225BatonRouge.com

When Jennifer Dupont first saw the skimpy yellow strands that comprised the Speedo bikini she’d be wearing in the 2004 Miss America pageant, she swears her eyes popped out of her head.

“I was so self-conscious. I didn’t even want to model it in front of my father and my interview coach,” she told the Associated Press before the competition. Nervous moments like these are more common than expected for the otherwise poised 24-year-old whose seamstress mother entered her in her first fashion show as a kindergartner. Thankfully, her pre-show ritual for beating the butterflies is simple: a deep breath and a prayer.

As it turns out, Dupont was the last contestant who needed to fret over the new ratings-grabbing bikinis. She earned the top scores in the swimsuit competition, and after a whirlwind night of nine wardrobe changes, a Life of the Party jazz dance and a current events quiz in the face of bright lights and 12,000 screaming fans, Dupont was named first runner-up for Miss America.

“Every emotion was running through my body,” Dupont says. “I could see my family, and when it got down to Miss Alabama and myself, it looked like my mom was about to pass out.”

Her yearlong Miss Louisiana reign that included work as a spokeswoman for Louisiana Cares for Children and a youth anti-smoking campaign is over. Dupont now lives a quiet life across the river. She’s staying with her parents temporarily to save money. The nearly $60,000 in scholarships she earned from pageants went straight to pay off five years of LSU student loans.

Dupont works half-days as a preschool teacher at Holy Family then joins her mother at Tré D, the formalwear boutique they opened this February on Highway 1 in Brusly. The mom and daughter team help dress young women for balls, proms and, of course, pageants. So what once was a hobby—something fun to do on weekends, as she puts it—has now become Dupont’s career. Tre’ D should keep her involved in Miss Louisiana, even if it is from the sidelines.

“Of course, I was disappointed [to be runner-up], but everything happens for a reason. If I’d won Miss America, I wouldn’t have opened the shop.”