Emily Faith Sanders of Kingfisher is slated to compete in the Miss Oklahoma Pageant next June after winning the title of Miss Tulsa last weekend.

Sanders, the daughter of Chad and Shelley Sanders of Kingfisher, is a sophomore at the University of Oklahoma.

She began competing several years ago in the Miss America’s Outstanding Teen Program, the little sister to the Miss America Organization, to earn scholarship money for college.

Sanders has held the titles of Miss Oklahoma City’s Teen and Miss Tulsa’s Teen and most recently finished as first runnerup in the state Miss Oklahoma’s Teen pageant.

“I earned about $10,000 throughout my years in teen (competition) and a big portion of that was because of the incredible Kingfisher businesses that supported me,” she said.

Sanders was selected from among nine competitors for the Miss Tulsa title, after competing in interview, talent, social impact and red carpet divisions.

During her reign as Miss Tulsa, Sanders will speak to students across the state, as well as potential sponsors as she prepares to compete in the Miss Oklahoma pageant next June, where more than $20,000 in scholarships are at stake.

She’ll also be promoting her social impact initiative, “The Power of Music.”

“Hopefully, if I’m lucky, I’ll have the incredible opportunity to represent Oklahoma at the Miss America competition in December of 2022,” she said.

In addition to her pageant competitions and academic load as a college student, Sanders continues to pursue her music career.

“It is challenging to balance my music career, college and being Miss Tulsa, but all of these things bleed into each other,” she said. “These are my three biggest passions and they all impact each other by teaching me responsibility, determination, resilience, time-management, and integrity.

Although she continues to pursue her dream career of becoming a successful singer-songwriter, Sanders is not without a backup plan.

“I am pursuing a journalism degree on a pre-law track at OU and I hope to be accepted in the entertainment law program at Belmont Law School in Nashville, Tenn., to become an entertainment lawyer,” she said.

In the meantime, she is focused on doing the best job she can representing “the incredible city of Tulsa” over the course of the next year.

“I also hope to make Kingfisher proud as I compete for the title and job of Miss Oklahoma 2022,” she said.