Oklahoma Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. CT Michael
The US military and beauty pageantry are often seen as polar opposites — one known for toughness, discipline, and combat readiness, and the other for elegance, grace, and competition for a crown.
Madison Marsh, a US Air Force second lieutenant and Miss America 2024, is on a mission to show that the two worlds are not so different.
Marsh spent the last year in both crown and sash and USAF uniform, serving as an active-duty officer and pageant titleholder. In an interview with Business Insider, the 23-year-old said she'd used her platform to show there's no conflict between being a military officer and a beauty contestant.
"A lot of people don't understand what military services are, or maybe they have some of the outdated views on how the Air Force used to operate," Marsh said. "Now I'm getting to change the idea of showing people that the Air Force is rebranding itself. We are in a new phase where the Air Force is inviting others to take charge of their passions outside of the uniform."
Marsh said she is also urging people to look beyond the glitz and glam of Miss America to see the deeper purpose behind the century-old competition.
"We often have to explain to people how pageants aren't stereotypically what people believe them to be," she said. "The pageant, as in Miss America, that I compete in is about community service, leadership, and public speaking — all of these core skills and values that hold to be true in the Air Force as well."
US Air Force photo by Miriam Thurber
Breaking these long-held stereotypes was not one she "actively" wanted when she became the first active-duty officer to be crowned Miss America, she said.
"I didn't step into this role trying or actively wanting to break those stereotypes. I was simply just doing something that I loved," she said. "In the process of being authentically me and ensuring that I still did all the things that I loved, I was able to break some of those stereotypes and show people that if you have passion in different areas, even if they're conflicting with one another, you can still get it done."
Nonetheless, the task came easily to her, she said, as she drew on her own fears and uncertainties prior to attending the US Air Force Academy to quell those in potential future cadets.
After her win in January, Marsh embarked on a national tour, returning to her hometown of Fort Smith, Arkansas, throwing the first pitch at a Nationals game, and giving her fellow Miss America delegates a tour of the Air Force Academy.
Her Miss America title took her overseas as well, speaking with Royal Air Force cadets in the United Kingdom at the world's largest military air show and commemorating the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, France.
And in her 10-month reign as Miss America, Marsh said she is already seeing an impact.
"This young freshman came up to me with her and her mom, and she told me that she was really considering not going to the [US Air Force] Academy anymore until she had seen that I became Miss America because that showed her that she could still be feminine in and out of uniform, that she could still be herself, that she could still take charge of her outside passions while still serving," Marsh said.
US Air Force photo by Miriam Thurber
Marsh doesn't have to take up the mantle of representing military women in the world of pageantry alone. In August, 2nd Lt. Alma Cooper, a US Army military intelligence officer, was crowned Miss USA after a tumultuous year in one of the country's biggest pageants.
While the new titleholders haven't connected about their respective wins, Marsh said Cooper is "another great representative who can talk about what it means to be a woman in the Army, and hopefully, that can bring some better recruiting in that area as well."
With both Miss America and Miss USA being active-duty officers, Marsh said it's "giving a broader representation of the direction that the military is moving in" — where service members have the freedom to pursue outside passions and interests even if they're high-profile.
Beyond pageantry and military, Marsh champions awareness and advocacy for pancreatic cancer, the disease that took her mother Whitney's life when Madison was just 17. She turned her grief into action, founding a nonprofit named after her mother, Whitney Marsh Foundation, assisting in pancreatic cancer research, and pursuing a master's degree in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School, which she deferred until January as she balances pageant duties and active duty.
As Marsh approaches her last few months as Miss America, several paths lie before her as she looks to the future — whether it be attending flight school to become an Air Force pilot (she already has a civilian pilot's license), continuing her master's degree to shape future public health policies, or participating in more research and advocacy for pancreatic cancer.
US Air Force photo by Miriam Thurber
If there's one thing that people will take away from her reign, Marsh said she hopes she's shown that putting on a uniform — be it crown and sash or flight suit — adds to your identity, not takes away from it.
"Now we can start to talk about these misconceptions that the general public has, showing that you don't have to give up these vital, passionate parts of yourself to put on that uniform," Marsh said.
"My passion for serving the pancreatic cancer community still exists when I put on that uniform every morning," she added, "and that's what the military now wants us to move toward: recognizing we don't have to give up these outside passions to still serve."
