Who ever said IT wasn’t glamorous?
Deshauna Barber, the 26-year-old who snagged the Miss USA title Sunday night in Las Vegas, works as an IT business analyst at the Department of Commerce.
Government contractor Triumph Enterprises Inc. confirmed that Barber provides infrastructure and acquisitions systems support to the Department of Commerce’s Office of Acquisition Management.
Barber is responsible for many tasks, including providing “acquisition policy and contract management support; grants management support; [and] acquisition reporting and data analysis support in areas such as policy formulation or analysis, program evaluation and assessment, strategic and business planning, operations research and analysis,” Dina L. Evans, the organization’s human resources director, confirmed in an email to FedScoop.
Evans said Barber was first hired by the company in February 2012 and has also worked on contracts for the Defense Department and Federal Aviation Administration.
The Department of Commerce did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
[Read more: FedScoop unveils its list of D.C.’s Top 50 Women in Technology for 2016]
Competing as Miss District of Columbia, Barber likely impressed judges with her powerful defense of the military allowing women to serve in combat rules. An officer in the Army Reserves, Barber drew on her own experience to make her argument.
“As a woman in the United States Army, I think it was an amazing job by our government to allow women to integrate into every branch of the military,” she said.
She added, “We are just as tough as men. As a commander of my unit, I’m powerful. I am dedicated, and it is important that we recognize that gender does not limit us in the United States.”
Barber holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Virginia State University and a master’s in management information systems and services from University of Maryland University College.
Her pageant bio also says Barber “loves to dance, hike and enjoy quality time with her family.”
Watch Barber respond to the question about the military opening combat jobs to women:
Contact the reporter on this story via email Whitney.Wyckoff@fedscoop.com, or follow her on Twitter @whitneywyckoff. Sign up for all the federal IT news you need in your inbox every morning at 6:00 here: fdscp.com/sign-me-on.
