Former Miss Idaho Ayriss Torres is headed in a ‘new direction’

ST. LOUIS, Missouri — Ayriss Torres, a Civil Affairs Specialist in the U.S. Army Reserve who was crowned Miss Idaho in 2021, has relocated to St. Louis, Missouri, and is planning to take her life in a “new direction.”

The new direction she’s taking is one that is more personal and family-oriented, she said. When she won the Miss Idaho Pageant 18 months ago, her entire life was put out in the media.

“I think at this point in my life, I’m just moving into a more private peace,” Torres said.

There were a lot of aspects of herself that drew more media attention to her in the wake of her victory. She was the first Miss Idaho to be an actively enlisted member of the military.

Torres said what also drew media attention was, “being a first-generation college student, also technically being a high school drop out, being Latina — all of those things were big headliners for a lot of people,” Torres said.

While Torres thought it was awesome so many reporters wanted to share her story, “but my story was also shared so deeply that even the street that I lived on was put into articles.”

“We’re from Pocatello, I lived in Idaho at the time, which is a small area, and every single piece of my life had been shared during my year as Miss Idaho,” Torres said. “I’ve done a lot of transitioning into making my life more focused on building up myself internally instead of also having to do it in the media.”

After Torres became Miss Idaho, she estimates that she travelled 60,000 miles to make public appearances, and she had to find her own personal sponsors to cover many of those costs. Her two top sponsors were Idaho Central Credit Union and Cole Chevrolet.

Torres kept an immensely busy schedule during this time. Sometimes, she would drive to Boise on the weekends for events, then come back home and work during the beginning of the week while also attending events. Then she would get a day off in the middle of the week and then drive back to Boise for more events and appearances. She even went to a National Training Center for a mock deployment in the Mojave desert in California.

To manage this packed schedule, she relied on her mother and the rest of her inner circle, who she said, “helped me tremendously.”

“I wanted to push myself as hard as I possibly could because I wanted to be a Miss Idaho that people remembered and that the kids remembered,” Torres said.

Torres said that she wanted to visit every single school she could and she never charged appearance fees.

“I wanted to make sure that my message and the experience of meeting a mentor like Miss Idaho would be available to anybody who wanted it,” Torres said.

Torres developed the equity project, a financial literacy and wealth management curriculum. She was working at Idaho Central Credit Union at the time as a loan officer, and she took what she learned there to develop the program.

In Boise, she spoke to at Safe and Sober homes and taught a financial literacy class for people who struggled with addiction or had been previously incarcerated. After that, the majority of the residents opened up their first savings accounts with the goal of taking charge of their credit.

Despite the challenges that came with becoming Miss Idaho, Torres said that, “it was the most amazing experience of my life, and I would definitely do it again.”

Torres moved to St. Louis in September 2022, two months after she had the opportunity to shoot a Go Army advertisement as a part of the Army’s “It’s Your Time” promotional campaign.

“It was amazing,” Torres said of the experience. “It definitely felt like it was very geared towards me and sharing my personal story. Not only my experience in the Army Reserve, but what led me to that.”

Torres joined the Army Reserve in February 2019, a division of the U.S. Army that serves part-time so it’s members can pursue education and careers. They can be called up into active duty if needed.

Torres said she joined the Army Reserve because, “I wanted to be able to still have a personal and professional career but be able to serve my country at the same time, while getting those same benefits.”

She said a lot of people don’t know that reserve soldiers get medical insurance benefits, retirement benefits, tuition assistance and GI Bill benefits as well.

“My time with the U.S. Army Reserve has opened so many doors and possibilities for me that I didn’t know were there,” Torres said. “It’s given me a feeling of accomplishment, of leadership. It’s given me so many other tools that I could take into my civilian life and I want the same opportunity for anybody else who also wants that as well.”

Being in the Army Reserve and receiving scholarships from Miss Idaho have made it possible for Torres to attend college debt-free. She still has a couple of years left, and she hopes to re-enroll in school once her residency becomes permanent in Missouri.

Torres moved to St. Louis to spend more time with her father, who has lived there for about 15 years. Growing up, she was always close with him but could only see him around three times a year.

“I wanted to take more time to develop a relationship and be close with him,” Torres said.

Torres is looking forward to starting a family one day, spending time with her father and continuing to work on herself. She’s continued to work toward her goals, and she wants people to know that they can achieve their own goals, as well.

“If you have a goal and you want to achieve it, it doesn’t matter if it’s the U.S. Army Reserve, your full time career, your family or your school, if you’re set on accomplishing those things, those places will also lift you up and help you do that,” Torres said.

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