Ann Pennington Crowned United States of America’s Mrs.

“My position is about showing people that we are uniquely brave women with confidence, not only to celebrate and display our beauty and intellect, but bring light to our lives as mothers, wives, and business owners,” shared Ann. “We have the opportunity to share our platforms for helping those in our community locally and on a national level.”

Ann’s platform has always been to bring awareness of homeless youth, knowing first-hand the difficulty.

“I bring light to what I find near and dear to my heart, which is bringing awareness to homeless youth,” said Ann. “I am a product of homelessness and by holding this title it has helped shine a brighter light and open doors to show people that homelessness can end. We can help get these amazing humans off the street and help them achieve their purpose. It’s been truly rewarding teaming up with HABcore and Covenant House where I am team captain of a project called Sleepout. We literally sleep on a street to raise funds to support the programs at Covenant House.”

Ann’s journey in pageants started after a chance encounter.

“Many moons ago I used to sit glued to the TV set watching Miss Universe and thinking to myself they were like princesses from a Disney movie. And then one day a woman walked up to me and said I’d be perfect to compete at a pageant,” shared Ann. “I remember thinking to myself that was crazy because I didn’t see myself like those women I watched on TV. I competed a few weeks later and won a title, I was in my early 20s. A decade later I am Mrs. New Jersey 2018. So, if you believe, you can achieve.”