The reigning Elite Ms. Lake Martin has a pageant success story that just keeps getting better. Mary Katherine Carlisle found herself in an unfulfilling job, holding a negative self-image and lacking in self-confidence before she became involved with pageants.

“I always struggled with self-confidence and my self-image, but I was driven to work on that,” said the former Mrs. Alabama America runner-up. “Having a pageant to compete in gave me something to work on. I had trouble just walking into a room and making eye contact with people or talking to them, not even public speaking, just conversation. Through pageants, I got into interview coaching, and that gave me confidence to speak to other people.”