Current Miss California Crystal Lee ’13 was first runner-up of the 2014 Miss America Pageant, coming second to Nina Davuluri, the first Indian American to be crowned Miss America.

Lee was crowned Miss San Francisco’s Outstanding Teen and Miss California’s Outstanding Teen in 2008, Miss San Francisco in 2010 and Miss Santa Monica (South Counties) in 2011.

As described in her interview on the U.S. Pageant Interviews website, Lee’s involvement with beauty pageants first began when she was 15. What started as a burgeoning high school interest aimed at winning college scholarships soon transformed into a network of friends and mentors and the goal to become Miss America.

In addition to beauty pageants, Lee was involved in a diverse range of activities on campus.

She is passionate about shattering the glass ceiling and promoting women in leadership, especially in the fields of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and has been heavily involved in Nanoly, a female-led startup dealing with nanotechnology that enables vaccines to be transported without the need for refrigeration.

Lee is also a member of Stanford’s Delta Delta Delta sorority and participated in the creation of the Stanford Journal of Public Health.

Lee described in an interview to NBC Bay Area that although she was initially interested in TV broadcasting, after interning at both Dropbox and KRON TV, she is now focused on embracing a more high-tech career with the goal of starting her own company in Silicon Valley.