Miss United States 2021 held the national finale on 7th October 2021 where Samantha Anderson was crowned the new queen by her predecessor Tiffany Ann Rea. The stunning beauty is the daughter of two international pilots and is currently working towards her private pilot’s license.

One of the contestants who emerged as a showstopper, even though she failed to win the crown, was Courtney Kelleigh who representing Georgia at the national finals. Courtney chose suicide prevention as her platform for the pageant and has been busy in Thomasville helping form Outreach Angels, a mental health outreach crisis initiative. The advocacy is close to her heart because of the loss of her friend to suicide during the covid-19 pandemic.

Kelleigh holds bachelor's and master's degrees in public health from Johns Hopkins University and was moved by the tragedy to educate people around her for suicide prevention. She also talked about an upcoming project as she said, “In late September, Project Sunlight, a shelter for up to six housing-insecure individuals who also face mental health issues, is set to open.”

"If COVID had not hit in the way it hit, I would not have been emboldened. You can sit with your hands folded, or you can do something. We need more people taking personal interest in the community. I don't have children or a husband yet, so I am less distracted”, she added.

Kelleigh got inspired from her mother to join the pageant world as her mother is a Miss New York runner-up in the 1980s. She has been competing since she was 11 and her win in the Miss Georgia United States pageant motivated her all the more to try to make a difference through her efforts.

The stunning beauty has also tried to help the senior citizens through the outreach program. Her father was institutionalized in a nursing home for seven years, and she did not always have the opportunities she would have liked to visit during her college years.

"We are a collaborative of volunteers in the mental health field, therapists, doctors. We have more volunteers than we know what to do with. It is just a matter of building the infrastructure”, the owner and CEO of Outreach Angels said. Kelleigh certainly has a strong future ahead in the pageant world if she maintains her level of discipline and dedication towards her craft.