Meet the incredibly talented, passionate, hardworking and beautiful campus celebrity: Katrina Mazier!
1. Birthday
June 1st 1998
2. Hometown
Appleton, WI
3. Year in school, major, minor
Freshman, Psychology but plan to major in nursing next year.
4. What is your favorite thing about La Crosse?
I love the ice cream at The Pearl and enjoy sitting by the lake or hiking the bluffs!
5. What is your dream job?
To become Miss America, of course! Unfortunately Miss America is only a one year job, so after that I would love to continue my platform by becoming a psychiatric nurse practitioner and volunteering my time to help to further awareness for teen suicide prevention.
6. How did you get involved in the MAO
After getting my hair done for homecoming by a local hairstylist, I went back to her to get a trim and she told me that she thought I could be Miss America one day.. to be honest I laughed out loud and didn’t consider it until I came back again and she told me it was a scholarship pageant and I could pick a platform to advocate for. Right then and there I knew I had to get involved and share my story!
7. What is your talent?
I have been a dancer for the past 16 years, this past year I performed a lyrical dance to “I was here” by Beyoncé at Miss Wisconsin. My song was dedicated to those who feel that their presence isn’t worth anything on this earth. I thought I wanted to be done with this world but God has a different plan for me. It was a reminder that we are here for a reason and that God will take us when it is our time– so while we’re here, we need to make a difference.
8. What is your platform?
To me, My platform is the most important aspect of my journey through the Miss America Organization. My platform is a way to advocate for teens going through a tough time in there life that may lead them to a mental illness, especially suicide. I have a favorite quote that goes a long well with my platform:
“The bravest thing I have ever done is continuing my life when I
wanted to die”. Juliette Lewis. And for me, this is true. I like to remind people: I’m the teenager next door, I’m your student, I’m the kid at the checkout counter, I’m your niece, I’m your daughter, or your kids best friend, I’m a regular teenager trying to get through life.
For many teens, these years are hard! Like many teens, I have experienced anxiety and depression as well as bullying since elementary School. I have been sexually assaulted. I have been degraded and made to feel worthless from believing the hurtful things that people were telling me. And unfortunately, this happens way too often for kids today! I, like most teens, didn’t know how to cope. I felt hopeless, and two years ago, I wanted the pain and sadness to be done.
I ended up at St. Elizabeth Hospital on the Adolescent mental health floor. I spent that week there. This was the re-start I needed, but when I left there, my work was only beginning.
I have the incredible opportunity as Miss Fond du Lac to help share
this message with our communities. I want to make a difference in
the lives of those who are struggling and their loved ones. My platform is called: Teens of Tomorrow– Teen Suicide Prevention Awareness. I hope that by spreading my message and working with our Wisconsin communities, we can have a positive impact on these statistics allowing he numbers to decrease exponentially both in Wisconsin and in our nation. I know firsthand the emptiness that can lead to suicide. Fortunately I survived and am here now to make a difference for others.
9. What titles have you held (history with the MAO)
I am actually quite new to pageants! I have only held two titles. I was appointed Miss Appleton’s Outstanding Teen in 2015 and had the chance to compete at Miss WI OT. The next year I was crowned Miss Fond du Lac 2016 and competed at Miss Wisconsin placing Top 10!
10. What are the points of the crown and which is your favorite and why?
Service, scholarship, style and success.
As much as I love each point of the crown, my favorite is success. I have been through so many low points in my life. Low points that I almost didn’t make it through. But I have taken something dreadful in my life and turned it into a positive– one that brings a change in the rest of the world. I have been able to be a voice. The crown gave me the courage to stand up, to be successful.
11. What is your favorite part of competition?
My favorite part of competition is interview. I absolutely love talking with people and being able to share my thoughts, stories and passions.
12. What real world skills have you learned?
The Miss America Organization literally saved my life. I don’t know where I would be without it. It has taught me countless life lessons as well as skills ranging from networking, communication, and organization to having a passion and learning to share that with others to meeting the best women in my life and most importantly, learning who I truly am and accepting that person.
13. Why should young women get involved in the MAO?
The Miss America Organization not only set you up with future life skills, scholarships and friendships but opens your eyes to the world around you, to the pains and sorrows to the beautiful communities and the service filled people. It is honestly a life changing experience, that once you begin, you will never want to quit.
14. What is the coolest experience you have had thus far as a titleholder?
Every appearance that I have results in many memories I will cherish forever, but one of the most exciting appearances i have had was over the summer when I was able to speak at the US Venture Open with Donald Driver! We ended up raising over $3.6 million for mental health facilities and homeless shelters! It was truly a blast.
15. How is the Miss America Organization different than other “beauty pageants”?
You know, I always tell people it isn’t a BEAUTY pageant. But after being involved with this organization. I have come to realize that it is. But not for the reasons most think. It is the beauty inside of each and every girl. Her intelligence, her wit, her courage, her humor, her love for the world, her quirky traits that we all come to love after spending time with each other. Our personalities and desires to make a change in the world make this organization what it is. When it comes down to it, it’s not how perfect your hair looks or how well you can strut a bikini, but how much passion, love and courage you have for those around you and the job itself.
The Miss America Organization is a scholarship pageant for intelligent, independent women. But it is also a pageant that accentuates the unique beauty inside each and everyone of us