Becky Williams is just days into her tenure as Miss Mississippi, and the Purvis native is already looking forward to competing in and hopefully winning Miss America 2025.
In her first radio interview after winning the crown, Williams said on Good Things with Rebecca Turner that she completely changed her mindset going into this year’s Miss Mississippi competition after finishing as second runner-up in 2023.
“My mindset was completely different this year going into the competition. Rather than just preparing for the role of Miss Mississippi, I’ve been preparing myself for the role of Miss America,” Williams explained. “So, when it comes to prepping as Miss Mississippi for Miss America, my mindset is going to stay the same.”
With that mindset will come hours of mock interviews, marketing meetings, and of course speaking engagements, which will begin on Tuesday when Williams visits patients at Children’s of Mississippi in Jackson. The former Miss Capital City is ready for everything to come over the next six and a half months leading into the national competition.
“Prep started yesterday. I got to meet with my business manager and my prep team, and we’re so excited to get started,” Williams said.
As part of her duties as Miss Mississippi, Williams will work to further her community service initiative called “Make a Move.” The initiative is aimed at helping Mississippians of all ages find more ways to get active as the state generally hangs around the bottom of most-healthy lists.
“My goal is to get Mississippi moving again,” she explained. “We’re the second most unhealthy state in the nation, and I think it’s time we change that because there are so many simple ways to make changes in our everyday lives to be healthier Mississippians.”
Williams will campaign across the state, encouraging residents to take mental health breaks through a simple walk instead of sitting in the breakroom at work, among other good-health regiments. She will also visit K-12 classrooms to aid in ensuring students prioritize health as part of her complementing initiative, “Boogie with Becky.”
“I love getting in the classrooms and sharing my school program because as a lifelong dancer, that’s just something that comes so natural to me is to exercise through dancing,” Williams said.
While Williams does have her eyes set on the months ahead, she took some time to acknowledge and commend the other 38 contestants in this year’s Miss Mississippi competition.
“The whole experience was incredible,” she reflected. “Getting to bond with these girls and recognizing that any one of these ladies could have had this position that I’m in right now and had been perfectly fine and done it well.”
Williams secured the crown after a week of preliminaries, in which she received a high-ranking score from judges after winning several events such as the talent category and the evening wear category. She will compete in Miss America in January 2025 when the event featuring representation from all 50 states is held in Orlando, Fla. At this time, no official dates for the competition have been announced.
