Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Pageants may be beauty and makeup to you; but to Miss America 2026, Cassie Donegan, it’s not. It’s about a statement, a message to all. Donegan is visiting Springfield this weekend.

How is it to compete in these pageants?

“I think there’s a really big distinction between the Miss America opportunity and many other systems that we have,” said Donegan, in an interview Friday.  “I think it’s wonderful that there is a system for every young woman and that’s incredible. I love being able to participate in Miss America because it really is a woman’s empowerment organization where it’s a springboard for you to achieve your dreams and that gives you the tools to be able to do that. Like one of the biggest being, scholastic empowerment by giving us those scholarship dollars to be able to achieve our goals academically in higher education that is so often not accessible to people.

“So in my time in Miss America, I burned over $70,000 in scholarship money and that has changed my life in terms of what I’m able to achieve academically. So for me, pageantry within the world of Miss America is it’s a life changer. And it changes the trajectory for many.”

“I think I definitely lived a life that did not set me up for what should have been the success to become Miss America, but I am still here as Miss America, and I came from a low income home with a disabled father who’s a 100% disabled veteran, and a multi-stroke heart attack survivor for a mom and most of the time our utilities were being shut off,” said Donegan.

“I dealt with a lot of bullying because of those circumstances, I did not relate well to my peers and that’s not the background one would assume when looking at Miss America. And from a small town in Virginia and I’m now working as a full-time entertainer as well as a chief operations officer of a company at only 28 years old and as Miss America and the reality is, is that no one can tell you can’t do something except for yourself. And so if you want to achieve it, whether it’s being Miss America or whatever it might be, you absolutely can do that.”

What’s a life lesson that you’ve learned while working pageants?

“I mean, I think it’s a lesson that’s really helped me get through life, is that nine times out of ten, even though you think it might be about you, it’s not. It’s about timing, right?” Donegan said.  “And if you are wasting your time trying to play this comparison game and trying to crack a code that’s not crackable because you’re trying to figure out what you might have done wrong or what you should have done differently rather than just seeing it from the perspective of it might not just have been for you at that time. Once you’re able to see things through the lens of being able to say what’s for me will find me and it will not pass you by. And I think for those who know, I am the epitome of that with my journey to becoming Miss America. then it’s a lot easier to make it through some of those no’s that you get because you will get more of them than you will get yeses.”