Mallory Hagan

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.

In January 2018, Hagan created a Change.org petition to demand the resignation of Haskell alongside the other former Miss Americas and ultimately named Gretchen Carlson the new Executive Chair of the Board of Directors, establishing new leadership for the national non-profit.

Hagan ran in the 2018 congressional election as a Democrat in Alabama's 3rd congressional district. Hagan was endorsed by the Alabama New South Alliance, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, End Citizens United, Lilly Ledbetter, and received a "Gun Sense Candidate" distinction from Moms Demand Action. In the first quarter, Hagan raised over $100k for her congressional race.

After the 2018 election, Hagan began doing marketing and social media work for the Miss America organization. As of December 2019, she is currently serving as the Alabama state Communications Direction for Michael Bloomberg's Presidential Campaign in the primary race for the 2020 Democratic Presidential Nomination.

In December 2017, the Huffington Post revealed that the pageant CEO Sam Haskell had sent a series of emails degrading former Miss Americas, including Hagan. 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 Miss America Organization.

Hagan promoted awareness of child sexual abuse, and in her first 24 hours as Miss America, she was in communication with United States Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. Her first initiative as Miss America was to become spokesperson for the IHOP's 8th Annual National Pancake Day Celebration in which they hope to raise $3 Million for the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. As Miss America, Hagan claimed to travel 20,000 miles (32,187 km) per month. During her year, she lobbied with the National Children's Alliance to restore funding in the 2014 budget for Child Advocacy Centers across America. In addition, she worked with the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Safe Horizon, Stop it Now, and Prevent Child Abuse America. She was derided in the press for gaining weight a few months after becoming Miss America.

At the time of the 2013 Miss America competition, she was a Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) student, where she studied advertising, marketing and communications with aspirations of a profession related to cosmetic and fragrance marketing. At FIT, she was a part of the Presidential Honors Program. Her three placements in the Miss New York competition provided her with sufficient scholarship monies to pay for her entire FIT tuition. She trained several different physical and mental methods to prepare for the pageant. Her fitness trainers included Richard Talens of social fitness network Fitocracy, Sohee Lee, and Mark Fisher of Mark Fisher Fitness. One of her training elements was the CrossFit exercise program.

The 2013 competition was Hagan's final year of Miss America Organization eligibility.

Her introductory quip to the Miss America 2013 audience at the beginning of the on-air broadcast was "Sandy may have swept away our shores but never our spirit." During the competition, she performed a tap dance routine to James Brown's "Get Up Offa That Thing" while wearing a two-piece outfit. Other elements of her winning wardrobe included a black string bikini and an asymmetric white evening gown by Juan Carloa Pinera.

Hagan was crowned Miss America 2013 on January 12, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada by outgoing Miss America 2012, Laura Kaeppeler, beating out first runner-up, Miss South Carolina 2012, Ali Rogers. At the time of her Miss America victory, Hagan was 24 years old and a resident of Brooklyn. 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. Although Hagan follows a few other Miss New York contestants to earn the Miss America crown, she is the first Brooklynite to win.

She then went on to win the title of Miss New York 2012. During Hagan's reign as Miss New York 2012, her platform was child sexual abuse awareness and prevention.

Hagan was the first runner-up in both of the Miss New York 2010 and Miss New York 2011 pageants.

After her reign as Miss America, Hagan shifted her interest from marketing to television hosting and moved to Los Angeles to pursue a television career. 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.

She moved to Brooklyn in October 2008. At the time of her arrival, she had less than $1000 and no job. Several sources stated that Hagan was a Park Slope resident when she won Miss America. The Wall Street Journal ran a correction, corroborated by The New York Times, that she was a resident of Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn at the time. Hagan had lived in six different Brooklyn neighborhoods between her arrival in 2008 and her Miss America victory in 2013, including Sunset Park and Williamsburg.

Prior to moving to New York, Hagan earned runner-up placements in the Miss Alabama's Outstanding Teen and the Miss Alabama competition. She competed in the Miss Alabama's Outstanding Teen pageant from the ages of 13 to 17. Hagan has stated that in the Miss Alabama 2008 competition, which was her only attempt at that title, she won a non-finalist talent award.

Hagan was born in Memphis, Tennessee and was raised in Opelika, Alabama. Hagan is a 2007 graduate of Opelika High School. 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. Her grandmother also ran a dance studio in Tennessee, where Hagan was born. She is a former student at Auburn University, where she spent a year studying biomedical science. She was a member of the sorority Pi Beta Phi Alabama Gamma chapter, becoming the fourth Pi Beta Phi to become Miss America (Marilyn Van Derbur, Jackie Mayer, and Susan Akin).

Mallory Hytes Hagan (born December 23, 1988) is an American politician and former beauty queen who won Miss America 2013 as Miss New York 2012. She moved to New York in 2008 after her first year of college at Auburn University. Prior to winning Miss America, Hagan was also Miss Brooklyn 2010, Miss Manhattan 2011, Miss New York City 2012 and a two-time Miss New York first runner-up. When living in Alabama, Hagan had been runner-up in the Miss Alabama's Outstanding Teen program. As Miss Chattahoochee Valley 2007, was a non-finalist talent winner at Miss Alabama. She won the Miss America competition on a platform of child sexual abuse awareness and prevention due to her family's history with child abuse. She also gave a response on the issue of gun control in which she opposed fighting violence with violence.