Salt Lake City, Utah
From the only foreign-born Miss America , to award-winning ESPN broadcaster, Sharlene has reached the top of two starkly different worlds by learning to move well beyond her �comfort zone�.
Born in Asuncion, Paraguay, the 5th of 7 children, Sharlene spent 12 years of her youth in South America, including most of her high school years in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She drew upon that experience when she played the Paraguayan harp and sang in Spanish at the Miss America pageant in front of a record television audience of over 100 million viewers.
Following that year of traveling over 250,000 miles covering all 50 states, Japan, Argentina, Paraguay and Australia, Sharlene returned to her studies at Brigham Young University where she not only graduated magna cum laude, but received the Earl J. Glade award as the Outstanding Senior in Broadcasting, and the Silver Microphone Award for having the top cumulative GPA in the Communications Department.
In 1987, Sharlene became one of the first women to work on-air for ESPN, covering such world-class events as World Cup Soccer, the Kentucky Derby, the French Open, World Cup Skiing, America�s Cup and College Football. Sharlene�s work has earned her an Emmy nomination and the Miller Lite Women�s Sports Journalism Award.
Now in her 14th year associated with ESPN, Sharlene continues to work for ESPN as a freelancer in order to allow for her growing popularity as a motivational Keynote speaker�a flexible career pursuit for a full-time mother of four. She is a member of the National Speakers Association, and on the boards of the University of Utah Music Department, �Children First Utah� and the Utah Tip-Off Club. She is currently a Communications graduate student at the U of U, President of Hawkes Communications, a volunteer for the Salt Lake Winter Olympics 2002 and spokesperson for the Intermountain Donor Services.
Sharlene and her husband Bob have four children and live in Utah where they enjoy horseback riding, mountain biking, camping, and skiing.
You can check out her web site at www.sharlenehawkes.com
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