If you see me today, you see a future lawyer navigating the high-stakes environment of law school, and the reigning Miss New Jersey U.S. International confidently commanding a pageant stage. You see a woman who refuses to apologize for taking up space.
But what you don’t see is the quiet, agonizing battle it took just to learn how to stand back up.
A few years ago, my world went completely dark. A diagnosis of Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), a debilitating, invisible illness, brought my life to a sudden standstill. I went from being an ambitious student to being homebound, consumed by medical anxiety, and carrying an extra 130 pounds of physical and emotional weight. I was a young woman with massive dreams, trapped in the shadows of my own health.
That is what the phrase "She Struggled" looks like behind closed doors.
But I refused to let a diagnosis dictate my destination. Through daily discipline, partnership with my service dog, Biscuit, and learning to silence the internal voices that told me to shrink, I made the choice to reclaim my life. I fought to lose the weight, I fought to rebuild my mind, and I learned that confidence isn't the absence of fear... it is the courage to take action in spite of it.
In the legal field, we talk constantly about a "fiduciary duty," or the absolute highest obligation to act in the best interest of another. Surviving the darkest season of my life taught me the importance of the fiduciary duty of self. I learned that protecting our mental health, asking for the support we need, and unlearning the pressure to be perfectly strong all the time is not a weakness. It is our most vital obligation.
That is exactly why I am so fiercely committed to raising funds for Still She Rose.
In the pageant industry, titleholders are held up as exemplary role models. But the truth is, leaders, women, and teens everywhere carry heavy, invisible backpacks. Launched as a wellness program by the B4ACUSA Foundation, Still She Rose provides a crucial platform for mental health and holistic wellness within our community
Your donation today directly funds these initiatives. It ensures that when a young woman is fighting her own quiet battle in the dark, she has the resources, the community, and the tools to find her light again.
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Still She Rose is a wellness program for leaders, women and teens in the pageant industry. Funded by the B4ACUSA Foundation, wellness program initiatives are open to all pageant community members.
The ROSE is symbolic of the spirit that grows within each of us when proper care and attention is applied.
Together, we can encourage wellness through self care, positive body image, renewed self esteem and affirmation of one's identity beyond pageantry. We aim to engage in a conversation of support, honesty, reflection and awareness, in order to promote wellness as the foundation of the pageant industry.
Because each of us can say, She Struggled; and Still She Rose.
