Brooklyn resident and the reigning Miss New York 2012, Mallory Hagan, won the tiara and title of Miss America 2013 on Saturday night, at the annual beauty pageant in Las Vegas.
Hagan, 23, is a Park Slope resident and Alabama native who is studying Advertising & Marketing with a focus on Cosmetic & Fragrance Marketing at the Fashion Institute of Technology. In addition to the crown, Hagan won a $50,000 college scholarship.
Besides her professional interest in the cosmetics industry, she has also made it her mission to tackle child sexual abuse awareness and prevention – a cause dear to her heart as it hits close to home. As part of her Miss New York and Miss America campaign, Hagan has made the issue her central platform and shared the personal stories and experiences of women in her family in order to encourage others to take a stand.
Organizations that she supports include Stop It Now!, Darkness to Light and Safe Horizon.
Hagan clinched the competition after tap dancing to James Brown’s “Get Up Off of That Thing” and responding readily to a question about whether grade schools should have armed guards by saying: ““I don’t think the proper way to fight violence is with violence.”
Hagan will now embark on a nationwide tour to promote the Miss America Organization and its scholarship program.
The last Miss New York to be crowned Miss America was actress and model Vanessa Williams, in 1984.
