12 Beauty Queens Working In Finance

This weekend, Miss USA 2013 Erin Brady will crown her successor at the widely-viewed beauty pageant owned by billionaire Donald Trump. 

Before becoming Miss USA, Brady worked an accountant. She told us last year that working as an accountant helped her prepare for the pageant. 

While some might consider pageants to be superficial, they actually help teach poise and confidence. They also help tremendously when it comes to interviewing.

What's more is being a titleholder like Miss USA is a job. It requires a lot of work. 

In honor of the upcoming event, we decided to do a little research and look up former pageant titleholders who work or have worked in financial services. We were able to find a handful of them. 

Investment banker Kerrie Baylis represented Jamaica at the 2013 Miss Universe pageant.

AP Images

Pageant Title: Miss Universe Jamaica 2013

Finance Career: Baylis is an investment banker and portfolio advisor with BCW Capital. 

Education: University of Surrey 

Miss Singapore 2009 Rachel Kum worked as a commodities trader at a hedge fund.

AP Images

Pageant Title: Miss Universe Singapore 2009

Finance Career: She apparently worked as a commodities trader at a hedge fund. She now runs her namesake cosmetics company. 

Education: University of Western Australia 

Miss New York 2009 Tracey Chang worked as an i-banking analyst before moving into broadcast television.

Pageant Title: Miss New York USA 2009

Finance Career: She's currently a broadcast journalist for CCTV. Before that, she was at CNBC. Prior to that, she worked at Societe Generale, BMO Capital Markets and Lehman Brothers.

Education: DePauw University (economics major) and Columbia University (MBA) 

Miss USA 2013 Erin Brady worked an an accountant before she was crowned.

Jeff Bottari / AP

Pageant Title: Miss USA 2013 (Miss Connecticut USA)

Finance Career: She was a Senior Accountant with Prudential Financial before becoming Miss USA. She said working as an accountant helped prepare her for pageants. 

Education: Central Connecticut State University

Miss Washington 2013 Cassandra Searles has worked at many banks in her state.

AP Images

Pageant Title: Miss Washington USA 2013

Finance Career: She's currently a banker assistant at First Citizens Bank in Seattle, Washington. Before that, she worked for Umpqua Bank and Sterling Bank before it merged with Umpqua.

Education: University of Washington

Katie McClure, who was Miss Earth Canada 2005, works at RBC.

Wikimedia Commons/ Katie McClure

Pageant Title: Miss Earth Canada 2005

Finance Career: McClure works in business analytics and reporting at Royal Bank of Canada in Toronto. 

Education: York University 

Miss Nebraska 2001 Sue Drakeford works with small businesses for BB&T.

LinkedIn

Pageant Title: Miss Nebraska USA 2001

Finance Career: Drakeford is currently a small business specialist team leader at BB&T. She previously worked at Morrill & James Bank, US Bank and First National Bank of Omaha.

Education: Bellevue University

Miss America Organization alum Jennifer D'Ambrosio is a recruiter for Bank of America.

LinkedIn

Pageant Title: Miss Rhode Island 2001 (Miss America Organization)

Finance Career: She's a recruiter for Bank of America based in Florida. 

Education: Providence College and Salve Regina University (MBA)

Miss Switzerland 1st runner-up Xenia Tchoumicheva interned at JPMorgan and a hedge fund.

Wikipedia

Pageant Title: First runner-up Miss Switzerland 2006

Finance Career: She was a summer intern at JPMorgan in London working in sales and trading in 2011. She previously interned at Merrill Lynch and the London hedge fund Duet Group, according to her web site.

Education: She holds a university degree in Science of Economics

Financial advisor Hannah Porter was Miss Colorado and competed at Miss America.

LinkedIn

Pageant Title: Miss Colorado 2012 (Miss America Organization)

Finance Career: She's currently a Financial Advisor with The RHY Group at Robert W. Baird & Co.

Education: University of Northern Colorado

Shana Sissel, who held pageant titles in Rhode Island, is a research analyst and a CAIA charterholder.

LinkedIn

Pageant Title(s): Miss Rhode Island Teen America, Miss Rhode Island Galaxy and top 10 in the Miss Rhode Island USA pageant. 

Finance Career: She's a research analyst at Fidelity Investments in Boston. Before that, she worked at Mercer Investment Management, Peak Financial Management and Russell Investments. She's also a CAIA Charterholder—Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst.

Education: Bentley College 

Source: LinkedIn

Beats' future with Apple kicks off with this World Cup ad....must read

Beats has just rolled out a cinematic, 5-minute ad in celebration of the upcoming World Cup. It doesn't share the same uncanny timing as the Super Bowl XLVIII Richard Sherman spot, but if you're looking for a perfect showcase of just how culturally powerful the Beats brand has become, this is it. This is what Apple is spending $3 billion on.
The iPhone 5S appears several times through the course of the ad, which follows soccer player Neymar Jr. as he prepares to step under the world's spotlight. "Run like it's the last day of your life," he's told. "Run like you're a crazy man chasing happiness." Several other players are also shown carrying out their pre-game rituals, and the ad perfectly bottles up the fanaticism that surrounds the World Cup — all without ever mentioning it by name. (Beats is not among FIFA's official sponsors or partners.)

And since it's a Beats ad, celebrities are everywhere. You'll see appearances from Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Serena Williams, and Stuart Scott, among others. Oh, and LeBron James too. In fact, Ad Age reports that James approached Beats about participating because he wanted to be in the commercial. The world's best basketball player refused to miss out on a Beats cameo. That says everything. "He's going to be all over the place," a spokesperson told Ad Age. "He's a member of the Beats family." If that's the case, one must wonder how Samsung feels about this relationship. Within just a few months, King James and Beats will be part of Apple's extended family.

By Chris Welch

6 Best Players to watch out for At The 2014 World Cup

The 2014 World Cup kicks off on June 12 when the host Brazil takes on Croatia.

There's just one week until the opening whistle, and if you haven't been paying attention it's time to get up to speed on all the big names you'll be hearing about over the next month.

There are 736 players headed to Brazil. Here are the six best.

1. Lionel Messi

Team: Argentina

Why he's so good: His feet are lightning quick and he slips around defenders more seamlessly than anyone in the world. Add supreme vision and an even better nose for goal and you start to get a sense of all Messi's capable of. He's also the only player ever to win the FIFA Ballon d'Or — the award for world player of the year — four times.

Messi dribbles through three defenders and finishes:

2. Cristiano Ronaldo

Team: Portugal

Why he's so good: Nobody explodes down the wing on a counter-attack quite like Ronaldo, and his dribbling ability isn't half bad, either. And then there's his knuckleballing free kick, which is, in a word, nasty.

A trademark Ronaldo free kick:

3. Luis Suarez

Getty Images

Team: Uruguay

Why he's so good: He's one of the world's most polarizing players (with a penchant for biting his opponents), but there's no denying he's a world class striker and lethal finisher from anywhere on the field. He scored 31 goals in 38 matches for Liverpool this season, tying the English Premier League record.

Suarez's volley from 55-yards:

@feintzebra

4. Yaya Toure

Team: Ivory Coast

Why he's so good: He's the best holding midfielder in the world, meaning he distributes the ball all over the pitch as well as anyone and does the dirty work defensively, too. He's known for the occasional bombing run forward, and he's deadly from long-range, helping Manchester City capture its second Premier League title in three years in 2013-14.

Toure's stunner from outside the box:

5. Andres Iniesta

Team: Spain

Why He's So Good: Iniesta, nicknamed The Illusionist, may very well be the best passer in the world, threading the ball through the smallest of openings for some dazzling assists. He also scored the game-winning goal in the 2010 World Cup Final, which Spain won 1-0 over the Netherlands in South Africa.

Iniesta dances his way through traffic and keeps possession:

6. Franck Ribery

Team: France

Why he's so good: Ribery's a true winger, beating defenders one-on-one down the line and usually playing on the left side so he can cut inside and onto his left foot for a shot on goal. He finished third in Ballon d'Or voting last season (behind Ronaldo and Messi), helping Bayern Munich win five trophies.

Ribery cuts inside and scores against Chelsea:

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Our New Favorite; Mad Scientist Builds A Terrifying Wrist-Mounted Flame Thrower In His Garage,check it out!!!

Insane garage mad scientist Colin Furze promised three absurd X-Men themed projects by the end of the month — and man, has he delivered.

First came his ridiculous, automatically extendable Wolverine claws. Then came his Magneto boots, which let him walk upside down across the ceiling. His last project, though, might be the most dangerous of the lot: wrist-mounted flame throwers

Built in homage to flame-tossing baddie Pyro, the system uses a backpack-rigged fueling system that pushes a ton of propane out juuuuust fast enough that Furze doesn’t singe his own digits.

To keep it a bit more accurate to the character (who needed a lighter to spark his flames), Furze’s ridiculous creation requires a bit of two-handed coordination: one hand acts as the lighter, while the other works as the fuel source. This also (theoretically) keeps him from accidentally shooting off that eight-foot flame at something he doesn’t mean to — like, you know, his face. Plus it forces him to take a crazy Dragon Ball Z/Mortal Kombat stance to throw the fire, which really just adds to the effect.

But seriously: don’t do this at home. Even if you have some vague idea of what you’re doing, there’s so, so much that could go wrong here.

Oh, and good news: while Colin originally only promised three character-inspired projects, he says he’s had so “many suggestions for other characters” that he’s pretty sure he’ll do some more

 byGreg Kumparak