Taking a deep breath, eight-year-old Briana Harner took the stage for her dance routine.  Nervous and missing her two front teeth, Harner heard the music signaling her to start the routine.  She stood still, not recalling the sequence.  Improvising, she began cartwheels around the stage until someone pulled her away.  The Miss Jr. Pennsylvania Petite would return home as just that. 

“To this day I get stage fright,” said Harner, recalling the 1987 national competition.  Harner won the Miss Junior Pennsylvania Petite competition against 79 other children with her answer to the question, “What is your favorite room in the house?”  Harner’s answer was the bathroom, where she spent the most time because she was always dirty. 

Harner was a tomboy at heart growing up, always building sculptures from mud in her backyard.  But her mother, a hairdresser, encouraged Harner to dance until age 16 and later become a cheerleader.

Although the days of mud sculptures are gone, Harner’s creativity is not.  As a 22-year-old student at Penn State Harrisburg, Harner still enjoys all aspects of the arts.  Harner is pursuing a degree in Communications, concentrating on advertising.  At home, Harner is constantly giving decorating advice to friends and family, who all live within 15 miles of her in Middletown, Pennsylvania. 

Upon graduation, Harner plans to find a job in advertising, if she does not rob a bank first. 

“I’ve often thought it would be fun to rob a bank, and go into hiding in some foreign country and spend it like it was my own,” said Harner, “I’d also play Robin Hood and give some to the people who need it.” 

After saving some money and starting a family with two children, Harner would like to start her own furniture refurbishing business.  With her love for art, Harner spends countless summer days scouring yard sales looking for buried treasures.  While watching Home and Garden Television (HGTV), Harner became inspired and said, “I can do that.”