Angela Perez Baraquio Grey (born June 1, 1976),[2] known professionally by her birth name of Angela Perez Baraquio,[3] is an American educator. She was crowned Miss America 2001 on October 14, 2000, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, becoming the first Asian American, first Filipino American, and first teacher ever to win the pageant.
A politically conservative, anti-abortion Catholic, Baraquio has been publicly active in supporting various Republican politicians and in speaking out against abortion. She is also an educator whose platform as Miss America was character education. Since 2004, Baraquio has co-hosted the Hawaiian television show Living Local with the Baraquios.
She is the eighth of ten children (sixth of seven girls) born to an immigrant couple from Pangasinan, Philippines. One of her sisters is Hawaiian media personality Bernadette Baraquio Hamada whose husband is Hawaiian conservative talk radio show host and columnist, Rick Hamada.
Baraquio earned her master's degree in educational administration from the University of Hawaii in December 2004. During her year as Miss America in 2001, Baraquio's platform was character education.
She has appeared as a panelist on MTV's Pageant School: Becoming Miss America and on the conservative talk show, Hannity, of the Fox News Channel.
Career
From August 1999 to June 2000, Baraquio was a faculty member at Holy Family Catholic Academy in the Salt Lake subdivision of Honolulu. She taught physical education, was athletic director and coached basketball, volleyball and track. Baraquio was also choir director of the historic St. Augustine Church in Waikiki.
In 2001, Baraquio participated as Miss America in the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., and was acknowledged by President George W. Bush in his remarks. Bush said, "Angela, it's wonderful to see you again. Thank you for your testimony and your beauty and your grace."[10] In June 2006, President Bush appointed Baraquio to the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation, where she served until November 2008.[11][12]
In 2003, Baraquio hosted a series of television shows for Governor Linda Lingle (R-Hawaii), called Talk Story with Your Administration, showcasing activities and individuals of the Lingle Administration.[13]
She was one of Senator Sam Brownback's (R-Kansas) earliest and most prominent supporters in the 2008 Republican presidential primary season. She formally joined the Brownback campaign December 14, 2006,[14] and served on his presidential exploratory committee, where her main task was promoting the conservative Kansas senator in her native Hawaii.[15][16] She said she was drawn to the senator's strong opposition to abortion.[15] Baraquio said, "As a Catholic, I am proud to support this wonderful man who believes in the sanctity of every human life."[15] On January 20, 2007, Baraquio introduced Brownback at his presidential campaign kick-off event in Kansas.[17][18] In her remarks, Baraquio said Brownback "is a man we can trust to take our values to the White House."[17] Brownback withdrew from the presidential race on October 19, 2007, before any primary contests.[19]
Baraquio remains active in speaking out against abortion.[citation needed] CMG Booking an agency which specializes in booking prominent conservative Catholics for public speaking engagements, books Baraquio for events. On her page on CMG's website, Baraquio lists "Pro-life issues" among her speaking topics.[20]
^"Governor's E-Newsletter"(PDF). Hawaii.gov. Governor's Office of Hawaii. April 12–18, 2003. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2016-02-03. Retrieved 2016-01-28.
