Before she became the first Black woman to win Miss USA, Carole Gist was a Detroit teenager trying to make it through high school without a permanent place to live.
During a recent appearance on 7 News Detroit, the 1990 winner revealed that she spent part of her teenage years moving between friends’ homes and sleeping in her car while trying to stay focused on school.
Gist said the instability at home stemmed from a difficult relationship with her parents, both of whom struggled with substance abuse.
Looking back, she described feeling abandoned and frustrated as a teenager. “I had mixed emotions and hormones raging, and just probably a bad attitude about ... why can't they take care of their kids?” Gist said. “I just figured like, if they can't do it, if my parents can't do it, then it's you and me, God. So I just did what I had to do to survive.”
The Detroit native said she often split her time between staying with friends and living “in and out” of her car. When she had nowhere else to go, she would arrive at school before classes started so she could quietly get ready for the day.
Gist recalled sneaking into the athletic locker room before gospel choir practice to shower, brush her teeth, and change clothes.
“I would go into the school early, before gospel choir practice, under the auspice of putting my track uniform or my practice clothes in my athletic locker,” she said. “That's when I would take a shower, brush my teeth, and get ready if I had been staying in my car.”
She also said two close friends became a lifeline during that period, sometimes inviting her to stay overnight after study sessions.
Even as her living situation became increasingly uncertain, Gist kept her focus on school. A graduate of Detroit’s Cass Technical High School, she said her goals helped block out everything else. “Keeping my grades up and going to college ... coming out debt-free, graduating, getting a scholarship” became her priority, she explained.
That determination eventually carried her into pageants. Inspired by 1988 Miss Michigan USA Anthonia Dotson, Gist entered the competition and won the state title before making history in Wichita, Kansas, on March 2, 1990.
At just 20 years old, the 6-foot Detroit native became the first contestant from Michigan to win Miss USA and the first Black woman to earn the national crown. She later finished as first runner-up at Miss Universe.
Gist’s victory also ended a five-year streak of Miss USA winners from Texas, adding another milestone to a groundbreaking year.
