Mallory Hagan

Mallory Hytes Hagan Stramara (born December 23, 1988) is an American former news anchor and beauty queen. She won Miss America 2013 as Miss New York 2012 and campaigned unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives in 2018.

Hagan moved to New York in 2008 after her first year of college at Auburn University in her native state Alabama. She became Miss New York's first runner-up in 2010 and 2011, before winning the Miss New York pageant in 2012 and subsequently the Miss America peagant in 2013. She won the competition on a platform for child sexual abuse awareness and prevention due to her family's history of child abuse. Following her win, she graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology with a communications degree, returned to Alabama in 2016 and worked for WLTZ as a news anchor and reporter between 2016 and 2018.

She ran in the 2018 congressional election as a Democrat in Alabama's 3rd congressional district, which contains 14 counties and includes her hometown of Opelika, Alabama. After moving to Madison, Alabama, she ran for District 25 in the Alabama House of Representatives in the 2022 election.

Early life and education Hagan was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and was raised in Opelika, Alabama. She graduated from Opelika High School in 2007. Her parents were raised in Auburn, Alabama. She was influenced by her formative years spent with a mother who ran a dance studio in the Auburn-Opelika area, where she was raised. She is a former student at Auburn University, where she spent a year studying biomedical science. becoming the fourth Pi Beta Phi to become Miss America (Marilyn Van Derbur, Jackie Mayer, and Susan Akin).

She moved to Brooklyn in October 2008. Hagan had lived in six different Brooklyn neighborhoods between her arrival in 2008 and her Miss America victory in 2013, At FIT, she was a part of the Presidential Honors Program. She trained several different physical and mental methods to prepare for the pageant. Her fitness trainers included Richard Talens of the social fitness network Fitocracy, Sohee Lee, and Mark Fisher of Mark Fisher Fitness. One of her training elements was the CrossFit exercise program.

Pageantry

Beginnings in Alabama and Miss New York Hagan competed in the Miss Alabama's Outstanding Teen pageant from the ages of 13 to 17 and won the runner-up title once. In 2008 she made her only appearance in the Miss Alabama competition and won a non-finalist talent award and a scholarship, while studying at Auburn University, before she left her home for New York in the same year.

In New York Hagan first participated in the Miss Brooklyn 2010 pageant, wishing to win scholarship money for her education, and to her own surprise won the competition. This was followed up by titles as Miss Manhattan 2011, Miss New York City 2012, as well as two first runner-up finishes in the Miss New York pageant in 2010 and 2011, before winning the title of Miss New York in 2012 and qualifying for the Miss America pageant in her last eligible year at the age of 24. She received a $10,000 scholarship for her win. During her reign as Miss New York 2012, her platform was child sexual abuse awareness and prevention. According to statements made during an Associated Press interview, her mother, Mandy Moore, convinced her to tackle child sexual abuse since it had affected her mother, aunt, grandmother, and cousins. Hagan has stated that she has experienced the ripple effects of child sexual abuse.

2013 Miss America pageant

Hagan's introductory quip to the Miss America 2013 audience on January 12, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada at the beginning of the on-air broadcast was "Sandy may have swept away our shores but never our spirit." Other elements of her winning wardrobe included a black string bikini and an asymmetric white evening gown by Juan Carloa Pinera. She was crowned Miss America 2013 by outgoing Miss America 2012, Laura Kaeppeler, beating out first runner-up, Miss South Carolina 2012, Ali Rogers. Along with the title of Miss America, Hagan also won a $50,000 scholarship. Due to the decision to move the pageant back to Atlantic City, New Jersey, her reign was cut short by four months and ended on September 15, 2013. During her year, she lobbied with the National Children's Alliance to restore funding in the 2014 budget for Child Advocacy Centers across America, which she later said that she was "incredibly proud of". revealed that the pageant CEO Sam Haskell had sent a series of emails degrading former Miss Americas, including Hagan for her body weight. Hagan took to the media demanding Haskell and other members of the Miss America Board of Directors, including Tammy Haddad of Haddad Media and Miss America Phyllis George, resign. Hagan held a Facebook live stating "I am the storm" in reference to the leaders, such as Haskell, hoping that the "media storm" would blow over. She began a T-shirt line that now benefits the newly restructured Miss America Organization.

In January 2018, Hagan created a Change.org petition to demand, alongside other former Miss Americas, the resignation of Haskell. The Miss America Organization ultimately named Gretchen Carlson, a former news journalist and Miss America, the new Executive Chair of the Board of Directors along with appointing other former Miss Americas to the board, establishing a new leadership.

Career When she moved to New York, Hagan first worked there for a few years, before using the scholarship money she had won since 2010 to enroll at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), where she earned a degree in Advertising, Marketing and Communications. After her reign as Miss America, she had shifted her interest from marketing to communication and television hosting and changed her major to communications. She later returned to New York City and started a personal branding business called "Define: Mind. Mission. Marketing." with Claire Buffie, Miss New York 2010 to work as a marketing consultant.

In August 2016, Hagan was hired as a reporter by WLTZ-TV, which is based in Columbus, Georgia, and reported from her home region East Alabama and the Columbus area. She was promoted to news anchor of the station's first evening news show WLTZ First News in April 2017 and worked in that position until February 2018, when she declared her congressional candidacy and moved back to her home town Opelika.

2018 congressional run

Hagan ran for Alabama's 3rd congressional district in the 2018 congressional election as a Democrat, Her campaign was ultimately unsuccessful. She was defeated in the election by incumbent Mike Rogers. While Hagan had explained in a 2013 interview as Miss America that she could not imagine to ever go into politics, she now said after her candidacy that "running for office [was] the thing [she was] the single most proud of".

Post election After the 2018 election, Hagan did marketing and social media work for the Miss America organization. She also served as communications director for Michael Bloomberg's presidential campaign in Alabama during the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. In 2020, she moved to Madison, Alabama, and became a communications manager for the Business Outreach Center Network, working with small business owners from underserved communities such as immigrants and women.

Hagan ran for a seat in the Alabama House of Representatives against sitting House Speaker Mac McCutcheon in District 25 in the 2022 election.

She now works at The Dance Company INC in Madison.