Crystal Lee

Crystal Lee
Miss California's Outstanding Teen 2008
Born	San Francisco, California, United States
Nationality	American
Education	Stanford University
Title	First Runner-Up Miss America 2014 Miss California 2013 Miss Silicon Valley 2013 Miss South Counties 2012 Miss San Francisco 2011 Miss Chinatown USA 2010 Miss California's Outstanding Teen 2008
Awards	$5,000 STEM Scholarship Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
Website	http://crystalalee.com

Crystal Lee is a Co-Founder of the Silicon Valley startup, LifeSite. Lee was the first runner-up in the Miss America 2014 pageant, Miss California 2013, Miss Chinatown USA 2010, and Miss California's Outstanding Teen 2008.

Lee was born in San Francisco, California to an American-born Chinese father and Taiwanese mother. Lee graduated from Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts. She later received her B.A. in Human Biology and M.A. in Communication from Stanford University in 2013.

She was first runner-up in the Miss America 2014 pageant where her platform was "Women in Stem." She was also the recipient of the STEM scholarship and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. In the final moments of the Miss America pageant, Lee and Miss New York Nina Davuluri were the last contestants left on the stage. They were approached by co-host Lara Spencer who asked how they were feeling at that moment. Davuluri stated that she and Lee were "both so proud. We’re making history right here, standing here as Asian-Americans.” In a later interview with NPR's Michel Martin, Davulri described the moment as a, "very surreal, out-of-body experience, being there in the final two. I was holding hands with Miss California, Crystal Lee, and we were both standing there at such a historic moment - two Asian-Americans who were going to take the title and to be a new symbol of hope and encouragement."

When Lee was asked to discuss the final moments in a later interview she stated that she:

There was a backlash of xenophobic and racist comments in social media against winner Nina Davuluri shortly after she was crowned Miss America 2014 related to the proximity of the event date to the nine-eleven anniversary and to anti-Indian sentiment. News agencies cited tweets that questioned why she was chosen over Miss Kansas, Theresa Vail, misidentified her as Muslim or Arab, and associated her with terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda. Lee responded to this backlash in an NBC Bay Area phone interview by stating that "people should be ashamed of themselves […] But I think it's also pretty progressive that those ignorant people are being shamed in the media." In another interview, Lee stated: "It’s sad that so many Americans don’t know how much they don’t know. It shows how far we have yet to go as a society. I’m glad the media publicly called out the perpetrators for their ignorance. It reinforces our commitment to acceptance and understanding."