Jennifer Pitts: The Power of the Miss

Welcome to Here She Is, the podcast that celebrates the women of Miss America and beyond. We're Jamie and Kyrissa. Former State Title holders turn lifelong friends, sharing real stories of reinvention, resilience, and growth. Because the crown was just the beginning. The real story is what came after. Let's get started. Today's guests are three women connected by family service and a shared journey through the Miss America organization. Jennifer Pitts was crowned Miss Virginia 2002 after competing in both North Carolina and Virginia. During her year, she became the first Miss Virginia to visit every county in the state and helped lead a youth decision-making program that was later adopted nationwide. After law school, her past took an unexpected turn from attorney to pageant coach, director, and mom. Now, two of her daughters are creating impressive journeys of their own. Katie McKenna is an award-winning environmental advocate, TEDx speaker, author, and current Miss Orlando's team. Her sister, Kenley McKenna, is a literacy advocate, author, and current Miss River City's team, whose work supporting children with dyslexia has already impacted families across multiple states. Today, we're talking about family service, sisterhood, second generation competitors, and the unique experience of sharing the Miss America journey across three generations of women. Here they are Jennifer Pitts and Katie and Kenley McKenna. Hi, ladies. Hi. It's really fun to have the three of you on here. Jamie mentioned pre-interview in our discussion just that we have had the pleasure of having two other competitors on our show with their daughters. And I actually was having a conversation with a friend of mine just this past weekend, who was attending Miss Alabama with her daughter, about the fact that so many women who've competed like us have daughters, they're now competing. And that's a really interesting family dynamic. You have these two daughters competing, but you've also served as a director, served on the Miss America team board, you've coach contestants. Which role would you say Jennifer has been the most rewarding so far? Rewarding and stressful is definitely mom. I think it's, you know, when you're competing yourself, my personal experience was that everything I did, I controlled in terms of my performance, my preparation, if I practice or not, and that sort of thing, when you're competing yourself, it's all within your control. When you're the mom, it's all out of your hands. You have to trust that number one that they want to do this that they're driven and motivated to do it. And then when their performance happens out there on that stage, they're a complete control of that. So it's very difficult for me as former director, former coach, and self-proclaimed control freak to want to control every aspect of what they're doing. But that's been a really big life lesson for me and very rewarding for me to learn how to really let go and let them carry on their own journey and lead their own journey through the organization. Did it feel magical that your mom was a former Miss Virginia? Did you have that kind of, ooh, I want to do that. My mom was a princess kind of thing when you were young. We've definitely always grown up involved in the organization. We actually started in the organization as Sunshine Princesses is what they called them in Florida before the Mentorship program. And we started before we were even really allowed to. We started at three and four and we were supposed to start only five years old. So we've always grown up around the organization watching Miss America on TV and long would bring out her crown every once in a while. So it was always something that I could speak for myself that I wanted to do. I think that Kenley would say the same that we've always wanted to achieve a similar dream. It's definitely always been a part for us. We were around with Orin and Nathan before we really understood what it was. And of course with her later being a director, we got to see more of behind the scenes. I remember one year. It was my birthday weekend and we went to orientation and I got to see a lot of what the girls did and it was very enlightening seeing the behind the scenes. Just not what is put on social media, the long meetings we have to go through now. And I definitely had a better understanding going into this organization with her being Miss Virginia and being a director. And I think it's helped me be able to grow more. I don't even look back at bonus of my first year because it's just not just that I grew up so much and people always tell me that I've grown so much and I really do credit that to her putting us in this organization early on. As you ladies get even older and you start to see the benefits beyond what you can even imagine later in life from competing and also from the sisterhood I will say because you learn so much. But circling to you Jennifer, I want to talk about your journey a little bit more in depth right now. You competed in multiple states before becoming Miss Virginia. What kept you coming back year after year to compete? I started in North Carolina because that's where I grew up and much like my daughters, I started young. In fact, then they didn't have the team program, but I was Miss North Carolina's team, what eventually transformed into Miss North Carolina's outstanding team. It was that program. I decided that a young age, this is something I really wanted to pursue after watching Miss North Carolina on TV. I could beat it three times in North Carolina. And actually, I was top 10 my first two years and on my third try, I got nothing. Absolutely nothing. No community service award, no academic award, no, no top 10. Absolutely nothing. I was devastated, of course, I'd already gotten accepted to law school in Virginia and I knew I was moving. So I actually cut off all of my hair. It loads of make one of me for those pictures. I cut off all my hair. I had this little pixie cut and went off to law school and said I'm never doing another pageant again. And it wasn't until I was working three jobs and had taken out two loans to a four law school that I said, maybe I need to think about doing a competition. And that was supposed to be the first year they were going to have the Miss Arlington pageant in Virginia. And the directors called me and they said we're going to have a big scholarship. We're offering $4,000. That would have been half of my semester. So that was really intriguing. I decided to sign up and then they canceled it the last minute and I said, oh, maybe it's just not the cards. I'm not going to be any more. And then they said, no, you should do it, but they're having Miss Northern Virginia in two weeks and you need to sign up tonight. So I drove my paperwork over to the Miss Northern Virginia directors. I entered and ended up being first runner up at Miss Virginia that year. And then after that, it was just a foregone conclusion that I had to do it one more time, which was my last year of eligibility. So five years, two states and I finally accomplished my goal. We mentioned that you visited every county in the state and had appearances. What did that teach you about people in service, even though you were probably pretty well spoken, I would imagine by the time you were going to law school and things like that. Did it still help you to grow to kind of take a step back one of the biggest lessons I learned from not winning. So I always said I learned a lot more from not winning Miss Virginia that I ever learned from winning Miss Virginia. And really what I learned from not winning was I would watch the title holders that came before me and watched how their year of service. And I would hand out what the appears if they did or didn't do and I decided over those four years of watching what the other title holders had done that. Something I wanted to do was visit every single county in the Commonwealth of Virginia because my platform was community service and volunteerism and I felt that was a very grass roots level platform. And I was able to do a lot of things based on with people figure out what it is that they love and enjoy and doing so that we could spread it across the state. So that's really where that concept came from, but when I love about Virginia still and what I learned about it that year is just how diverse the people are, how diverse the communities are. And how much they love seeing Miss Virginia. I can't tell you how many schools, festivals, fairs, corporations I went to and they said we've never met in Miss Virginia before that you're our first. I was able to be the very first one they've ever met and I hope I wasn't the last, but that was something I learned for sure. So you thought you were going to become a lawyer. How did you end up going from law school and if I'm correct tobacco litigation to page and coaching directing and raising for children. I fell in love. I met my husband actually at Miss USA. I was also Miss Virginia USA. He was a year after I had competed at Miss USA, a friend of mine invited me back up to Baltimore to go watch the pre limbs and he was judging that year. He just happened to be the judge seated right in front of me. And we started talking that night and that was it. We fell in love and he was living in Florida here in Orlando. And we dated for a year long distance. I was up in the Northern Virginia area and he was down here in Orlando. And after a full year of flying back and forth every other week and see each other, we decided that's it. We're either in or we're out and we decided, all right, let's get married. I moved down and I was down in Orlando engaged for about 11 months. We got married and then found out we were pregnant like what two, three months later. So that was it. So I started becoming a mom and that was full time and I had four babies and five calendar years. So. So that became my more than full time career was to be a mom. I would say. Yeah. You often talk about the power of the miss. What does that freeze mean to you today? Yeah, so I think the power lies in the rooms that you're invited into. I think we talk a lot about sisterhood. When we talk about the Miss America organization. And to me, it's not only the sisterhood and watching them make friends. And of course, the sisterhood of the two of them being in the program together. But it's really the rooms that you're invited into, the networking that you gain. And that to me is the biggest power and the factor of this program and having them involved with it. It's the connections that they're going to make, the networking and the opportunities that are going to present themselves just because they're invited into the room. You actually mentioned that you met the Virginia Attorney General during your year. And that connection led you to a job. So similarly, you never know who you're going to meet, which is something I definitely learned from when I competed as just the power of the connection and how one person can lead you to another. Can you tell us about that experience? Yeah. I was Miss Virginia and I was at the Apple Blossom Festival in Winchester and Jerry Kilgore was there. And at the time he was the Attorney General and it just announced his campaign for governor. And I was the reigning Miss Virginia. I had to go back and finish my final year of law school. But when I met him, I said, look, I've got one more year left of law school. But when I graduate, I want to come work for you. And he said, I'll tell you what, here's my card. And when you graduate, give me a call and we'll have a job for you at my office. And sure enough, he kept his word. I reached out. I think I don't know if we emailed or called back in those days. Look, sir, that was my first job right out of law school was to work for the Attorney General's Office. I worked on the campaign. Unfortunately, he lost to Tim Cain. But that's all right. And I had a wonderful experience working there in the Attorney General's Office. But it was all because of being Miss Virginia. - Circling back to the two beautiful daughters that you have sitting here with us as well, when they each told you that they wanted to compete, how did you feel were you immediately in support of it or was there some hesitation? - There was zero hesitation. I've always loved this organization. People say I'm a product of the organization. I truly really am a product. And not only my career long beyond even my legal career, but the pageant coaching and everything else and being able to serve on the board. It's been very fulfilling for me for a very long time. And being able to invest in other young women and coaching them and helping them training them to go through the program themselves, it was a natural progression for me to want. This is see my daughters feel thrilled as well. So no, I was 100% support of the minute. Each of them told me, this is definitely something I don't wanna do. And I don't think there was ever a doubt too, because they grew up in the Princess Program, Sunshine Princess Program. They had such wonderful mentors that were truly involved in their lives growing up. So it was never really a question I don't think this was something that they wanted to do. Katie, I wanna turn to you for a few questions. Your resume is incredible. I gave away a lot in our intro, and I'm sorry about that, but TEDx speaker, environmental advocate, a word-winning author, climate champion, where did your passions for environmental work begin? I was a Girl Scout at age six, and my mom was actually my troop leader at the time, and one day she taught us a lesson about recycling, and I've gone home and a few days later had broken my iPad. I was devastating, trust me. I didn't even ask how can I recycle this? You just taught us about recycling, what can I do with my iPad now? And she looked at me and was like, I've never really thought about this before. You can just shove it in the junk drawer in the kitchen for an hour, but from there I kept pushing and was really curious about what I could do. So I hosted my first collection dry about my elementary school just a few months later, and started collecting devices to keep the modest landfills. And since then, my nonprofit has grown. It's called E-Treasure and Corporated. It started as keeping those devices out of landfills. It's really now made a major shift towards also bridging the digital divide. So being able to connect people through technology and provide people with technology that they need. That's awesome. My boys are involved in Scouts too, and it is amazing how impressionable the kids are when they're involved in these programs in a positive way. My sons are the same way they'll be picking up litter like along the downtown streets of Nashville where I live. And I'm like, I don't know if you should touch that. They're like, it's litter, mom. And I'm like, okay, and it's all comes from the Scouts. So I can really appreciate those life lessons that you've learned from programs like the Girl Scouts. I was a Brownie, Karissa, were you in the Girl Scouts as well? I was not a Girl Scout, but my boys were in Scouts. - Yeah. - Great program. - Yeah, great program. Katie, tell us about your book. Sammy, the cell phone gets thrown away. What inspired you to write that? How'd you come up with the title too? - I was having a really hard time explaining the concept of electronic waste to people, and I really believed that creating a children's book and making the idea visual for people would make it a lot easier to explain and a lot more inspiring to get more people involved with recycling their electronic devices. I wrote Sammy to cell phone gets thrown away and was able to have it independently published. And I actually won the Independent Press Award, can be found in the Library of Congress, Children's Reading Room, and on Amazon. So I've been able to go into a lot of schools with my book and talk to so many young girls and boys about recycling their electronics. In the back of the book, there's an activity where students can go home and tell how many devices they have in their home, and then they can let their imaginations run wild and think about what their recycled device could turn into. I won't spoil it, but in my book, Sammy, the cell phone gets thrown away. Sammy does get thrown away, then recycled, and then turned into something brand new. So after reading the story, the kids can really go home and think about what their recycled items could get in the space. Well, that's so cool. I have a friend here locally that creates artwork out of technology that is trash. And so anytime I have a laptop or anything, I just send it over to his house, but he makes the most incredible artwork and it reminds me of what you're doing. I'm gonna have to tell him about your book so that he can maybe push your book along with what he's doing. I'm impressed to be talking with you because you were the first runner up to Miss Florida's team this year, and that's a huge accomplishment. What did that experience teach you about perseverance and even perspective? Last year was my second year competing for the title, and I honestly put a lot of pressure on myself that summer leading up to the competition to have a quote unquote perfect performance. And I had an amazing outcome. I was more than less to receive more than $10,000 just during competition week last year and came out as first runner up to one of the girls that I've become super close with through the organization. And I do believe that I did a great job last summer and it really did pay off. But one thing that I would have to say I've learned about perseverance and perspective, that experience would definitely be that I shouldn't prioritize perfection, but I should rather prioritize my progress and making sure that I'm applying myself to everything in the best way that I possibly can and really push myself to do my best rather than aiming for perfection in every single way. I worked really hard, but I do believe that by the time I got to competition week that I had drained myself. So the summer I've of course been working really hard to achieve the ultimate goal of one day becoming Miss Florida's team, but I'm allowing myself to have a little bit more room to breathe. Room to breathe, I like that. Yeah, and we've talked on the podcast before about how sometimes you can recognize after you step out of it why is the person who won? Why it was their time and maybe not yours. And then when you win, you understand why it was your time sometimes it's the set of judges or you've grown from year to year. So every year you grow from the experience. So I have no doubt that you'll achieve that goal or maybe Miss Florida and go to Miss America too. So you're doing this alongside one another. What would you say is the best part of getting to compete alongside of your sister? And it's having just someone that you can talk to me a built and best friend if you would. I really struggled my first year making friends not because the girls were nice, but I didn't put myself out there. I'm an introverted person. I gained a lot of confidence through this organization. I've been more able to talk to people now, but it wasn't always like that and to have her there. to talk to her or not have to introduce myself, not have to make small talk was really just something that helped me. Someone that I already knew and was familiar with and also my first year I forgot everything. I didn't have a hairbrush, I didn't have hair. I just say and I don't know why I just thought it would pop it to my bag but it didn't so I was able to go borrow hers. So that was nice. Now Kenley let's talk a little bit about your platform and your experience of the pageant. Your platform centers around dyslexia. What sparked your interest and passion for that? I was diagnosed when I was six and for a while it was something that I was ashamed of and something that I thought I needed to be embarrassed about but because of the Reach Irval Foundation who I've now partnered with as their student ambassador and who I've found it because of my mom and because she put me in a school after school program where I was able to learn the organ giving him a method. I'm able to read now and now I'm able to turn it into my passion. I'm able to talk to young girls and boys about dyslexia and diet snoremol and why they shouldn't be ashamed of it like I was because I don't think any kids have to go through it and I think that people need to realize that it is a normal thing and that we need to get the organ giving him a method into schools because it's ultimately what a helping children across the world. What is that method? Can you tell us a little bit about what that is? It's a scientific approach to learning. For example they make a little bad. I always had problems with my Bs and D so if you make a little bad in front of you the first one is lowercase B and then a D so it just uses tips and tricks to help you remember ways of learning like sight words and for me learning my Bs and Ds because I just could not remember that. That's just a part of learning with dyslexia is you struggle more than others and that's again why I partner with the Reed Chereo Foundation so we can get to not only teachers but also student-imperients as well. You've also studied marine biology and environmental sustainability. How do those interests connect with your future goals? I want to be a zoologist and then depending on where I want to go in the future not as many schools have zoology programs as marine biology programs so either one I will be perfectly fine with in my school had the Merck program where we go down to the Keys for we actually this year and my school calls it Kilting which is basically it features a system and I leave on Wednesday to go down to the Keys and we basically get to do a lot of labs. I remember we got to raise little baby jellyfish we got to go snorkeling and see all the marine life and we also got to test a lot of waters and microplastic and I got to see myself how that's really affecting earth which is why I'm really grateful that Katie started her platform because I know how much this now affects us and how recycling really needs to be something more obtainable so it was a really fun experience and that's why I'm going back and definitely something that I want to study in the future. Jennifer you have a lot of schooling in your future so they better get some scholarships because these are pretty smart ladies that you have sitting next to you. So we'll actually have four children in college and graduate school at the same time. Gosh. Tell us about your other children. Yes so Katie is our oldest, Kenley is our second daughter and we have a third daughter and then a little boy he's 11 years old. Is your third daughter interested at all in this world? I'm not sure. I'm not sure she doesn't have a performing art talent per say not that's a requirement anymore but we'll see I don't know she it depends on the day when you ask her. Yeah definitely in the project world but I think she wants to take after mom's other side of pageantry in the USA organization. Give you even more things to be nervous about and speaking of that what is it like sitting in the audience watching both of your daughters on the stage. Who do you cheer for? I know you'd probably cheer for the both but what is it like you're nervous right out there. I should have worn my T-shirt. I mean no. Oh no. Oh no. I love it. I mean myself a T-shirt and they have their photo on it. The two of them together and it says it's complicated. Not a good. It's not funny. No laugh. No laugh. No laugh. Don't encourage her. It sounds like a Travis Kelsey and Jason Kelsey thing with their mom at the Super Bowl at the house divided thing. It's so hard as a mom. You know there's only one winner unfortunately in terms of who wins the crown that sort of thing but it's still made me emotional but it's really rewarding as a mom to watch them grow and you're so proud of them because you're doing such incredible things and it's you know but yeah but as a mom you're just you're so proud because they're just exceeding any expectation you ever had for them and when you see them out there on the stage it's just it's the best feeling in the world to see them out there working really hard to achieve and set a goal for themselves that they're working hard to to make sure that they achieve an accomplishment. It's something that you don't always see in the classroom or in sports or in any other activity but just to watch them achieve through this program and gain so many skills and confidence and it just it exceeds any expectation you could ever set for them. I understand what you mean because I don't even have I mean I have boys and so does Kharissa but I feel the same way sometimes I get emotional out there watching because I'm just so amazed by young women and just watching them shine up there and being like wow they did it or knowing that they were nervous and they got out there and just nailed the question or peer in the tears it that it fills you up and then as the parent it's like a whole next level so the tears are completely valid and also 90% of the people who come on our podcast cry at some point they're trying their interview because it is a time of reflection so don't go be oh Beth I call you oh bra that's funny. Chris might be want to reiterate what Jamie said I've sent the power of the miss before too and I love that you say that because I think you've just demonstrated what that is our world is so superficial and when you as a mature woman who's competed and been through these stages of life when you re-enter into the pageant world I always just feel this level of pride for each one of them for taking the step of I think it's about figuring out who you are in front of the world in a way there's a lot of power in that and like you said one person walks away with the crown it's humbling as well. Steve Mussel, I was the director of Miss Virginia when I was Miss Virginia and he said to me one time if you don't define yourself you will have to defend yourself and I feel watching them compete in this program they are defining who they truly are they know themselves they're discovering themselves and they're evolving into the women they are meant to become and and I love seeing that and it takes courage it takes a lot of grit and it's a lot of dedication to them selves as a person and I think especially as women we don't always commit to ourselves and our self-development and that's one of the huge life lessons that this program teaches is commitment to yourself and bettering yourself a little bit each day. As you mentioned self-development and that is a lot of what this program is about but I am just wondering what is one thing that three of you have learned about one another or from each other you can choose one of those through this Miss America journey because we do learn about ourselves but sometimes we learn about others as well. I've definitely learned a lot about myself from this organization I've learned a lot of confidence for me and of course I didn't get to see a lot of her life before being a mom so I've gone to learn so much about her of course not just seeing her every day and her slippers and her pajamas on a morning. Yeah, I see there a different level of someone I don't get to see every day anymore and then with my sister I think we've grown so much closer from this my onstage question answer in the top 14 last year was about her I got to talk about sister and then I started with I don't think anyone could answer this question better than me and I truly think that was the right thing to say because I've learned so much about her as not just my sister that I argue with sometimes but who she really is inside I've learned so much about her she's such an amazing person she really does care on a deep level about this organization and the people around her and that probably wasn't something I saw before because we were too busy arguing over whatever it was, but this has really just been an opportunity for us to come together instead of almost being against each other. Katie? For me, I would reflect on the idea of humility. I think there's two parts to humility, one putting others before yourself and the other being able to reflect on who you are, me, I have grown a lot as a person in the organization. I've really been able to learn who I am and identify with who I am on the inside, become uncomfortable in my style and not having to wear the Sherry Hill dress because everybody's wearing the Sherry Hill dress, who I am as a young woman, and being able to reflect on how I've grown as a competitor in the organization, but also as a young woman as a whole. The other side of humility, being able to put others before yourself when it comes to "Hey, Mom, can you please drive me to the dress store today because I really want to dress instead of doing that, thinking, "Okay, Mom has already driven to the school twice and back today and thinking, "Okay, maybe she should have some me time on the couch." And then also putting others before yourself in terms of my sister, I truly believe that if Kenley and I were holding hands at the end, the last two standing on stage, that I would want her to win instead of wanting myself to win. I do think that in that moment, if it were to be the two of us standing there, I would put her before myself because at the end of the day, we have a shared dream and we both have that shared dream of becoming this four to team one day. But let's be real, it's possible for both of us. We have a few more years to make it happen, but if it was the two of us right there, I would put her before myself because it would make me even happier to see her achieve her dream as well right there in front of me. Is it right? Is it right? It's right. Mom, I think to say, are you just going to try? I'm just going to try. I don't know. I'm going to try again. I touched on it before that I realized this is really hard to be a mom. I think that was the lesson I learned. I've been a contestant. I've been a director. I've been the coach. I've had all these different roles. But being the mom is really, it is the most rewarding, but it's really hard because your heart is kind of ripped into because you want to cheer for each girl. Each one of your daughter is equally and separately. So it's really difficult to really just let go, let them do their thing, let them do their best and just kind of see what happens rather than want to control everything. And it's just, I don't know. It's really hard on your heart. It's really journey though. It has. It's really wonderful to watch you do this together. Yes. I feel like at the beginning it was a lot of, okay, you need to achieve stuff one in order to get to step two. And now we've been able to do a lot on our own, really work together and say, hey, let's go get in the car, let's go to the gym, let's go get a good meal. Let's just have some alone time and go shopping, relax a little bit. And rather than having that paper plan and we've really been able to take the reins ourselves and we know what we need to do. But then having that input from mom because she experienced it herself too, things have changed, but really not that much has changed. So we've definitely learned a lot through her too. Jennifer, we have one last question that we like to ask our guests. If you could go back to your very first local, what would you whisper in your own ear right before you stepped out onto that stage, knowing what you know now? If this. I think that would tell myself the dream will happen. Just enjoy the journey and don't and this is something I said in the girls all the time. Don't be afraid to be amazing. I think sometimes we hold ourselves back and I was 17 years old. I think in my very first local, I was really young. I was simply just there for the experience. It didn't have any expectations. I don't think I realized it was going to be such a long journey. So I would really encourage myself to hang in there, don't get discouraged, just stick with it and enjoy everything that you're going to learn on this journey and know it's all going to pay off the end. So where can our listeners find out more about Sammy, the cell phone gets thrown away and D is for dyslexia where to follow you and your current initiatives and projects? I have two websites. It's kdmechena.com and then for the eTREZURE side of things that would be eTREZURE.US and then on Instagram and TikTok you can find me under its Kading McKenna. Sammy, do you support dyslexia? It's if my link tree and on kelemichena.com on Instagram. It's @mysperversitiesteed.sl and my personal account, which is kenley.mechena on Instagram. And then also my TikTok is in that same link tree. So I encourage everyone to look at that and I hope to see you all soon. Jennifer, anywhere they can follow you? No, I'm just a mom. Fair enough. We will put those in the description of this podcast if you want to check out kenley and kd. Jennifer, thank you so much for coming to hear she is and sharing time with us and your beautiful daughters. We appreciate you. We will be back again in another couple weeks with a special guest. Make sure you tune in then. Thank you for joining us for another episode of Here She Is. If you enjoyed this podcast, make sure you hit that subscribe button. Follow us on Instagram @HereSheIsPodcast. See you next week.