Rachelle McCray is one busy girl. The petite dynamo runs her own full-service production company, works in front of the camera in film and television, and as of May 1, wears the Miss Arizona United States crown.

 

McCray has been participating in pageants since age 15, and says that they have provided her with life skills she couldn’t get anywhere else, lifelong friends, and above all, the opportunity to raise awareness about a cause near and dear to her heart.

 

“Pageant girls are just normal women who are trying to make a difference, and they use a crown and a banner to do it,” she insists. “The power of the crown is that it literally has a little voice of its own and when you put in on, people are willing to listen to what you have to say and to what’s important, and I find the power of that is really amazing.”

 

Miss Arizona has good reason to be passionate about her cause, having almost lost her mother, Mindy, to a hereditary kidney disease in 2005. Mindy’s life was saved by... CONTINUE READING