Claire Buffie (born May 15, 1986) is a photographer and designer and former beauty queen. Selected as Miss New York 2010, she competed for the Miss America 2011 title, with the finals televised on January 15, 2011. She placed in the Top 12. She was voted into the Finals as America's Choice by winning a national voting competition between all of the contestants in which "hundreds of thousands of votes were cast" according to show host Brooke Burke. She was the first contestant to campaign for the Miss America title on a gay rights platform.
A BSU Presidential Scholar and Emens scholar, Buffie earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Visual Communications from Ball State University in 2008, with a concentration in photography and a minor in dance performance. During her academic career she received numerous awards and honors. After interning with Lois Greenfield and Macfadden Publications (publisher of Dance Magazine and Pointe), she began designing professionally for movmnt magazine. She has owned and operated her own photography and design business since 2005. She began working for Apple Inc. in 2010.
