Chelsea Cooley - As Miss USA

As Miss USA

Within days of her pageant win in Baltimore, Cooley moved to a Trump Tower apartment in New York City which she shared with Miss Universe and Miss Teen USA during her reign. As with recent Miss USA's, her first week was a hectic schedule of media interviews, including Scott and Todd in the Morning, New York radio station WPLJ, Fox and Friends, Fox News, WB11 Morning News and Live! with Regis and Kelly. She also participated in fashion shoots and met with designer Tadashi, a sponsor of the Miss USA pageant. In early May Cooley was a guest conductor for the Long Island Philharmonia, and presided over the NASDAQ opening bell in celebration of Mother's Day and in support of the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.

Cooley then traveled to Thailand, to compete in the Miss Universe pageant, and she and newly crowned queen Natalie Glebova stayed in Thailand for a week after the competition, making appearances with the Thai government, as well as appearing with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra at an orphan's home.

After Thailand, Cooley returned to New York and then celebrated her homecoming in North Carolina, throwing out the first pitch at a Carolina Mudcats game, interviewing with local media, and addressing the North Carolina House of Representatives and the state Senate.

She again returned briefly to New York, before she and Miss Teen USA 2004 Shelley Hennig participated in a USO tour of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in late June. In July, Cooley settled in New York, participating in more USO events and volunteering with Habitat for Humanity.

In August, Cooley traveled to Curaçao, and then returned to the United States, making more appearances in the New York area and throughout the country throughout the following three months. In November, Cooley appeared on a float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

One of Cooley's prizes was a special guest appearance on the soap-opera Passions, which she taped in January 2006. This was aired on Valentines Day, 14 February 2006. In the new year Cooley returned to Curaçao for a third visit, appeared at the Gilda's Club Gala in New York and participated in another photo-shoot. She returned to Curaçao for two days in late February 2006, before traveling to Maryland where she shot footage for the upcoming Miss USA 2006 telecast.

In March Cooley participated on the Miss USA edition of Deal or No Deal along with 26 of the delegates for Miss USA 2006. She travelled to Baltimore in April to participate with the delegates on pre-pageant events, co-hosted the pageant preliminaries with Baltimore news anchor Stan Stovall and was a commentator for the final competition, along with Carson Kressley of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

She crowned her successor, Tara Conner of Kentucky at the conclusion of the final competition on 21 April 2006. Cooley was honored as a Star of the South by Irish America magazine in 2006.