Press & broadcasting / Film & TV / Fashion
Kenya Moore
born 1971 · beauty queen, actress, television personality, entrepreneur
Miss USA 1993 and Real Housewives of Atlanta star, raised in Detroit by her grandmother, a Cass Tech graduate who studied at Wayne State.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan
age 55- Birth name
- Kenya Summer Moore
- Detroit years
- 1971–1993
- Field
- Press & broadcasting, Film & TV, Fashion
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Kenya Moore was born in Detroit in 1971 to teenage parents and was raised by her paternal grandmother, Doris Grant, and an aunt after her mother left when she was three days old. She graduated from Cass Technical High School in 1989 and studied psychology, with a minor in communication, at Wayne State University. At 22 she won Miss Michigan USA 1993 and went on to take the Miss USA 1993 crown, only the second African American woman to do so, and she represented the country at Miss Universe. Acting followed, with roles in Waiting to Exhale (1995) and on sitcoms, and she wrote a book and launched beauty products. She became best known to television audiences through The Real Housewives of Atlanta, in which she starred for more than a decade from 2012. Detroit shaped her start: a Cass Tech education, a Wayne State campus and a state title that opened the door.
Highlights
- Miss USA 1993, the second African American woman to win the title
- Miss Michigan USA 1993
- Cass Technical High School class of 1989; studied at Wayne State
- Cast member of The Real Housewives of Atlanta (2012–2025)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · until 1989
Cass Technical High School
Detroit's selective technical high school; Moore graduated in 1989 from the 1922 building, which was replaced by the current school next door in 2005 and demolished in 2011.
Studied here · c. 1989–1993
Wayne State University
Moore studied psychology with a minor in communication here.