Answering Your Miss America 100 Questions - A Guest Blog by Elle Mark

On Instagram, I asked what questions people would ask a Miss America 100 candidate. Several wonderful questions were submitted. Elle Mark, Miss Minnesota 2021, was kind enough to take a crack at answering them for us. This is the first of a two part post. I hope you enjoy it!

Photo Courtesy Miss MN Org

When you’re crowned as a state titleholder, people love to ask you “Has it hit you that you’re going to Miss America yet?” and you respond with a polite variation of “no”. My favorite response to the question was, “I don’t think it will hit me until I’m on the flight home!” and frankly, I wasn’t wrong. The flight home from Miss America was the hardest of my life - processing everything that had happened and realizing that the event I had worked towards for so long was over. 

Now that a few weeks have passed and the many emotions have been processed (well, partially processed that is), I’m having a lot of fun reliving my Miss America experience by doing some Q+A! When Section 36 offered me the chance to answer a few of the fans’ questions, I couldn’t resist! 
Without further ado, let’s chat Miss America 100! 

Photo Courtesy Miss MN Org

How did your arrival in Connecticut go?
From the moment I arrived, I felt like a celebrity! We were greeted at the airport by our security team and shuttled (in big black SUVs!!!) to the Mohegan Sun where we checked-in in their beautiful Aspire lobby. From there, we were escorted to our rooms via the private elevators (and yes, I confirmed that J-Lo had used the same elevators) and got to enjoy our beautiful rooms in the Sky Tower. We never went anywhere alone and I truly felt like I was a star. 
 
What kept you grounded during the week?
Alone time! Though I’m an extrovert, I made it a priority to let myself process / relax every night over a cup of tea and a Christmas movie (which was harder than it sounds given how much I wanted to spend time with the other candidates). I also journaled quite a bit and was sure to check-in with my support team before bed. 
 
Did you have a favorite fan/friend/family encounter of the week?
Honestly, I have so many stories about impactful moments with “fans” and friends - from unexpected cards to meeting people who have followed my journey that I didn’t know - it’s hard to pick just one! But if I had to pick JUST one…
 
We had a break in the day on Saturday, and a small group of us wanted to walk around the Mohegan and visit their different stores. There were strict rules on being able to see family / friends during non-visitation hours, but my family decided to try and “catch a glance” of me from the lobby. When I saw them, I freaked out and (because we were in such a small group) one of the security guards said I could go hug them if I was “really quick”. I sprinted over, gave them hugs, and ran back. It seemed so silly and small, but after several days without seeing them during this high stress time, it meant everything to me. 
 
What was the favorite interview question you were asked?

Photo Courtesy Miss MN Org

Gosh - I can barely remember them! I’m one of those people who tends to “black out” a little in interview. What I can remember is that every question was purposeful and it was evident that the judges were prepared / had done their research! I appreciated that a lot. 
 
How did you spend your down time? What were some of your favorite activities with the other candidates? 
There was surprisingly a lot of down time that I spent one of two ways… Napping, or laughing! While we got plenty of sleep, the week is very emotionally exhausting and I knew if I didn’t sleep whenever I felt the need that exhaustion would catch up to me! But when I wasn’t sleeping, I was hanging out with the other candidates. We made a lot of TikToks, sang many random songs, and just bonded over our shared experiences. The job of a state titleholder is unlike any other, so it was empowering to be around so many women who knew exactly what it was like and had gone through the things I was going through. 

I can't thank Elle enough for answering these questions for us. I hope you'll enjoy part two when it comes out.