Miss America 2018 winner Cara Mund is an American beauty pageant winner. She is the first Miss America contestant from North Dakota to win the title. She was the first Ivy League alumna to win the pageant in 64 years, having graduated from Brown University. She previously held the titles of Miss North Dakota 2017 and Miss North Dakota 2016, finishing as the first runner-up. She began dancing at the age of two and went on to train with the Rockettes, winning numerous dance prizes. She choreographed her own jazz dance performance to Michael Jackson’s ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’ on the Miss America stage. She has been a philanthropist since she was a child, and through her ‘A Make-A-Wish Passion with Fashion’ program, she is actively involved with the Make-a-Wish Foundation. In 2011, then-President Barack Obama formally acknowledged her charity efforts.
The Ascension to Stardom
Cara Mund has been involved in pageants since she was a young girl. ‘Little Miss North Dakota,’ ‘Miss Pre-Teen North Dakota,’ and ‘Miss Junior Teen North Dakota’ were among her former titles. In 2010, she was crowned ‘Miss Red River Valley’s Outstanding Teen,’ and the following year she represented North Dakota in ‘Miss America’s Outstanding Teen.’
She competed in Miss North Dakota 2016 as ‘Miss Oil Country,’ and placed first runner-up. She participated in Miss North Dakota 2017 as ‘Miss Northern Lights’ the following year and was crowned Miss North Dakota 2017. She competed in the Miss America 2018 competition in September 2017 as a representative of North Dakota.
In the preliminaries, she was runner-up to Miss Alabama Jessica Procter for the ‘Jean Bartel Quality of Life Award’ for her community involvement through the ‘A Make-A-Wish Passion with Fashion’ program. She won the Miss America 2018 crown and a $50,000 scholarship on September 10, 2017, after defeating 50 other contestants in five different categories.
Cara Mund’s participation with the Make-A-Wish Foundation began when she was 14 years old and witnessed a sick friend die. The memorial donations were asked by her friend’s family to go to the charity. She has since created, directed, and choreographed North Dakota’s only Annual Make-A-Wish Fashion Show, raising approximately $80,000 on her own to grant wishes for children with life-threatening medical conditions. She honored her mother as her greatest inspiration on the Miss America platform, saying that despite being stricken with cancer three times, she has taught her to approach every situation with optimism.
Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for President of the United States in 1972, is connected to Cara Mund. She is interested in politics and spent five months as an intern in the office of U.S. Senator John Hoeven in 2016. She aspires to be North Dakota’s governor in the future. She isn’t afraid to express her opinions on the present political situation. During her onstage interview, she publically chastised US President Donald Trump for withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement, claiming that he is incorrect in dismissing man-made climate change, which many scientists have warned about. Later, in a news conference, she defended her response, saying that “Miss America ought to have an opinion,” regardless of whether it differs with the President’s, and that she was not frightened of retaliation for expressing her views.
Personal Experiences of Cara Mund
Cara Mund was born in 1994 in Bismarck, North Dakota. She was a student at Century High School from 2009 to 2012 and was a very engaged student. She participated in the Girls State and Girls Nation programs, was President of the National Honor Society and Senior Class Vice President, Vice President of the Student Council, received the Coca-Cola Scholarship in May 2012, and was a member of the Cheerleading and Speech Teams. Carson Wentz, the NFL quarterback, was a classmate of hers in high school.
She attended Brown University after finishing high school and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Business, Entrepreneurship, and Organizations (BEO) in 2016. She participated in a variety of activities and was a member of numerous societies in college as well. For nearly a year, she was the President of her Kappa Delta Sorority. She worked for almost two years as a Teaching Assistant and two and a half years as a Research Assistant in the university’s Engineering department. She worked at Brown University for three years and five months as a Campus Tour Guide. In 2016, she was admitted into Notre Dame Law School, however she postponed her studies to compete in the Miss Dakota pageant. Her Miss America Scholarship will be used to pay for her Juris Doctorate degree.
Estimated Net Worth
Moving on, Cara has amassed a significant fortune through her job. She hasn’t divulged her annual income or true net worth, however. Cara’s net worth is estimated to be between $1 million and $5 million dollars, according to reports.