Nia Sanchez

Nia Temple Booko (née Sanchez; born 1990 or 1991) is an American beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss USA 2014.

Nia Temple Sanchez was born in Sacramento, California in 1991 (age 23), to David Sanchez, and Nicole Sanford.

Her paternal grandfather, Wilbur Sanchez, is Mexican and her paternal grandmother is German, while her mother is of Spanish, English and other European heritage.

Her parents divorced when she was six.

When she was eight she and her brother, moved to Menifee, California with their father, and she went on to graduate from Paloma Valley High School in 2008.

Her first beauty pageant was the Miss San Jacinto Valley, which she entered when she was 13; at 19, she won Miss Citrus Valley USA, which qualified her to take part in the Miss Turismo Latino competition in Ecuador in 2009.

Sanchez first competed in Miss California USA 2010 (as Miss Citrus Valley USA), and was second runner-up out of 133 contestants.

Sanchez has also competed in and won Miss Riverside County USA 2011 and Miss Hollywood USA 2012.

She acted in the roles of various Disney princess characters at Hong Kong Disneyland where she worked for seven months in 2012.

As Miss South Las Vegas USA, Sanchez was crowned as Miss Nevada USA by Chelsea Caswell on January 12, 2014, at Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, winning the title on her first attempt.

Sanchez won Miss USA 2014 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on June 8, 2014, representing Nevada.

She was crowned by theoutgoing titleholder Erin Brady of Connecticut.

During the final question portion of the competition, she was asked by judge Rumer Willis about the high rate of sexual assault among undergraduate women to which she replied that it is important to be able to defend yourself.

Sanchez represented the United States at Miss Universe 2014 which was held January 25, 2015, at the U.S. Century Bank Arena on the site of the Florida International University in Doral, Miami, Florida and finished as 1st runner-up to Paulina Vega of Colombia.

Sanchez is a fifth-degree black belt in taekwondo, which she began practicing when she was 8 years old.

She was the first Miss USA ever featured on the cover of Tae Kwon Do Times.

She also studied jazz and ballet for five years.

At age 17, she visited Kenya, and after her high school graduation she spent time working as a nanny in Europe.

She had visited 12 countries around the world before becoming Miss Nevada USA.

She spends three months of the year serving on a mission in Mexico.

Sanchez married actor Daniel Booko on October 17, 2015, in Temecula, California.

They have 3 children.