Pageant News Bureau

She still has three names (though not quite the same three). She's still gorgeous (though now the hip term is "hottie" instead of "cutie"). And she's still making big waves in the pageant world (though now she's doing it from behind the curtain).

She started out as Keylee Sue Sanders, a Kansas rancher's daughter who used to dream of touching the stars. Then, on an August night in 1995, the stars fell on her. She was crowned Miss Teen USA. "I didn't plan for that," she recalls today, "but it changed my life."

It was no small adjustment. She had gotten into pageants because she was too polite to say "no," but suddenly she was the darling of the pageant world. And as she quickly learned to love the life of a beauty queen, she had to be careful not to love it too much, not to lose herself in it.

In practical terms, that meant briefly giving up her cherished plans for college. Then, after she had experienced a taste of fame, it meant forcing herself to go back to college. "I knew if I didn't go back quickly, I'd never go."

It was a balancing act, but this is a very balanced young woman. She got her degree, with honors, and established a successful pageant consulting business while still in school. She became a radio personality and fashion designer in Kansas City.

Then she changed her name. Part of the change was leaving her teenage years behind, and part of it was her 2001 marriage to energy trader David Hochberg. "Keylee Sue Sanders" became "Keylee Sanders," and then "Keylee Sanders-Hochberg." The name changes fit the changes in her life -- from corn-fed country girl to Midwestern fashion maven to businesswoman in a power suit.

Or maybe a bikini. She and her husband moved to Los Angeles in late 2003, and she began revving up her modeling and show business career, doing host duties on some of the area's top local programs. And in the spirit of modern media, she took it off -- or at least a lot of it -- for an appearance in Stuff magazine. She's still younger than many women who play teenagers on television, and if you've got it in L.A., you'd better flaunt it.

Now for the point of this story, which ought to be no surprise to pageant insiders: Keylee Sanders-Hochberg is the new co-director of the Miss California USA and Miss California Teen USA systems. (Her partner is Keith Lewis.) She is the only former national titleholder to hold a state franchise in this system.

And what a state! Big, rich, diverse, as famous around the world as most nations. A place renowned for its beautiful woman. She wants to make them queens. She can show them how it's done, no question.

Keylee in California