For the past few days, we have been sharing with you profiles about several different women who have served within the Miss America Organization; today we share with you about a charismatic young woman, Joelle Leek, who we had the opportunity to meet a few weeks ago, as she crowned a new Miss Thousand Islands.

Leek is an 18 years old, and has been involved in the Miss America Organization for eight years. She stated, “I’ve only competed in NY and I have been Miss Thousand Islands’ Star Princess 2011 and 2012, Miss Thousand Islands’ Outstanding Teen 2013 and 2014, Miss Calumet Castle’s Outstanding Teen 2015, Miss Northern New York’s Outstanding Teen 2016, Miss Upstate New York’s Outstanding Teen 2017 and Miss Thousand Islands 2018.”


When asked about her platform and it’s evolution, she stated, “My platform is Concussion Awareness- Understanding the Invisible injury. When I started competing in the organization, my platform was, “J.O.Y. Jesus, Others, Yourself- Showing youth how to serve others through their faith.”” Leek continued with, “after being diagnosed with Post Concussive Syndrome, I became extremely passionate about brain injury awareness and changed my platform.”


And just like many other young women who stepped into the Miss America Organization, Leek has her reasons as well. She explained to us that she “chose to join MAO because I was a little girl who loved all things dresses and princesses, but because I started at such a young age, my story focuses more on why I chose to stay involved in the organization for so long.” She went onto explain further that, “Once I started to grow up and become aware of all the organization has to offer women, I knew I had to stay involved. The Sisterhood, the personal growth, and the endless opportunities I was presented to make a difference in my community, kept me engrossed in this organization.”


Leek went onto tell us that she wants, “to be known as the titleholder who made this organization her lifestyle,” continuing, “whether she was wearing a crown or not, she lived by the standards of the Miss America Organization, by the standards of a titleholder. I want people to remember me as the girl who committed herself to the job of being a titleholder and did everything she could to be an impactful representative of her region and the Miss America Organization.”