What Miss USA Cheslie Kryst Can’t Live Without

My mom got me hooked on these. She keeps almonds in her purse, so one day, I was starving, and we were traveling to Charleston for a race — we do a lot of races together — and she was like, if you’re hungry, do you want some of these almonds? It was a last resort. Every time I pop that bag open — it’s a very strong smell — but they’re actually so good.

I’m in love with Insomnia Cookies. When I was an undergrad at the University of South Carolina, there was a local Insomnia Cookies. It’s a national brand, but this one ran out of a food truck in Five Points in Columbia, South Carolina, where all the college kids hung out. I tried it at one point and fell in love with it. Then there was one a couple blocks from my law firm. The delivery person was able to bring them to our receptionist, who would then bring them to my desk. It was too easy. Deluxe Cookies are my favorite. Usually I’ll get the chocolate peanut butter cup, which is a giant cookie with Reese’s peanut butter cups in it. I usually get that plus a regular-sized Snickerdoodle. Those are my favorite.

My 28th birthday was on April 28, but I was already in Reno Tahoe [for the Miss USA competition] when that happened, so my boyfriend and I celebrated right before I left. He’s a real gadget guy, and he got me these AirPods. I didn’t know if I would use them very much, but I am obsessed. They connect so easily, and they’re so convenient. I love them. I don’t know how I lived without them before.

One of the books that Paula Shugart, the president of the Miss Universe Organization, recommends to each of the state title holders is The Confidence Code. So I listened to the audiobook back in November. It’s a pretty long audiobook, it’s maybe seven hours or so, but it’s just chock full of information and studies about confidence — and it really had an impact on me. I was an athlete in undergrad, and I didn’t have much confidence then; I think my performance suffered because of it. There’s an interesting note in there about this one study: Women will seek a promotion when they have 100 percent of skills for a particular job, but men will seek it when they have 60 percent.

It’s a regular compact mirror so it’s not superlarge, but it’s also a portable charger as well. So as we speak it is sitting here charging my phone. It’s so useful: If you want to check your makeup, if you need to check your hair, if your phone is dying. The illuminating mirror is there for you. It’s good if you’re in a dark area and need to see yourself.

This is my favorite movie, I can quote it. I’m not a huge movie person, I don’t see a lot of new ones, but when I do watch them I just watch my favorite ones over and over. To be honest, when I watched it a long time ago, it introduced me to Anna Wintour. I thought, Who is this person that this movie is supposedly inspired by? I remember researching her a bunch at the time. Then when I was in law school I took a Gender and the Law class, and I wrote a 24-page paper about standards of modesty, and how they affect women more acutely than they affect men. I included Anna Wintour in this paper.

So when I was competing at Miss USA, I did my hair a day in advance. But it lost its luster by the time we were actually heading into prelims. So I needed something to just brighten it up and make it look shiny and well-conditioned and healthy, so I leaned on the Chi Shine Spray [Editor’s note: Chi was a sponsor of the Miss USA event.]. One of the hairstylists there specializes in natural hair, and was like, You have to use this product — I love it. One of the things with natural hair, at least my natural hair, is it’s hard to keep it conditioned. Because it’s so curly, a lot of the natural oils don’t travel down the hair strand. You have to use so many products to keep it shiny and healthy. And the Chi spray just does exactly that, all you have to do is just spray it in there. It helped my hair out a lot, especially when I had to compete and was stressed and worried about it looking shiny.