Meet Miss Illinois USA: Flossmoor’s Ashley Hooks

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Ashley Hooks, Miss Illinois USA 2012 looks at a photo of when her grandmother once won a pageant. | Brett Roseman~Sun-Times Media

Updated: February 12, 2012 8:01AM

Many beauty pageant contestants start entering competitions at a young age.

Ashley Hooks already was in her 20s when she did it on a whim.

Now the Flossmoor woman is Miss Illinois USA 2012. Hooks, 25, was crowned Nov. 20 at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago.

Hooks still is in shock at times. But, essentially, she has been preparing for her whole life, without even knowing it, to be the right kind of person to represent the state this spring in the Miss USA pageant.

Natural-born leader

“I always wanted to be successful. I knew I was going to be successful, no question about it. My parents are very accomplished. For me, I always saw a strong work ethic, and that was always instilled in me.”

Ashley Sherelle Hooks was born June 20, 1986, to William and Debra Hooks.

Debra was an educator and William was an attorney at the time, and they lived in Glenwood along with Ashley’s older sister Mariah.

Hooks attended Longwood Elementary in Glenwood and Infant Jesus of Prague School in Flossmoor, where she started to develop her diversified talents.

“I just liked doing a lot of different things,” she said.

She played the piano and the saxophone, and demonstrating her athletic ability, a variety of sports.

“I played softball, volleyball, basketball, soccer, I ran track, I was in ice skating, I was a dancer ... I was just constantly active as kid,” she said. “I always had extracurricular activities going on. My mom kept me very involved throughout the school year and summer.”

Intelligence

“I’ve always been driven and curious by learning.”

Staying busy as a youth had a payoff for Hooks.

“Because I was always active in other things, I think I was a high achiever in school and sports,” she said. “But I never saw myself as a beauty queen.”

Hooks excelled academically and athletically at Homewood-Flossmoor High School, where she also was a news reporter for WHFH, the school’s radio station.

“In high school, I started to become interested in how communities work and how they develop themselves and why they change over time,” she said.

Hooks graduated from H-F in 2004 and was awarded a presidential scholarship for her academic achievements. She enrolled at the University of Illinois-Champaign and majored in urban planning.

Giving back to the community

“Ultimately as an organizer, I’m doing work for a community.”

While in college, Hooks involved herself in community research projects and was active in fundraising activities for social causes. She got involved in the East St. Louis Project, where participants worked as a group on reconstructing and redeveloping the historic parks of poverty-stricken East St. Louis.

“We worked with the community down there to see what they wanted to do and how they wanted to redevelop their parks,” Hooks said. “We built relationships with the people that lived there and the key stakeholders. We determined what historical elements we wanted to preserve.”

Hooks also was involved in charity fashion shows for women and children affected by domestic violence and AIDS in Africa.

In the summer of 2007, she attended the Midwest Academy Community Organizing internship program in Chicago. Hooks gained experience as an advocate for causes such as pedestrian safety and a universal school breakfast for Chicago Public Schools.

Hooks graduated from U of I in 2008 and started looking for work.

“I was applying for jobs and accepted a position that I applied for during my senior year, so it worked out shortly after I graduated,” she said.

She moved to Albany, N.Y., to work as an organizer for CANY (Citizen Action of New York). She started as an education organizer and worked on social service issues and political campaigns for the Albany County district attorney and the mayoral and city council races.

Hooks gained invaluable experience at CANY, but there was something missing.

“It was a wonderful experience, but it was nothing like being at home where your family is,” she said.

And so she came home to be the campaign manager for her dad, who was running for Cook County Circuit Court Judge. Hooks was thrilled to work alongside her father.

“It made me look and say, ‘Wow, I have some big shoes to fill.’ But I wanted to take advantage of their success and help them as much as I can,” she said.

“I knew the area of organizing and campaigning, and he knew the world of Chicago, so sometimes we knocked heads on decisions,” Hooks said. “But ultimately, he won.”

After the challenging but victorious campaign in 2009, Hooks had to start looking for another job.

Goal-oriented

“I can actually do that. It’s not just the stereotypical ‘the girl is just focused on being gorgeous,’ and it actually can mean something.”

Hooks said she was “just looking for something to do,” applying for job after job and going on interviews when the pageant came on TV.

“I saw Rima Fakih (Miss USA 2010) and all the other contestants, and I just said, ‘I can do that,’ ” Hooks said.

The next day, she went online to check it out.

“I was looking at what they wanted out of a Miss USA contestant. They need somebody who’s going to be a strong leader, somebody who is goal-oriented, someone who generally believes in giving back to the community,” she said. “But also somebody who is conscious about their appearance, who wants to be glamorous and wants to be beautiful, enjoys photo shoots and things of that nature. So when I saw that, the complete picture, when I was watching the Miss USA pageant, that’s when I decided, ‘Wow, they look for a well-rounded girl, and for me that seems like the ultimate challenge.’ ”

Hooks filled out an online application the next day for the 2011 Miss Illinois USA pageant in June, and received a phone call within a couple of days.

The pageant interviewer was impressed with Hooks’ experience as an organizer, her involvement with different political campaigns and her desire to continue school and get her master’s degree. A couple of days later, Hooks got the word that she had been selected to compete in the Miss Illinois USA 2011 pageant.

With only five months to prepare, she felt inspired.

Inner and outer beauty

“I just think that when you’re beautiful on the inside, it comes out on the outside all the time.”

Hooks’ grandmother, Eleanor Patricia Hooks, had participated in beauty pageants. She was the Memphis (Tenn.) Cotton Carnival Jubilee Queen in 1948.

“Both of my grandmothers, I look at them as just glamorous. They were very fashion-oriented, very confident, especially my father’s mother,” Hooks said. “She was very glamorous and very put together, cared about her outer appearance. And growing up with that and seeing that, it inspires you to want the same thing.”

As a first-time pageant entrant, Hooks, needed some guidance.

“My best friend competed in 2007,” she said. “I told her I was competing and she said she would put me in touch with Mia Heaston.”

Heaston was the first African-American to win a Miss Illinois USA pageant, claiming the crown for 2007. She helped Hooks prepare her “pageant look.”

“She was asking me what I like to wear, what my style is and what shoes I was going to wear. And I had no idea,” Hooks said.

She finished as second runner-up that first year.

“I was in shock. I couldn’t believe I placed, because essentially I was just doing it for fun and I was challenging myself to do something out of my comfort zone,” she said.

The crowning glory

“My plan is to make it at least to the top five, and I’d love to win, since Illinois hasn’t won in so long.”

Hooks came so close to winning, she just had to try it again. This time, she knew what to expect.

“I knew the different parts of the pageant a little better, and I did it,” she said. “I knew how to prepare, what areas to focus on a little bit more; I just asked more questions.”

But in October, a month before the pageant, Hooks’ mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

“It was a challenging time,” Hooks said. “I didn’t really know how I was going to balance both. I didn’t think I really wanted to (compete) at the point, but I think it really helped all of us.”

Hooks decided that women’s health and education would be her platform both for the Miss Illinois USA and Miss USA pageants.

She will focus on raising awareness of breast and ovarian cancer, and also wants to emphasize the importance of staying in school and graduating from high school.

“It really helps that I can benefit her and other families,” Hooks said of her mother, who recently returned to work as executive director of a special education cooperative that serves 17 school districts in the south suburbs. “If I win, the causes that Miss Illinois and Miss USA support are effectively going to help her and people like her.”

Debra Hooks was in the audience as her daughter was crowned Miss Illinois USA over about 90 other contestants in November. When her name was announced, all she could think was, “What? Is this real? I can’t believe this is real.’ ”

It still hasn’t sunk in.

“I wake up for work in the morning,” said Hooks, a senior public service administrator for the Illinois Department of Central Management Systems, “and I’m thinking, ‘Wow, I’m Miss Illinois. I guess I should probably put on makeup today.’ ”

Her time outside of work is busy with Miss Illinois USA duties, which Hooks gladly created for herself.

“I’m reaching out mostly to education entities trying to get into schools and talk to students about the importance of grades, since it’s so hard to get a good job and make a living without having at least a high school diploma,” she said. “Chicago Public Schools has such a low graduation rate, and I think that needs to improve.”

She also makes other appearances and is looking forward to competing at the Miss USA Pageant, likely in either Las Vegas or Miami on a date yet to be finalized.

The last time Miss Illinois USA won the Miss USA pageant was in 1974.

But deep down, Hooks just wants the Miss USA pageant to be relevant.

“I think there are a lot of stereotypes that come along with the pageant,” she said, “and I want people to realize that if it’s used in the right way, the pageant can open up doors, whether you’re an actress or a model or someone like me, who believes in giving back to the community.”