I grew up in a small town in the South East part of Ohio. I got my start in pageants because like many grandmothers, my grandma thought I was the prettiest baby out there so she entered me in a pageant at our mall. Coming from a low socioeconomic background, I couldn’t participate as much as I would have liked in pageants but my grandma would save up money all year round so I could compete in one a year, and also participate in vocal lessons to help me learn a talent. When my parents divorced when I was 7 years old, I also took up dance. I quickly fell in love with dance and because it was the “cool talent” to have I shifted my focus away from vocal performance and started focusing specifically on Tap Dance. At the age of 10 my father committed a serious crime which led to his imprisonment. My world was rocked and I became the target of many bullies, children and adults alike. I used dance as an outlet to cope and while it provided me with some ease, I still suffered my fair share of emotional trauma. I didn’t compete for my local festival princess title because I feared I would be judged by my last name and my fathers actions, but when I became old enough for the Queen division, I decided to put my fears aside. To my surprise I won the 2011 Barnesville Pumpkin Festival Queen title. I spent the next year traveling to other festivals and I even met Miss Ohio 2012, Elissa McCracken along the way. She encouraged me to compete in the Miss Ohio Scholarship Program when I was able to. I wanted so badly to compete but time and money were not on my side. When my grandma passed away the following year, I stopped competing all together. Money became tight and it didn’t feel the same without her. Come my senior year of high school, I knew higher education wasn’t a possibility for someone like me without financial support and scholarships so I submitted my paperwork for a Miss Ohio local in Columbus in hopes I could earn scholarships and pursue higher education while honoring the tradition I had with my grandma. That was when my love for Miss Ohio and the organization blossomed. I was welcomed into the Miss Ohio Program with open arms and made to feel at home, which for an only child from a troubled family, meant the world to me. I started utilizing my Miss Ohio platform to advocate for Autism Acceptance since I served as a mentor to those with Autism at my high school. I was also able to pursue higher education at Muskingum University where I graduated in December 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Public Health and a minor in Human Biology. While at Muskingum I served as a Resident Assistant and my eyes were opened to the mental health struggles many college students, including myself face. After working with our Miss Ohio 2018, Matti-Lynn Chrisman whose platform was “Pain isn’t always obvious: Mental Health Awareness and Suicide Prevention” I was able to learn a lot and reflect on my own mental health. I realized how mental health resources and therapy could have benefitted me growing up so my advocacy efforts through Miss Ohio shifted to Children’s Mental Health in 2020 and my program “Whole Child. Whole Health.” was founded. I wanted children to receive the mental health resources I never had so they could grow up to live happy and truly healthy lives, mentally and physically.
I have a strong passion for helping others and for the Miss America Organization and I wanted a place where people could come, get to know me better, learn about children’s mental health resources and my journey within the Miss America Organization and here it is! I hope through this website you can learn, get involved with Miss America or mental health advocacy and connect with me.
