Cassie Donegan, 28, was crowned Miss America 2026 in Orlando last week, and the New York representative in the pageant traces her roots back to Smithfield, Virginia.
Donegan, the eighth woman who represented New York in the national pageant to be crowned Miss America, participated in the Little Sisters program in the Hampton Roads area and was crowned Miss Virginia‘s outstanding teen in 2013.
“Being able to be a part of the Miss America opportunity actually started back in Virginia when I was only nine years old,” Donegan told WAVY.
Her mother’s family still lives in Smithfield.
ICYMI: Miss Virginia news
As a child, Donegan’s dream was to go to New York and become a professional performer. She began performing when she was two years old.
“I recognize how lucky I am for that to be my reality. But on the flip of that, I was a scholarship kid. And that’s not the reality of every single child who wants to do this and pursue it.”
An advocate for arts educations, Donegan is the founder of three arts education scholarships, including a scholarship in Yorktown at the Center Stage Academy.
“The arts are not a luxury. They are a necessity, and our youth deserve to have access to that within our school buildings. And, you know, thankfully, Virginia has made great strides in ensuring that it is a core subject in the curriculum there in the state and making sure that kids do have access to it. But there are still things we’re combating,” said Donegan.
As Miss America, she will help more children pursue the arts.
“You work so hard for something like this, and it’s like your entire life. For me personally, it was a culmination of all of these moments,” Donegan said of becoming Miss America 2026.
However, not long after being crowned, Donegan faced negativity online from social media users who criticized her makeup in the final round of the national competition.
According to People magazine, Donegan made a commitment to stay true to herself, which she shared during the final rounds of the Miss America pageant. As each contestant answered a rapid-fire question on stage, Donegan focused on the importance of “self-expressions” in relation to “professional standards.”
“I believe that being true to yourself 100 percent is the most important thing that you can do, and if that includes your self-expression through piercings or tattoos, then 100 percent do it. I think that no one has the right to tell you what you can do with your own body. This is your vessel, and you should be able to walk around proudly in it,” she said on the Miss America stage.
The audience cheered and Donegan referred to her sense of style in a self-deprecating way by saying that her siblings call it “grandma chic.”
After the September 7 pageant results, Donegan took home more than $70,000 in scholarship funding to pay for her undergraduate and post graduate education. She earned a bachelor’s in fine arts from Belmont University’s Musical Theater program in Nashville.
“Something about Virginia just always will have my heart in so many ways, and my family is permanently there on my mom’s side. And so that community is there as a huge part of what helped catapult me into this being my life,” Donegan said told WAVY.
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Rebecca Barnabi
