Show Notes

• Significance of winning Miss America
• Hearing the words, “Your Miss America is….”
• Private pilot at 16
• Refuting pageant stereotypes
• Concurrent service as Miss America and active-duty military
• The Whitney Marsh Foundation
• Madison’s influence on young people and others

Connect With Madison Marsh

✩ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madiisabellaa
✩ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/missamerica
✩ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/missamerica

Summary

Madison Marsh is Miss America 2024. She is also a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Air Force. Madison made history in January 2024 when she became the first active-duty Air Force officer to be named Miss America. Madison shares the significance of serving as Miss America while also remaining active-duty military, and the change she is most passionate about creating in the world.

Full Transcript

Brian  

Welcome to another episode of LifeExcellence with Brian Bartes. Join me as I talk with amazing athletes, entrepreneurs, authors, entertainers, and others who have achieved excellence in their chosen field so you can learn their tools, techniques and strategies for improving performance and achieving greater success. 

Madison Marsh is Miss America 2024. She is also a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force. After graduating from the US Air Force Academy in 2023 with a degree in physics, Madison made history in January 2024 when she became the first active duty Air Force officer to be named Miss America. Much of Madison’s life purpose however, stems from a tragic personal loss after her mother passed away from pancreatic cancer at the age of 41. Madison established the Whitney Marsh Foundation to honor her mom. As founder and president she successfully raised over a quarter of a million dollars dedicated to pancreatic cancer research. Her dedication to the cause also included being accepted to the Harvard Kennedy School, where Madison is pursuing a master’s degree in public policy to, in her words, create a future in which no one has to suffer the way her family did following her mom’s passing. In addition to her academic achievements, Madison is also a certified private pilot, and a black belt in Taekwondo. Madison truly embodies the legacy and purpose of the Miss America opportunity through her values of service and excellence in her military career and her philanthropic endeavors. I’m super excited for our conversation, and it’s an honor to have her on the show. Welcome, Madison. Thanks for joining us on LifeExcellence.

Madison  

Hi, thank you so much. And thank you for the wonderful introduction.

Brian  

It’s my pleasure. It’s great to have you as the first active member of the armed forces to win Miss America. What significance does that hold for you both personally and also for the representation of women in the military?

Madison  

I really think it just comes down to stereotype breaking. Because for me, I think this stands for a lot more than just women in pageants and women in the military. Right now, since I get to be Miss America and a second lieutenant in the Air Force – those have very obvious conflicting stereotypes when you picture a military woman and when you picture a woman who competes in pageants – now that I get to be in both of those roles, I’m showing that women in pageants are intelligent, we are community driven, we are service driven, but also on the military side, you can be feminine if you choose to be in uniform, and it doesn’t take away from your capability to lead. I hope that this can go to even a broader stance of showing that you can break any stereotypes that you want to if you’re passionate about the jobs that you do, and that’s exactly what I’ve done by serving as both this year.

Brian  

That’s great. Although you were born and raised in Arkansas, you competed in the Miss Colorado pageant. Is that because you were attending the Air Force Academy at the time?

Madison  

Yes, yes, that’s why.

Brian  

Okay, so you were crowned Miss Colorado in the spring of 2023 which of course made you eligible to compete in the Miss America Pageant the following January. Madison, you were competing against 50 other amazing, talented women, what were the thoughts going into the pageant in Orlando? At what point did you realize you might actually have a chance to become Miss America?

Madison  

I mean, just like you said, there were 50 other extremely talented, smart, driven young women and when you go into that, I mean, honestly, every year, it’s a crapshoot. Because look at the type of talent that’s coming in. The only thing that you can do is focus on what’s in your control. And that was seriously really one of the only things that I did for prep going into Miss America, because I already knew that I had practiced all of the walks, I’ve been doing scholarship interviews for years, so I’ve already done all these things. You can’t make the judges love you but what you can do is love the experience that you get to have because that’s really the only thing you get to control when you walk away. My entire time leading up to it was a lot of mental prep, of getting in a place to feel gracious that I even had the opportunity to get to go, getting in a mindset so I could become friends with all the wonderful young women that I was going to get to meet. So when I stepped foot during Miss America week, it was all about having fun. It was about setting goals that I knew that I could achieve and those goals were making friends, having fun, and hopefully walking away with some new connections and newfound confidence to be able to work on things that I care about, like pancreatic cancer. I think that’s the best way to go into prep because everything else is is totally out of your control.

Brian  

When you did all those things, you obviously had another very positive outcome, I watched the video of you standing with the other finalist Ellie Breaux of Texas, of course, as happens in these things, the announcer built up the suspense with a long pause, it was exciting and probably a very tense moment for you. What did you first think when you heard the words you’re Miss America 2024, Miss Colorado Madison Marsh?

Madison  

I feel like there were not a lot of thoughts going on in my head that moment, just because I was in total shock. I mean, I did not go into the competition, really, with a goal to make top 11, let alone win, so I was just over the moon when I made top 11 because I wasn’t expecting it at all. And then I was just really grateful that now my family could watch me compete again, since they were out in the audience; I had like, 30 friends and family from all over the country. Then when I made top five, I was like, oh, man, I didn’t practice any onstage questions today, because I just thought it was my last day here and this was my last time ever putting on a sash for a competition because I was never going to compete again. Then there I was standing in the top five. Before that, I just felt very grateful just to be with everybody, because it was just such an incredible honor. Then afterwards I was just in shock and then I saw my family. One of the first things that I did was – my fiance was there and we always make decisions together, any life decision that we make that’s going to alter things significantly or could alter our relationship, we come to that decision together – I looked at him. We had talked a lot about the possibility of this happening and I was like, are you good with this? Like, if I go backstage right now, they might have a contract I have to sign. Like, are we good with this? And he was like, yes, please do it, please, please go. Like we’ll figure everything else out later. So that’s what I did and then he ended up proposing the week later. So it was a really, really cool week for me, to say the least.

Brian  

That was a huge week for you. With something as big as being crowned Miss America, I can see where in the moment, you probably have a million thoughts going through your mind and yet your your mind is a total blank, because you’re trying to comprehend everything that’s happening, and it’s very overwhelming. Madison, as you had time, maybe later that evening or in the days that followed, to reflect on the significance of becoming Miss America, share with our listeners and viewers a couple thoughts that stood out for you.

Madison  

You know, I feel like it’s really hard to reflect because it’s been so go, go, go, this entire year. I mean, I went to bed at like 3am that night and had to be up super early the next day to go start photo shoots. And then the next day, I was on a flight to start my media tour in New York City. So there hasn’t been like a ton of time that I could really sit and think. But I feel that the most reflection that I felt has been at a lot of these events where I get to meet young people throughout the US, specifically when I go to some of my military events and I’m in uniform, I get these young women and young men that come up to me saying that they’re wanting to join now and that they’re super excited. Like last week, I met a girl who had just sworn in to the US Air Force and now we’re getting to talk to each other about what that experience is going to look like. I just feel like that’s really incredible, because I hope to make people feel a little more patriotic this year, at the very least. But even more than that, hopefully understanding a little bit more about what it looks like to serve and put on the uniform, even if they choose not to serve.

Brian  

Well, I imagine it’s an honor to be in that position and have that kind of influence. Shifting gears just a little bit. You received your pilot’s license at the age of 16. When most kids are getting their driver’s license, you were learning to fly a plane. When I was 16, I was just happy to be able to get behind the wheel of a car. How did you first become interested in taking flying lessons and how did that lead to your attending the Air Force Academy?

Madison  

All of it’s connected. I used to want to be a marine biologist growing up and then my parents sent me to a marine biology camp out in the Caribbean; they have a sailing crew of two adults and the rest are all kids and you basically have to be self-sufficient on this crew. All the kids, we cook every morning, we clean every morning, we do everything all throughout the day, and we have to learn how to man the boat. On one of these trips you have to learn how to do an overnight sail. When we did this overnight sail in the middle of the ocean, I got to see…I mean, you can’t even describe it because there’s really no words to put to it, but you can see the stars with zero light pollution; you can see the Milky Way arm coming over. After that trip, I started to think maybe I don’t want to be a marine biologist anymore, but I really want to go study what’s up there. So my parents sent me to space camp and I got to meet so many incredible astronauts and started to realize…kind of the same stories of the path that they went on and the path was being in the military, becoming a pilot, becoming a fighter pilot, a test pilot, and then an astronaut. So I took all those steps back and figured out the best place to go and start that path was to the United States Air Force Academy, because I’m pretty sure we have the most pilot slots right out of school compared to anywhere else in the country. That’s why I got interested in going into the Air Force Academy. I knew I needed to take a step back. How do I make myself the most competitive applicant before I even apply? And one of the things that I did was ask my parents to let me start flying planes because I wanted to get into that aviation career early on. We met such an incredible instructor pilot, his name is JB Williams, he was a retired F-16 pilot for the Air Force, and he got to instruct me. Even though I don’t want to be an astronaut anymore or a pilot for the military, it was those skills that I learned at the age of 15 with JD, that have now impacted me for the rest of my career.

Brian  

Do you still fly at all? I imagine this year you’re pretty busy and maybe don’t have much time to do that. But do you fly at all and do you anticipate continuing to use your pilot’s license?

Madison  

No flying this year, I haven’t gotten to in a little bit. My instructor pilot, JD who I was really close to, he actually passed away a few years ago. And that was…it’s been honestly really tough because I feel like you have to trust inherently the person that you’re getting in the cockpit with and I had built up so much trust. I mean, I flew with JB for years and years with him. Now that I’m going to be going back to grad school and I’m not going to have any pageant things that I have to worry about, I would love to get back into aviation. It’s going to be a matter of finding an instructor pilot that I truly trust to get back in the cockpit with because civilian aviation can be dangerous and I want to make sure I have someone that is leading me that really, truly knows what they’re doing and puts safety as number one like JB did.

Brian  

I’ve never flown a plane, I’ve certainly ridden in planes, but I am a scuba diver so I understand having a great instructor. Really, safety is of the utmost importance like it is in flying so I understand that need to have somebody that you trust. Again, like flying, if you haven’t done it in a while then you really need to train and get back into it. It’s a little bit like riding a bike, but you definitely want to practice it a couple times before you just go out and ride. I want to ask you about beauty pageants. Madison, I have to confess, I don’t know a lot about beauty pageants. But what I do know is there’s been a stereotype historically, about pageant contestants being tall, thin and beautiful, but not especially bright, not especially intelligent. Now, you on the other hand, graduated from the Air Force Academy with a degree in astrophysics and you enrolled at Harvard to pursue a master’s degree in public policy. Is the public completely wrong about pageant stereotypes? Are you just an outlier?

Madison  

I would say you will find women like me all throughout the Miss America program. I mean, you look up any of those women; we’ve got doctors, lawyers, anything that you could think of we have, and we have some of the most dedicated servants of our community that you will find. The wonderful thing about the Miss America opportunity is that it is designed to not be a beauty pageant. We like to use a term like a scholarship pageant or just a scholarship competition because that’s the goal at the end of the day of what you’re receiving. The areas that we compete in, yes, we do the evening gown and the fitness competition. But really, the evening gown, what you’re getting graded on is not how much money you spent on your gown, it’s not how you look, it’s the confidence that you bring on stage, which is an important area whenever. How are you going to walk into a boardroom? How are you going to walk onto Good Morning America to go speak to our nation? That is the way that you can tell some of those skills, whether it’s in the interview room or where you’re walking on stage. And as far as when it comes to the community service portion, we have to compete with the community service platform because we’re here to serve our community. This is a serving year for others, not for ourselves. That’s what you’re going to find every time you look at these young women, not to mention the type of interview skills, onstage questions that you have to be prepared to answer. I mean, if anyone goes and looks up on YouTube, last year’s Miss America competition, you will be able to tell first time the difficult political questions that we are expected to ask and answer off the bat, I mean, randomized questions. To give you an idea of this year’s Miss America top 11 question, we all thought we were getting asked about our community service initiative; mine was explaining the artificial intelligence intersection with pancreatic cancer and how it can affect our health care. (Brian:  Wow.) So those are the types of things you’re getting asked. That is what we prepared for. But as we were backstage, they said, things are getting changed right now, just remember, answer the question however you see fit. We were all looking at each other, like, what was this guy talking about? Well, they bring us out on stage, we have ten chairs and apparently, we’re about to pull a number off, and they’re about to ask us a political question off the bat; terrorism in the United States. That’s the first question that the young women are being expected to answer on. I would say every person is extremely intelligent, well spoken and driven. That’s the type of women that the Miss America program attracts and wants to make our titleholders.

Brian  

So would you say that the stereotype is really an outdated stereotype? It’s a misconception that people have or am I just imagining that and that really isn’t the case at all anymore.

Madison  

I would say it’s been outdated for a very long time, because Miss America has been expecting their contestants to perform in the way we do for decades. I actually just read a part of a really wonderful book, I believe it was Miss America in 1945. She was the first Jewish Miss America, obviously during the war, and she had put a little snippet in there about how you don’t get the same praise as someone that might be like, an NFL player because there’s obvious skill that goes into that. But pageants are designed to make it look like we are performing effortlessly when we go and speak on stage, when we present ourselves. It looks effortless because of the work that we had to do going into it. I mean, I didn’t just walk on the Miss America stage and know how to answer about drugs in America. I was able to answer about drugs in America because I went to the US Air Force Academy, and had gotten the astronaut scholarship, the Truman Scholarship, and I was a Rhodes finalist. So that’s the type of preparation and the expectation for every woman going to compete with us. I think it’s been that way for a long time. It’s really wonderful now to start to see this widespread recognition of the type of preparation that we go into getting on stage because it’s not as effortless as it seems when we go up there.

Brian  

Well, that’s one of the reasons I’m so happy and honored to have you on the show because we have Olympic athletes and professional athletes and best selling authors and lots of other people who epitomize excellence in their chosen profession. You certainly epitomize excellence in a variety of ways. So if you are an example of, say, all 51 contestants in Miss America 2024, then you certainly are achieving excellence in a variety of ways. And I know that’s the case

Madison  

Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

Brian  

We talked about earlier that you were crowned Miss Colorado in 2023, which is how you became eligible to compete at the Miss America Pageant. How long had you been competing in pageants and how was it that you first started doing that? You have so many, such a wide variety of interests it’s intriguing to me that you would start to compete in pageants in the first place. How did that happen?

Madison  

I was competing for three years once I went to Miss Colorado, so now it’s been a little over four. But I started competing my freshman year at the Air Force Academy because my mom had passed away the year prior and I really struggled with being in the military and grieving at the same time. Because, if you can imagine, when you go to the Air Force Academy, there’s really no going home until Thanksgiving when you get dropped off for basic. You are being pushed to your limits, you’re getting yelled at, you’re having to focus not only on the military aspect, but going 110% in your classes, going 110% in the physical aspect, because you have three different GPAs:  a military, academic and a physical GPA that you’re having to maintain at the same time, all on top of all the things that they’re putting on you as a freshman and all the additional responsibilities. That, coupled with grief, was really tough for me. My life was very serious all around. I mean, I was going to a very serious school, I was dealing with very serious grief and I needed something kind of fun to do. My fun thing was competing in pageants because my cousin, Madeline Bowman – who’s now competing for Miss USA this week, which is a different system, but I’m super excited to cheer her on – she had competed for a long time. I looked at her and I was like, this could be something that I could channel all this stuff into to be more fun. So I started competing. Then I realized very quickly that it was so much more than what meets the eye, it is not about the three seconds that you’re onstage, walking in a gown, or walking and fitness. It is about the months of preparation and growth that goes into it and the good that you do for the community off the stage. And that’s exactly why I kept competing, that’s why I fell in love with the Miss America organization last year.

Brian  

It’s interesting that you got into pageants thinking that it was going to be fun. But as you described it earlier, it seems like there aren’t fun components, it’s incredibly intense and it is a lot of work. What part of that is the fun part for you?

Madison  

I really just think that all of it has to be fun, even the hard work of it, because of the output that you get. Like, for example, when I compete for fitness in a competition like Miss America does now, I’m never looking to make an unrealistic body type for myself that’s only going to exist on stage. What I’m looking to do is I want to get in shape and create a workout program that I could do year round, regardless if I’m competing because I want a healthy lifestyle. And so that was one of the great things that I’ve really put into my schedule every single day because of the military. Because for me, fitness is a lifestyle, it’s not a look. And that’s the same thing that we’re trying to embody at Miss America. So yes, it is hard work to maintain and be healthy every day. But look at the all of the gains that I’m going to get to have because of those skills that I learned for the rest of my life. And then when you think of interview, now because I put in all of that hard work for interview – I mean, I went to interview coaches every single day at the Air Force Academy for the Truman Scholar and Rhodes Scholar interviews, every day I practiced and it also coupled with Miss America because I put in that work – now I’m not afraid to answer any tough question in any job interview for the rest of my life because of the work that I put in. So yes, it’s really hard. But when you look at the payout, you can never…I mean, it’s when you look at the payout of it, there’s no regrets because you’re gaining so many incredible life skills that you’ll use forever and will apply much further beyond pageants.

Brian  

Man, I love how you describe that. Because I think success is not in the achievement. It’s in the person that you have to become in order to achieve whatever your desired outcome is. Clearly the person that you’ve had to become in order to be successful is, as you described it, it’s who you are. It’s the person that you’re developing into, it’s not something that you just go and do and then you’re done. You get to take with you those habits and that lifestyle, whether it’s related to fitness or how you conduct yourself or service in the community, or whatever it is, those are all incredible skills and a way that you are making a difference not only yourself, but in the world, obviously.

Madison  

Yeah, that’s why I love pageants and kind of what you’re saying, it’s not about the achievement. It’s what you’re gaining from it before and after. And for me, I feel like every time that I’ve won something big, you expect to feel different when you wake up, like after I won Miss America, I was expecting to feel different the next morning. I woke up, I’m still me, I’m still an extremely normal person. But now looking back, it wasn’t that one night that made the change in who I was. It was the past four years, past ten years of all the little moments and the hard work that I’ve done to lead to this moment that have now made me what I am. This did not change me inherently, you know, what changed me was all of the work that I had put in beforehand. I think that that stands true for every achievement that people make. It’s all the great work that you put in beforehand that’s going to change you, not necessarily that moment when you finally get that success.

Brian  

Yes, that’s very well said. Madison, it’s surprising to me – one of the things as I was researching for the show – it’s surprising that you’re able to serve as Miss America while also remaining active duty military. How are you able to do both? I guess, obviously the organizations both allow that, but how do you? How are you able to navigate through those two responsibilities concurrently? And how do both organizations benefit from your being an officer in the Air Force while also serving as Miss America?

Madison  

I wouldn’t be able to do this without the people that have supported me. So basically, what happened was, I won and I had to go backstage, called my commanders, called the lawyers. And I was like, I don’t know if you just saw the TV but the thing that we were thinking could possibly happen, that one in 51 chance, just happened. And I know, we’ve been talking about the possibilities of this for months but we’ve got to figure out a plan right now. I told them that my priority was remaining on active duty. I did not want to stop serving for this, because I made a commitment to my country and to the United States Air Force well before I made a commitment to pageants. I wanted to continue being able to put on that uniform, because I knew the incredible impact we could have by still doing both. That’s why I’m here, because I was an Air Force officer, that was a really crucial point in becoming Miss America so I didn’t want to let that go and they recognized that as well. The way that we work it is the Air Force decided to keep me on active duty but they’re having to constantly work with Miss America to ensure I’m staying legal, because that’s a huge piece. There are so many little rules that I think the general public doesn’t know that I’m constantly having to be worried about from the Air Force officer side, to ensure that I’m doing all the right things as a lieutenant before any other role, because that’s my number one priority. My commitment is to serve our country as a second lieutenant. So I’m having to follow all those rules and we do it with our team. I’ve got a team out of Texas, New York City, I have a team at the Pentagon, and they are constantly looking at every single thing that I do. They meet with Miss America all the time to decide who’s paying, where’s Madison going, is she in Air Force uniform, is she and crown and sash, who’s traveling with her – all of that business. So all of them have carried the water to make that happen and now I’m just here to execute. To answer your question on how does that help both, I would say for the Air Force first, the biggest piece of it is recruiting. Now we have a very large face to the Air Force; I don’t want to call myself the face of the Air Force, because I’m not, but I can be someone that is a mouthpiece to the Air Force, of what we stand for. Now that I’m fresh second lieutenant, I became an officer last year, now Miss America, I can stand as a testament to show our new recruits about how the Air Force is changing. They are changing to develop in ways to meet the needs of our service members. Because for me, I was passionate about competing in pageants. And now they’re allowing me to do both, because it enables us to meet the mission in a different way. Showing our new people that this could happen for you, too, you don’t have to give up your outside passions to serve in the military, that is what makes our military strong. So I get to do that, I get to go recruit people from all across the nation, which has been so cool, sharing the positive experiences that I’ve gained from the military. But also on the Miss America side, kind of what we were talking about earlier, this is breaking the stereotype now in a very clear way of what we expect Miss America – and even beyond that, other pageant women – to be. Showing that as Miss America, you can be anything. You can be the doctor, the lawyer, the military woman, and we’re going to let you do both because that is what makes our organization strong. The women make up the Miss America opportunity. We are the brand and we make the brand by doing things like serving in the military or serving our communities in other ways. The fact that we get to have both of these roles at once really is such a force to the community to break both of those stereotypes and help other young men and women and very incredible ways.

Brian  

Your ability to use your Miss America title as a platform for promoting the Air Force, was that something that you thought about prior to winning the title or prior to getting into some of the day to day, week to week, month to month responsibility? Or was that something that just sort of evolved organically as you went along? I think it’s a wonderful opportunity, by the way. And you’re right, I know the military historically has had a challenge recruiting people so this is just another way to do it. I think like businesses marketing, we all have to think differently than we’ve thought historically about how to promote ourselves, how to market ourselves so this is yet another example of that. But I wonder how that evolved, this idea that you could use Miss America as a platform for Air Force recruiting.

Madison  

I’ve [been] working with the military for long before this whole Miss America thing happened. Even before I competed for Miss Colorado, I would have to get approval from the military, every pageant, I’d have to go through public affairs training to ensure I was saying the things that they wanted me to say, we’re not even really focusing on things I shouldn’t be saying, like, you can’t talk about who you’re going to vote for the next election. You can’t. I mean, there are just lots of political things and nuances, commenting on certain military things that I’m not involved in, those were things that we had to make sure beforehand that weren’t going to happen when I competed to ensure that we were all on the same page as one another. After I won Miss Colorado, then it was a step up of even more people needed to be involved now with this process, because it was a pretty big platform. And then I had the possibility now to go to Miss America. So I started working with my command, like immediately after I won Miss Colorado, to say, hey, I’ve got a one in 51 chance, it’s slim, but we should still probably plan for it just to be safe. We had been working with my crew at the Air Force Institute of Technology. I believe they had probably spoken to some people at the Pentagon about possibilities of how we can make this beneficial for the Air Force, months in advance. If you can imagine, I think it was back in October, we had a whole list of media opportunities and items that the Air Force wanted to hit should I win. They had all of this laid out well before I even won the title, just in case, to ensure that we were ready to go from the moment I won, to get everything in order. So we did all of the prep to make it beneficial. And then after I won, it just kind of became organic since they are allowing me to stay on active duty that I am going to put in that work for the military. Because how crazy is it that my first year on the job, not only did they assigned me to be a student at Harvard, I got paid to go to Harvard. That was my assignment last year and now I’m getting paid to be a recruiter for the Air Force. What an incredible opportunity for us to give back to our community. But also the Air Force recognizes the amount of growth that I can have as an officer by allowing me to have those experiences. Because they let me go to Harvard, think of the education, the world experiences I’m getting there, and learning that I can bring back to my airmen and use in my office for the rest of my time in the Air Force. And then this year as Miss America, all of the incredible learning moments, the tough moments, and how I am now developing my leadership to go back into the Air Force. I mean, that’s why the Air Force allows us to have opportunities like this, because yes, it’s good for the community, but also because of the internal growth that we get to have.

Brian  

Well, you’ve had so many wonderful opportunities and it’s also a tremendous responsibility both on the Miss America side and as an Air Force officer. I imagine this year so far, and during your reign as Miss America, it has afforded you other opportunities that you otherwise wouldn’t get to do. What have you enjoyed so far? Other than, obviously, we’ve talked about Air Force and the opportunity to be a voice for the Air Force and recruiting. But other than that, what have you enjoyed so far about being Miss America? What specific activities or events have you enjoyed the most so far?

Madison  

I think the most meaningful ones have definitely been the ones revolving around pancreatic cancer, because my mom passed away when she was 41 years old, back in 2018 and right before I joined the military, so that obviously was extremely tough. I’ve now dedicated my life’s work to helping other families that are going through the same really tragic loss that we are. The fact that I now get to have a voice, a voice that people are going to listen to, because I want to be a voice for the voiceless for people like my mom who no longer get to advocate for themselves. That’s what we do at the Whitney Marsh Foundation. Day in and day out I have volunteers from all around the country that are helping us get things ready to raise money for research, advocacy, patient care, ensuring that I can use my connections at congress to go and speak to our members about how can we better be helping our patients. What are the things that we can be employing to ensure that everyone has access to life saving care? Every time that I get to have opportunities to talk about my mom’s story, to talk about pancreatic cancer, those are my favorite moments. I mean, that was a big reason why I also started pageants because I wanted to have that voice for people like my mom. The fact that I’ve gone on national television more times than I can count to share my mom’s name and her story is so incredible. That is something that I never would have gotten to do, most likely, without this year so I’ll forever be grateful for that. I know my mom, and all the other pancreatic cancer patients, are really grateful for it too.

Brian  

That’s a wonderful way to honor your mom. You were just 17, Madison, when your mom passed away so unfortunately, she hasn’t been around to see all of your amazing accomplishments. What kind of influence did she have on you growing up? Obviously, you’ve been influenced, you’re very intentional about how you live your life. You seem like a tremendous goal setter. Again, that gets back to that intentionality. What kind of influence did your mom have you have on you growing up and what do you think she would say about everything that you’ve achieved?

Madison  

I think both of my parents were always extremely hard workers in anything that they did. I mean, my mom…my mom was a crazy athlete. She won a statewide tennis competition when she was like, eight months pregnant with me. That’s the type of stuff she was always doing. She always [went] 110%. Also, when it came to running, my mom never let anything stop her. Even when my mom was going through the most difficult form of chemotherapy, she was still getting up and running those ten miles on the days that my mom was recovering; she did not let chemotherapy or pancreatic cancer stop her. I ask myself…when I reflect back on her entire life and her experience with cancer, I should never be complaining about having to go to the gym every day; I have another opportunity to make my life good. It’s another day that my mom does not get to have so I better spend it well, I better treat my body well, I better do all the things to keep it healthy. I better do things to be good for my mind and be positive for other people. Because that’s the entire reason why we’re here on this earth is to make good things good for other people. She set that example also, for me at a very young age, of giving back to our community. My mom was a volunteer at Casa and Casa is basically an organization for children in foster care. My mom would always be assigned to specific kids that were in foster care, she would go to court with them and sit beside them, she would drive them to certain things, we would always bring them stuff for the holidays, she would do the home check-ins at their foster homes. She showed me that if we have the ability to give back to our community we must do so. And that’s something that I’ve carried in my life, if I’ve got extra time on my hands, why am I not using that to make someone else’s life better, I have a very good life, my life could be much worse than it is right now. And I know, I’ve been there when I was dealing with my mom’s loss, so I need to use the goodness that I have in my life now and channel that into making other people’s lives even better. That is something that my mom taught me and something that I saw throughout her entire process and her struggle with pancreatic cancer.

Brian  

She’s obviously a tremendous role model for you and and I’m sure she’s looking down and and very proud of you for not just what you’re doing with respect to pancreatic cancer awareness, but everything that you’re doing in your life. You’ve mentioned this a couple times already, you’ve become a staunch advocate for pancreatic cancer awareness and prevention. I certainly understand why that’s happened. Share more about the Whitney Marsh Foundation and the impact the foundation is making in honor of your mom.

Madison  

We started the Whitney Marsh Foundation about two weeks after my mom passed away. I was sitting in the gym because my brothers forced me to leave the house; I didn’t want to leave the house. They made me go out trying to help me get back into life after this very significant loss that we experienced. I was sitting in the locker room because I refused to work out even though they made me leave the house. I was just thinking about what am I going to do to make this better, to deal with all of this and one of the things that I thought of was, we need to do something that my mom loved to raise awareness. So what we do to raise money every year is we have a 5k, 10k race in Fort Smith, Arkansas. We’re having people create healthy lifestyles, hopefully in training, but also doing something that my mom was so passionate about, while raising awareness. We have given to MD Anderson and various hospitals back in Arkansas. We’ve been around for five years, going on our sixth year right now. We raise about $70,000-$90,000 a year that goes back to the patients. Different programs that we’ve been involved in is, yes, of course, investing in that research. But then in the past couple of years, we’ve done things like brought in doctors from big institutions like MD Anderson, to speak to our physicians to educate them. We’ve called them the Grand Rounds. It’s basically an entire day where they just get to listen to new research, detection methods, to ensure that our hospitals in Arkansas aren’t going to be misdiagnosing patients, like my mom, again. Then we also started to look at what other programs can we get involved in. There is a really fantastic blood test that tests for over 50 different types of cancers. It’s very expensive, so what we did is we partnered with our hospital in town, and we said, if you find someone that cannot afford this test but they are showing the clear signs that they’re at risk for cancer, we will pay for their examinations. Now we’re moving into a different phase, which is still very exciting. The state of Arkansas gave a very large grant to our town in Fort Smith, Arkansas, to open up a comprehensive cancer hospital. So that would be everything from your detection, your treatment, your surgery and recovery all in one hospital, which is a really big deal for people in our state and the surrounding states to have something so close to home like that. We’re working right now to try to put a pancreatic cancer wing in there to make sure we’re doing year round research detection, that we have all the equipment that people could possibly need. My family had the opportunity to travel outside of the state to get treatment but we understand not everyone is going to be in that same financial position. We don’t think that anyone should miss out on the opportunity for life saving care if we can help it because everyone deserves that opportunity to live.

Brian  

It’s wonderful that you’re making that kind of impact. I was going to ask you about Whitney’s Race, because I did see that in researching for the show. Tell us again when that event is and how can our listeners and viewers learn more about, not just that event, but the Whitney Marsh Foundation.

Madison  

Everything is on WhitneysRace.org. That’s where all of our information is to sign up for the race. We have tons of amazing programs. Our race is on November 9 this year. It’s a Saturday in Fort Smith, Arkansas. We’ve got hotel blocks for people to come in from out of town. After every single race we do a fun party. We have this really beautiful museum that we’re using down on the river this year. Basically we just bring in a bunch of business vendors from all around our state and even outside if people are wanting to travel in, so if you have a business you can show up and set a table. We had people bring in Big Bread, we had like a Build-A-Bear shop for kids to use. I did a Build-A-Bear last year. We had food trucks, games, so many fun things for families and people of all ages to come participate in because we know that everyone might not be able to participate in our race. We still want to give people the opportunity to be involved. We have our donation site on there as well, business sponsorships, there are certain businesses that want to get involved. Then so many different programs that we do, like one of my absolute favorites that we’ve run is called Remember Their Names. People from all around the country that are either survivors of pancreatic cancer, current patients, or people that have lost their loved ones, can submit their story about their loved one and we share those on our website. We have tons in this past month that we need to go and put on there. But we post them on the website, our Instagram, so people can be educated, but also have a spot so that their family member will never be forgotten. Their story is always going to be there to educate other people and to remember their name and honor them.

Brian  

Thanks for sharing that and thanks for all the work that you’re doing in that area. Madison, as if everything we’ve talked about isn’t incredible enough, you’re also a black belt in Taekwondo. How long have you trained in the martial arts?

Madison  

I’ve actually not trained in martial arts in a really, really long time, but I did it. I think my mom and my dad made me start when I was like in kindergarten or something. There are pictures of me with my little white belt on and I have a big bow on the back of my head, fighting my classmates. I did it up until high school and then when I got my black belt in high school, I just kind of shifted my interest. I played in band for a long time, I did cheerleading, and then I ended up joining quiz bowl and science bowl and flying. I had a lot of different things going on so Taekwondo didn’t really fit into the last three years, what I [did] in high school, but I did do it for a long time.

Brian  

It’s hard to do everything, isn’t it? You do a pretty good job of it though.

Madison  

Oh, well, thank you.

Brian  

I wonder what, from your standpoint, are the attributes needed to achieve at such a high level because you’re obviously doing that whether we’re talking about Taekwondo or flying a plane or the military or pageants.

Madison  

I think first and foremost, obviously, dedication is a huge piece of it. When I enter into something, I’m not going to go less than one hundred percent because I want to do it well. Because I understand the outcomes of what happens when you give one hundred percent to something, that’s when you have all the wonderful things happen. I wouldn’t have ever done one hundred percent, if not for that, and too, learning how to ask for help. I would not have achieved anything in my life if not for the people beside me. And I knew that. I mean, at the Air Force Academy, I went to tutoring almost every single night, every homework assignment, every essay, I always wanted to have a second pair of eyes on to ensure that I was learning the most, that I was getting the most because I understood I was not the smartest person in the room. By far, there are other people that were and I knew they could help me to get closer to where they were. I could learn and be better to be like them. Surrounding yourself with good people that are going to uplift you, being around people that are better than you, because that’s going to inspire you to do better as well. Then I think the last thing for me was doing something that you’re passionate about. My mom obviously died when she was 41 years old, her life was very short, all of our lives are very short, whether you live to 41, like my mom did, or maybe you’re going to live to 110. Life is so short, either way. So every single day doing something that you love, don’t waste your time doing things that you don’t care about or doing things because somebody else wants you to. The best work that you’re going to have is when you’re doing work that you love and you’re passionate about, that’s when you’re going to create the best outcomes. I recognized that over the past couple of years I didn’t really want to be an astronaut anymore. But you know what, I did recognize I wanted to go full force for pancreatic cancer. And because of all the one hundred percent dedication that I did to becoming an astronaut, I opened up so many doors so that this newfound dream of doing pancreatic cancer could work because I did all that work. That’s how I got the Truman Scholarship. That’s how I got a full ride to Harvard. Now, instead of going to Harvard for physics, I’m getting to go for public policy and do pancreatic cancer research. So no matter what you’re doing, you can fail upward, fail upward…continue giving one hundred and ten percent and you’re going to land somewhere and it’s going to be somewhere good. As long as you’re doing something that you love, you can never go wrong.

Brian  

I love that. That’s great advice. I love your intentionality, I commented on that earlier. Madison, as you know, our show is called LifeExcellence. This is a little bit of a related question, but I wonder what does excellence mean to you?

Madison  

You know, I think that word just reminds me a lot of the Air Force Academy because one of the lines of our motto is “excellence in all we do.” I feel like that was really ingrained in us the first day that we stepped foot there; there was no going twenty percent in one category. If you wanted to be the best of the best, you needed to focus on every single small detail, because you can’t be trusted with the big things if you can’t do the small things. And the small things are what gets you. For example, at the Air Force Academy, every day you’re getting your room graded so we don’t get to have our doors closed like other college students; they have to be open for other people to walk through and grade. It could be something as simple as a couple of shoes that might have been out of place or a bed corner that wasn’t tapped in that could now hurt your military standing, which could then impact other things like your ability to be selected for one of the graduate school programs. So it is those little tiny small things that can impact you everywhere else. Those small details, to me, and focusing on those are what make you into being excellent.

Brian  

That’s well said. Thank you for sharing that. You alluded to this a little bit earlier but I want to ask you another question about it. During your year as Miss America and in your military career you are in a position of influence, obviously. I’m thinking specifically about young girls with dreams and aspirations of their own. When you were young you had big dreams, you wanted to be an astronaut, and those dreams and aspirations have changed but they’re every bit as big as when you were younger. What is the message you hope to convey to young people and others within your sphere of influence?

Madison  

I really would just say do what you love, kind of like what I said earlier, because that’s the way that you’re going to make a life that’s fulfilling. When I am on my deathbed, I’m not going to be thinking about all these other random things or accomplishments that I made in my life. I’m going to be thinking about how I created a family that I loved and I did something that I was passionate about. And if you focus on that, you really can never fail. I mean, I’ve changed my career path like a hundred times. When I was younger, I wanted to live with gorillas in a forest and study and then I wanted to be a paleontologist and then I wanted to be a volcanologist and then I wanted to…I mean, you can…I had all these random ideas for years of what I wanted to do. But I did it because I was interested in it. I was passionate about it. If you follow that, who cares if you change your mind. We’re all learning. We’re all human. It’s okay to change. But first and foremost, always do something that you love. That’s going to change over time, but as long as you’re doing that you’re never going to fail in life.

Brian  

Madison, I’ve so enjoyed our time together. Thank you for your service as Miss America 2024, thank you for your service to our country and thanks for being on the show today. It’s great to meet and get to know you. I’m very grateful for your time on the show today.

Madison  

Thank you so much. It was so nice to meet everybody.

Brian  

Thanks for tuning in to LifeExcellence. Please support the show by subscribing, sharing it with others, posting about today’s show with Miss America Madison Marsh on social media, and leaving a rating and review. You can also learn more about me at BrianBartes.com. Until next time, dream big dreams and make each day your masterpiece.