located in ...

grounds. Dial answered, in part, "It's a new South Carolina. We have made so much progress and it's time to take it down. As Miss South Carolina, I can lead this state into a new era. And that flag being taken down is representative of that." Dial won the competition on Saturday, June 27, 2015, when she received her crown from outgoing Miss South Carolina titleholder Lanie Hudson. She is the third

to be crowned Miss South Carolina. She earned more than $10,000 in scholarship money and other prizes from the state pageant. As Miss South Carolina, her activities include public appearances across the state of South Carolina.

Vying for Miss America

Dial was South Carolina's representative at the

pageant in

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city (New Jersey), city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of ...

, in September 2015. In preliminary swimsuit competition, Dial won a "lifestyle and fitness" scholarship of $1,000. In the televised finale on September 13, 2015, she sang

's " I Believe" during the talent portion of the competition. During the interview portion, she was asked about banning "military-style assault weapons". Dial placed in the Top 7 finalists as earned a $7,000 scholarship award.

Personal life and education

Dial is a native of

Jonesville, South Carolina Jonesville is a town in Union County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 911 at the 2010 United States Census. History The McWhirter House and Means House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Geography Jones ...

, and a 2011 graduate of Paul M. Dorman High School in Roebuck, South Carolina. Her father is Darrell Dial and her mother is Annette Goodwin. As of 2011 Dial was a student at

Clemson University Clemson University () is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university near Clemson, South Carolina, United States. - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university property. This shows Clemson University is ''out ...

where she was majoring in

health administration Health administration, healthcare administration, healthcare management, health services management or hospital management is the field relating to leadership, management, and administration of public health systems, health care systems, ho ...

References

External links

Miss South Carolina official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dial, Daja Living people 1993 births American beauty pageant winners Miss America 2016 delegates People from Spartanburg, South Carolina Clemson University alumni African-American beauty pageant winners People from Greenville, South Carolina People from Union County, South Carolina 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people