Houma native and newly crowned Miss Louisiana USA Sylvia Masters will ride in local parade
Fresh off winning the Miss Louisiana USA crown, Houma native Sylvia Masters will return home Sunday to ride in a Mardi Gras parade.
Masters, a morning anchor for KLFY-TV News 10 in Lafayette, won the title Saturday after competing against 32 others at the Jefferson Performing Arts Center in Metairie.
Locals can congratulate her as she rides in the Krewe of Hyacinthians parade, which starts at 12:30 p.m. Sunday in Houma.
"It feels full circle," Masters said Tuesday in a telephone interview with the Houma Courier and Thibodaux Daily Comet. "I competed for this title for six years, and this was my final attempt at it, and I'm just so grateful. And I do believe and feel that within my heart that I am very ready to serve our state, a state that means so much to me. I'm very, very proud to represent Louisiana, the state, the culture, the people, and take it all in and prepare for Miss USA."
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Contestants can compete from age 21 to 28, and because she turns 28 in two months, she will become ineligible next year.
She now advances to compete in the Miss USA pageant, which has yet to be scheduled.
Masters graduated from Vandebilt Catholic High in Houma and Nicholls State University in Thibodaux. She devoted volunteer time to the Terrebonne Parish Animal Shelter before moving to Lafayette five years ago.
She has competed in pageants since she was 12, something she said help prepare her for work in front of a camera as an anchor.
"It's exhilarating. I mean, I don't really get nervous. It's more of like the adrenaline rush and just the excitement and the confidence," Masters said. "I mean, you've got to go out on stage with, I'm not gonna lie, six-inch heels and a bikini under all these lights and for all these people. You know, it can be a lot."
Masters said she wants to use the prestige that comes with the crown to raise awareness for two causes: early detection of cancer and the importance of spaying and neutering pets.
Her dad, Kimble Masters, died in August 2016 after a short battle with cancer. She said he noticed the symptoms early but put off seeking treatment, and when it was finally diagnosed, it was too late. She volunteered at the Mary Bird Perkins Terrebonne General Cancer Center afterward and would hear similar stories. Now she hopes by sharing her father's story that she can encourage others to get screened earlier.
Her second great passion is taking care of pets. She now fosters dogs from the animal shelter in Lafayette, but when she lived in Houma, she would volunteer at the Terrebonne Animal Shelter. During her time there, she would watch as overcrowding led to pets being euthanized.
"It just pulled on my heartstrings," she said, remembering walking a dog one day that wasn't there the next. "It didn't get adopted; they had to be put to sleep."
Steps have been taken in both Terrebonne and Lafourche to curb the need to euthanize animals, but Masters is hoping to use her crown to promote the spaying and neutering at a state level. In the meantime, she has rescued two pups from the Terrebonne Animal Shelter, including Spanky, a one-eyed dog.
This article originally appeared on The Courier: New Miss Louisiana USA, a Houma native, to ride in Mardi Gras parade
