14 DAY TRIAL // Tracy Broughton is 36 years old, has two children and, until not long ago, was in a wheelchair as a consequence of a hit and run car accident. Hardly material for a beauty pageant – but she’s just been crowned Ms. America.
The beauty pageant includes, so far, only competitors from 14 states, all of them over 26, which seems to be the only condition for admission, aside from that of being a US citizen.
Broughton won over the judges in several categories, including sportswear, evening gown and the question round, the OC County Register reports.
She’s a role model to her children, of whom she says they helped her learn to overcome her disability and walk again, and to everyone who comes in contact with her.
After many years spent in the wheelchair, she’s now able to walk in heels, as she put it herself, only needing a crutch every now and then for a bit of support.
“I was able to overcome my disability through a combination of experimental therapy, faith and perseverance,” she says.
Now that she knows it can be done, she plans to use her experience to help others as well, pledging to use her year as Ms. America to raise awareness on people with disabilities.
And she will do just perfectly at that, says Susan Jeske, who is the winner of the first edition of the pageant back in 1997, and now the owner of it.
“Wearing the crown is a powerful thing; it empowers women to make a difference. When people see us with that crown on, they want to come up and talk to us and we should be talking to them,” she says.
This year, the pageant included 26 participants from 14 states, as noted above, but Jeske is confident she will soon be able to expand it to all US states.
When she was crowned Ms. America, Tracy got to wear the much-coveted $35,000 tiara, but she didn’t take it home. Instead, she took home a $3,500 replica of it.