After being crowned Miss Boomtown 2023 and beginning my journey to Miss Arkansas, I felt one thing so clearly… Life has the craziest way of bringing us back to the things that we love! I thought I had hit the end of the road on my time as a contestant in the Miss America Organization in 2019, and I had spent the past four years supporting university titleholders, volunteering at local competitions, serving on mock interview panels, and cheering on friends still participating while attending graduate school and launching my career.
But that all changed after the MAO announced some major changes to the program at the end of January including welcoming back a fitness component, adjusting the scoring system, adding a focus on women who were not traditional college aged, and announcing a partnership with the American Heart Association. My gut told me to give it a shot, and I never want to have regret. So, in the midst of a crazy month long period of running a half marathon, attending and presenting at a national conference, celebrating my sister who was a soon-to-be-bride and more, I prepared for the local competition with the hopes of making it to the Miss Arkansas stage.
It was an incredible day in March in El Dorado competing with some fantastic women from across the state. Being back in the pageantry world felt as natural as riding a bike for the first time in awhile. It was the last local competition of the year, so I felt a lot of peace knowing this door was either opening wide or closing shut for me. I was so honored to have been voted Miss Congeniality by my fellow contestants, and I was over the moon to be going to Miss Arkansas as Miss Boomtown 2023!
Since then, every step has been extremely surreal as I have had this unexpected opportunity to be back in the Miss America program. From paperwork to school visits to community service initiative work to spring meeting with the contestants and more, it has been a blast impacting my focus area of SAVE: Investing in Higher Education while also preparing for the Miss Arkansas Competition.
The week of festivities kicks off in a few short days, and I am full of gratitude. I can’t wait to show my sincerest and most truly authentic version of myself on the Miss Arkansas stage next week. Be sure to head to @missarkansas on Instagram for all of the latest information about attending the show in Little Rock and more. If you have been on this journey with me for any part of the past decade, thank you thank you thank you <3
