Eckert told Business Insider that she began competing after she received a letter in the mail inviting her to participate in a local pageant.

“My mom and I wanted to do it. We were excited, but we had no clue what we were doing,” she recalled with a laugh. “My first evening gown didn’t even touch the floor.”

Eckert said pageantry changed the “trajectory of my life.” That’s why she’s hoping to break the “Toddlers and Tiaras” image often associated with young pageant queens.

“I think it’s extremely important to break that perception, and I think social media is helping us do that,” she said. “If we can show, as titleholders, the positive impacts we’re having on our community, the events we’re attending, the hard work we’re putting in behind the scenes, I think it helps break down those stereotypes.”

Eckert won Miss Nebraska Teen in 2020 and placed third runner-up at the Miss Teen USA competition that year.

“I was over the moon excited,” Eckert recalled. “That kind of peeled back a layer and showed me I could really do this, I could be Miss USA someday, which has always been the biggest goal.”

Eckert was also an NCAA Division I athlete and captain of the Husker Cheer Squad, receiving awards from the Big Ten Conference for her academic achievements and community service.

“I always said growing up that I had two sports — one being pageants and the other being cheerleading,” Eckert told Business Insider.

Eckert is now a competitive cheer coach, working with hundreds of athletes every week.

Eckert is the social media and marketing coordinator for Sapahn, a company that sells leather handbags made in Thailand.

The pageant queen told Business Insider she was excited to visit Thailand for Miss Universe and “really immerse myself in the culture that I’ve heard about for the last year and a half.”

“I’ve been communicating and working with women in Thailand, but I’ve never actually been,” she added. “That is what I’m most excited for.”

Eckert is following in Sarah Rose Summers‘ footsteps. The fellow Miss Nebraska won Miss USA in 2018 before competing at Miss Universe in Thailand that year. Though she didn’t win Miss Universe, nine other Miss USAs have claimed the title in the pageant’s history.

The Miss USA pageant has had a tumultuous few years, dealing with allegations of rigging, accusations of bullying against former CEO Laylah Rose, and the resignations of Miss USA 2023 Noelia Voigt and Miss Teen USA 2023 UmaSofia Srivastava in May 2024. For most of this year, no one seemed to know when — or if — the Miss USA 2025 pageant would take place.

Eckert said she wasn’t sure of the “ins and outs that were happening” within the organization, but she didn’t want to put her goals on hold.

“I decided to go for it because it has always been my dream to be Miss Nebraska and Miss USA,” she said. “I wasn’t going to let the current state of anything hinder that. It was time to start going for it.”

When Thom Brodeur was announced as Miss USA’s new president and CEO in September, Eckert said she knew the pageant was going to be “back and better than ever.”

“In my class of women at the 2025 Miss USA pageant, we were so excited for this new administration,” she added. “The moment the new leadership took over, we all felt better.”

This was the first year that Miss USA had a top 20 with women over the age of 28 since they became eligible to compete in 2024. The top five included Miss Nevada Mary Sickler, the first woman with a public alopecia diagnosis to compete at Miss USA, and Miss Oregon Chantea McIntyre, the first mother to ever place in the pageant.

“It was so incredible to see so many women from all walks of life,” Eckert said. “We’re at very different stages in our lives, but we were all there for one common goal, and that was to bring back the power of pageantry and compete for the title of Miss USA.”

“Knowing that there is a place for everyone in pageantry is really special,” she added.

“We’re getting my wardrobe ready, we’re getting my styling ready, but we’re also taking time for me to relax and try to rejuvenate so that I can be my best self in Thailand,” Eckert told Business Insider two days before she boarded a flight for Bangkok.

Despite the quick turnaround, Eckert said she felt ready for her first global beauty pageant.

“When I was preparing for Miss USA, I always knew in the back of my head that I could be going to Miss Universe shortly,” Eckert said. “So I was already working to achieve that level of stage presence.”

Before every big interview, Eckert tries to eat a banana. It’s a tradition that began when she first started competing in pageants as a child.

“My mom and dad would always say that I had to eat something before going into the interview room, and nothing sounded good, so I would eat a banana,” Eckert told Business Insider, adding that it became a good luck ritual she “continued to carry for every single pageant.”

“So when I get to Thailand, I’m definitely going to have to try to find a banana the morning before my interview,” she said.

“One of my goals as Miss USA is to get more people involved, to get more people excited about pageantry, and get more people competing at the state level,” Eckert told Business Insider. “Miss USA has changed my life, and I would love for more women to experience that.”