Meet Ms. America International 2016!

On August 29, 2015 I was crowned Ms America International 2016.  Some might think “and the winner is” were the words that changed my life.  Yes, things have been different since then, but this isn’t about winning a crown, it’s about a winning mindset.  What truly changed my life and put me on a path to self-rediscovery began a year earlier with four monumental words . . . “you are turning fifty”!

In order to understand my journey, I need to tell you a little about me.  The daughter of a dance instructor, my life was lived “on-stage”.  From dance performances and competitions to pageantry, being on-stage was part of what made me, well . . . me.  Fast forward to the summer of 2014, just six short months until the big 5-O and I have to admit, I wasn’t ready to embrace the “big one”.  Feeling a bit like a “has been” I’d fallen into a slump.  I’d gained weight and let society convince me that I was too old to do the activities I truly enjoyed.  Thinking it was time to “act my age”, I retired from both dance and pageantry.  Then it hit me, act my age???  According to whom???  Shouldn’t I be the one to define my age??  ABSOLUTELY!  So I set a goal to be fabulous and fifty and I stuck to it.  It was hard work, but I lost the weight, built some muscle and more importantly gained a new perspective.  I am in the best shape of my life and once again doing activities that I love.  I am a new and improved version of me and the way I see it, I am not over the hill . . . I am enjoying the view on top of it!

 

Ms America International 2016, E-Dee Martin, is a Colorado native and AARP member since 2015; she can be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MsAmericaIntl.2016.  The Ms. America Pageant is for women 26 years of age and up who are single, divorced, widowed or married www.msamericapageant.com.