Rima Fakih

[franze]

Rima Fakih (born October 2, 1986) is a Lebanese American beauty pageant titleholder and winner of Miss USA 2010. She won the Miss Michigan USA pageant on September 19, 2009, and the Miss USA pageant on May 16, 2010. She is the first Miss Michigan to win the Miss USA title since Kenya Moore in 1993.

Fakih was born in Srifa, Lebanon on October 2, 1986, to a prominent Shia Muslim family. She moved to New York with her family in 1993, where she later attended St. John's Preparatory School, a Catholic high school. Her family moved to Dearborn, Michigan, in 2003. Fakih's family is Muslim, but they celebrate elements of both the Muslim and Christian faiths.

Although Fakih has been reported to be the second Lebanese-American, the first Arab American, the first woman of the Muslim faith and the first immigrant to win the Miss USA title, pageant officials stated their records are not detailed enough to confirm these claims.

Fakih currently resides in Dearborn. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan–Dearborn, with degrees in economics and business management, and plans to attend law school after her year-long reign.

Following the pageant, internet entertainment media directed attention a website featuring a 2007 "Stripper 101" pole dancing contest sponsored by Detroit radio station WKQI and won by Fakih. WKQI said they had been contacted by representatives of the Miss Universe Organization, requesting additional photographs and information about the contest. The station expressed their support for Fakih, adding "the photos taken from our website are no more provocative than those on the Miss USA website." She was also an actress in an independent short film with sexual undertones titled Throbbing Justice.