Elkhart mother named Miss Indiana USA

Jun. 19—ELKHART — Miss Universe is entering a new era.

Elkhart native Stephanie Sullivan, 33, was crowned Miss Indiana USA on June 8. She's the oldest woman to ever hold the title, and the first married woman — and mother — to do so as well.

"It's crazy because it's something I never thought I would get a chance to be a part of, knowing that ship had sailed once I got married at 24," she said. "You should never underestimate the power of achieving your dreams and know that you are capable of achieving them regardless of those other roles that you play in life."

A little over a week into her role as Miss Indiana, the mom of three, wife and small business owner, talked about her experiences coming into the young single woman-dominated industry.

"Having a job, and being a wife and a mom, it's a lot, but it's going great so far," she said.

Sullivan is among the first of many like her and more to come, now that the organization has opened its competition to all women.

In 2023, the Miss Universe Organization revamped its qualifications, allowing married women, pregnant women, and those with children to compete in the competition. Sullivan was still too old to compete, though, until this year, when the age limits were also removed.

Historically, the competition permitted only single women, between 18 and 28 years old, to compete, although there are other notable organizations that have allowed women who do not meet those criteria to compete including the Mrs./Miss IN America Pageant.

In 2020, before the changes that would allow her to compete in the Miss Universe state competition, Sullivan entered her first-ever beauty pageant, Mrs. Indiana.

"It was probably the first time where I really focused on myself," Sullivan said.

Her best friend, Elkhart County native Mekayla Eppers, was crowned Miss Indiana USA 2014 and Mrs. America in 2018, and was heavily involved in pageants, so Sullivan would travel with and support her, but never thought she could try it.

"I was like, 'You will never catch me up there doing that," Sullivan recalled. "I see now what everyone's talking about because it is so much more than a crown and a sash. You have so much personal growth. All the women that I met we're actually still friends to this day, and meeting all these women from across your state, it's just good networking really."

Sullivan said as a stay-at-home mom struggling with health problems, the pageant was the catalyst for her platform "Why You're Worth it."

She wasn't the only Mrs. who entered the 2024 Miss Indiana USA competition though.

"Two of the women, Yana (Jones) and Kelsey (Gerig), I actually did their makeup for them at Mrs. America," Sullivan said. Through her beauty studio, S Esthetics in Elkhart, which she started a few years ago, Sullivan joined the world of pageantry, at first, through makeup.

Sullivan said when she got to registration, she made it a point to introduce herself to the rest of the contestants as well.

"Sometimes there can be a stigma in pageantry where maybe you feel like you can't talk to your competitor. I don't know why. But I am not that way at all, and I just felt from the beginning that God already knew the plan for that weekend and nothing I do was going to change that outcome," Sullivan said.

Instead, her goal was to have a good time and make friends, and it paid off. She was voted Delegates Choice by her peers. She also won the Photogenic Award, Evening Gown and Swimsuit.

Sullivan and her husband Geoffrey have three boys, 3, 5 and 7 years old, and said their support has been crucial.

"They are so invested it's funny," Sullivan said. "It's different when you're competing with 20-year-olds. It's a different level of effort that you need to put in, and so I was very good with my nutrition and my workout schedules and my boys actually made it a point to be my coach. Like they made it a point to be like 'Hey, mom. Did you do your workout today?,' ... and then of course everywhere we went leading up to the pageant they'd be like 'Hey, did you know my mom's competing for Miss Indiana USA?' And now that I've won, it's everywhere we go."

She said her husband has also been exceptionally supportive.

"When I told him I wanted to open my own beauty studio he was more invested than I was. He had more faith in it than I did," she recalled.

When she spoke to Eppers and her husband about waiting a year to compete after the competition rules changed, both of them said no. As the 10-year winner, Eppers was due to sash the winner.

"Probably for the last seven months my husband has done everything," she said. "Between my workout schedule, my interview schedule, walking lessons, all the things that I have done to prep plus working in my studio and running my business, he has made it a point to take care of all the extras. Like housework, cleaning, laundry. ... He's made it easy for me to be able to do all of these things and still be a part of, like, our kiddos' soccer games. He's just incredible. Coming from the Mrs. America system and knowing what I've seen there, where sometimes husbands were not that supportive. ... I am so blessed. He's 100% invested."

Sullivan said her friends and family were also pivotal in ensuring she made it to the competition.

"For the weekend, we had probably eight different babysitters on rotation," she said. "Picking the kids up from school, dropping off, spending the night. All the things. Having our support system and then having him as a husband, I don't think that any other person could do it unless you had that, being married with kids."

Sullivan will next compete at the 2024 Miss USA Pageant in Los Angeles, California, Aug. 4. The pageant will be aired on The CW Network.

Through her platform "Why You're Worth It," Sullivan currently has seven speaking engagements scheduled between now and the national competition, focusing on self-care and goal setting.

"For a long time, I put everything I had into others," she recalled. "And when I did that, my mental health suffered, my physical health suffered, and because of that my happiness was gone, and I just felt like I didn't have anything going for me in life anymore. ... I think a lot of women get stuck in that role or they feel like they have to choose between being a mother or a business owner or doing all these other things in life. ... How many women do you know that they just don't pour into themselves? They're giving, giving, giving, to everybody else and they have nothing left?"

Sullivan said she's also striving to be one of the most accessible Miss Indiana USA queens through conversations or scheduled appearances at many locations.

In the meantime, she'll be making appearances throughout the state of Indiana, but the next as of now is at Crossroads Community Church, 57415 Alpha Drive, where she and her husband are members. They'll be hosting a summer sleepover for boys and girls. Her husband will manage the youth boys in RVs and tents, and Sullivan and the girls will remain indoors starting at 7 p.m. June 28.

Dani Messick is the education and entertainment reporter for The Goshen News. She can be reached at [email protected] or at 574-538-2065.