A question students often ask each other at the beginning of a new school year is, “What did you do during summer break?”
One Greenwood 12-year-old’s response will be that she became a national pageant titleholder.
Molley Blackstone, a soon-to-be eighth grader at Pillow Academy, was named Junior Miss Heart of the USA earlier this month.
“It was my first national pageant, and I thought it was really cool that I won my first one,” said Molley, the daughter of Ed and Jenay Blackstone of Greenwood.
The Miss Heart of the USA Pageant is a national pageant that focuses on “teaching young ladies the importance of giving back to their community.” The pageant’s motto is “Hearts, Heels, and Helping Hands.”
Molley also captured the pageant’s Queen of Hearts title, which was judged based on her community service work.
“That’s the one that I’m most proud of,” she said.
The pageant was held on July 3 in Orlando, Florida.
Molley qualified for the national competition after winning the state title, Mississippi Junior Miss Heart of the USA, about six months ago.
She began preparing for the competition in the spring and worked with a pageant coach.
Molley has been competing in pageants for about three years. She said what she enjoys most about competing is “all the different people I get to meet from all different parts of the United States. I think that’s really cool.”
She also added that she enjoys being on stage and walking in a pretty dress, too.
Molley has experience competing in statewide pageants, but this was her first national one. The atmosphere was fast-paced, she said.
“It was kind of crazy; everything was fast,” she said. “After you got on stage and did one thing, you had to go and get your hair redone fast, get makeup touched up and change, and then you’re right back on stage.”
She added, “Everybody was so friendly.”
To win the Junior Miss title, Molley competed against other girls ages 11-13 from across the United States.
Molley competed in the categories of Patriotic Wear, wearing red, white and blue in her own style; Heart Wear, wearing pink or red with hearts in her own style; Formal Wear; Interview; Photogenic; and Fashionista, where she was given a T-shirt and had to transform it into her own personal style.
Molley said the Patriotic Wear was her favorite category. She wore a blue two-piece outfit featuring a red, white and blue sheer cape. She said she enjoyed swinging the cape around while walking on stage.
“It was upbeat and really fun,” she said.
Molley Blackstone shows off her outfit for the Patriotic Wear category of the Miss Heart of the USA Pageant.
Before she was crowned, Molley said she thought she did well in the competition but wasn’t sure if she had won.
“I thought I did OK, but there were some things that I could do better,” she said.
She was filled with excitement when it was announced she had won the title of Junior Miss Heart of the USA.
“It was kind of crazy. There were butterflies in my stomach because I had no idea if I was going to win or what,” she said. “I was so happy and excited.”
Molley’s pageant motto was, “The prettiest beauty begins with a kind heart.” Her community service platform is called POP, or the Power of Positivity. She got the idea for the name from her nickname, Molleypop.
Before the pageant, Molley held a canned food drive and collected more than $1,000 worth of non-perishable items. She donated half to the Greenwood Interfaith Ministries Community Kitchen and the other half to The Salvation Army.
Collecting canned food for these two charitable organizations “just felt right for me to do,” she said, adding that she wanted to give back to people in the community in need of a meal.
Molley wears a pink dress featuring hearts in the Heart Wear category.
She also collected canned food at Pillow Academy, Greenwood Market Place, Greenwood-Leflore Public Library and First United Methodist Church.
She’ll return to Orlando next year to crown her successor. During her reign, Molley is planning more community service projects through POP and she’ll also go on a trip with her “sister queens,” winners from the pageant’s other age divisions.
Molley, who will soon turn 13 in August, is an honor student at Pillow, where she plays soccer and volleyball. She is a member of the Red Bulls soccer team.
Molley will be modeling in September during New York Fashion Week. She’ll be modeling for designer Marc Defang.
Molley has played background roles in the movies “Mayberry Man,” and “Same Kind of Different as Me” and in the upcoming ABC TV series “Women of the Movement,” which was largely filmed in the Greenwood area.
Molley is wearing the T-shirt she styled in the Fashionista category.
In her spare time, Molley enjoys playing volleyball, watching movies and Netflix, and watching Ole Miss sports with her dad.
Molley said she is very thankful for the support of her parents and the community.
“I couldn’t do any of this without (my parents),” she said, “and the community’s support in donating all of the canned food.”
- Contact Ruthie Robison at 581-7235 or rrobison@gwcommonwealth.com.
