Her platform: Alzheimer’s awareness. “I’ve been a national advocate for 14 years. My great-grandmother suffered from the disease, and she died when I was 8. Since then, I’ve been very involved in with the Alzheimer’s Association, working in local nursing homes, and developing programs to increase awareness. Most recently I’ve been working on a children’s awareness program based on a book called Grandma’s Cobwebs.”

The Three R’s: As identified in the book by New York Alzheimer’s advocate Ann Warner Frantti, they are Relax, Remember, and Respect. “Relax when you’re with the person suffering from Alzheimer’s. Be yourself. Have fun with them. Remember the good things, that they’re still the same person. Respect them always.”

Why raising children’s awareness is important: “Alzheimer’s is an extremely confusing disease for adults. You can imagine the questions children would ask in reference to it. When I was a child, I did not understand what was going on with my own great-grandmother, and it was difficult for my parents to explain it to me. It’s a difficult disease to understand in the first place.”

The greatest challenge associated with increasing Alzheimer’s awareness: “Overcoming the stigma that goes along with it. There isn’t a cure, so right now Alzheimer’s inevitably leads to death. When the diagnosis is made or memory impairments become noticeable, a lot of people don’t want to accept the fact that it’s happening. But it’s really an epidemic to senior citizens.”

Why it’s important for pageant titleholders to become involved with such projects: “You become a role model – and a very noticeable one with a crown on your head – to everyone around you. You have the opportunity to become a spokesman for something important, to be a part of the community in a big way. You have to fulfill that role of being a community servant, bringing yourself into the community and trying to make a difference.”

Her view of pageantry: “I never participated in it growing up. I think there’s a stigma that if you’re in pageantry you’ve been doing it since you were a child and it was something you were forced into. That wasn’t the case with me. I became part of the system because of the scholarship money. The Miss America Scholarship Organization is the largest provider of scholarships to women in the world, and that’s a huge, huge reason why I became involved in it. Through participating, I’ve also grown as a woman because of this system. Miss America titleholders are role models. They’re the girl next door, but they’re also well-rounded women, beautiful, smart, and leaders in their communities. It’s our responsibility to represent the pageant system in a positive light.” This is her first Chattanooga-area title, having previously served as Miss Historic Jonesboro 2004.

Advice she gives to aspiring titleholders: “I do some coaching on the side and I work with a teen pageant in my hometown (the Miss Historic Jonesboro Outstanding Teen and Princess Pageant), and I always tell the girls to be themselves. I learned that from my seven years of being involved in pageants. Being someone you’re not doesn’t get you anywhere.”

Advice once given to her: “My aunt gave me a Judy Garland quote when I was 14, which is a time when you’re going through a lot of changes and trying to figure out who you are. The quote said, ‘Always be a first-rate version of yourself rather than a second-rate version of someone else.”

College: She graduated from East Tennessee State University in 2005, majoring in mass communication with a concentration in public relations. “I was a music and psychology double major my freshman year. I wanted to work in music therapy for Alzheimer’s patients, but I decided that wasn’t for me. So I looked at my strengths and weaknesses; I was always very strong in English and writing, I loved to be creative, I liked the details of event planning, and that led me to the only option out there that encompassed all my strengths: public relations.”

Her greatest accomplishment: “Educationally, it was graduating college. Performance, it was getting to singe at Carnegie Hall when I was in high school. Personally, many failures and accomplishments have made me who I am, and I’m looking forward to the things I’m going to be able to accomplish in the future.”

Her Carnegie Hall performance: “I was part of a small group out of my choir that went to New York to sing with other choirs from all over the country. We got to work with a well-known conductor, Andre Thomas, and it was amazing to be there with so many talented people. There were auditions for a solo part in the performance we were doing, so I auditioned, and I got the part. I don’t think any words can describe being in Carnegie Hall, and not just being there but being on stage and performing. It was unreal, a huge accomplishment for me.”

On singing: “My mom says that I sang my first words. I made my public debut in church at age 3. I sing just about everything. In my car, I’m screaming out Christina Aguilera and Kelly Clarkson, but what I really like to sing are the classics (Judy Garland, Natalie Cole), bluegrass, and blues, along the lines of Nora Jones.” She performed “Over the Rainbow” for the talent portion of the Miss Chattanooga pageant last month.

In her leisure time: “I love working out and spending time with family and friends and the love of my life.” That honorific goes to Charlie, her cocker spaniel. “I’ve had him for about six months, and he’s beautiful. His coat is a very rare color, and his eyes are really wild. The top half of his left eye is blue, and the bottom half is brown. His right eye is exactly the opposite.”

How she describes herself: “Outgoing, friendly, genuine, a true Southern girl through and through. I’m a very down-to-earth person. When people find out I do pageants, they often say, ‘You? You do pageants?’ They’re thinking of the typical pageant girl stereotypes, and I don’t fit those stereotypes.”

If her favorite restaurant offered a Bobbie Marie Gregg Special: “It would be a grilled chicken salad with cheese, ranch dressing, the works. I’m a huge, huge fan of a good salad, even if a good salad isn’t always healthy food.”