In recent news, it was announced that Miss USA and Miss Teen USA have resigned from their positions. The news has raised many questions about the organization as well as what is happening behind those sparkly dresses.
With all of the responsibilities, it is not uncommon for people to step down from prestigious positions. However, it is uncommon for a Miss USA and Miss Teen USA to resign; they are the first titleholders to voluntarily step down. The reason for Noelia Voigt’s resignation was claimed to be due to mental health reasons. The resignation allows her to focus upon herself without so much stress with the new title. When it came to Miss Teen USA 2023 Uma Sofia Srivastava, she said it was how the organization’s values and her own do not compliment one another.
Voigt, who represented Utah, wrote a long essay about her mental health and that post went viral, but not because of it’s theme – it is alleged that it held a hidden message. The first 11 sentences spelled out “I am silenced”. Due to strict non-disclosure agreements both women can not speak freely about the situation. Many other runners for Miss USA have shared their support for Voigt asking the organization to “release Noelia from the confidentiality NDA clause of her contract, in perpetuity so she is free to speak on her time as Miss USA”.
Many girls are speaking out about what happened to them and the type of environment the organization is, one of them being the Social Media Director. Claudia Engleheardt also resigned, but she claimed on Instagram that she worked without pay for months and she witnessed a decline in mental health and respect towards the two girls and their families. Another one of the witnesses to the misconduct to both Voigt and Srivastava was their PR manager who had said to CNN, “what I’ve witnessed and seen is harassment, a toxic work environment and bullying.”
One of the people that was seen bullying the girls would be the pageants CEO Laylah Rose, who was accused of harassing the girls and calling Voigt “mentally ill”. Each interaction with Rose was cold and aggressive with many miscommunications where Rose would respond to the situations by threatening her salary, according to a document obtained by CNN.
There is still speculation being made about the resignations, but on May 9th the Miss USA pageant announced that Savannah Gankiewicz, Miss Hawaii USA 2023, would be taking on the role and its responsibilities. On May 15th she was officially crowned Miss USA.
