Alexis Smith, who was recently crowned Miss Kansas 2024, is using her platform to speak out against domestic abuse. In a video from the interview portion of the Miss Kansas pageant, Alexis proclaimed that her "vision as the next Miss Kansas is to eliminate unhealthy and abusive relationships." Then she got a bit vulnerable, admitting that someone in the audience had "disrupted her peace."
"Some of you in this audience saw me very emotional because my abuser is here today. But that’s not going to stop me from being on this Miss Kansas stage," she said in a clip that has gone viral.
"I, and my community, deserve healthy relationships. We deserve a domestic [violence] free life," she continued.
Alexis shared the clip on Instagram and explained that "on the night of Miss Kansas, my journey took an unexpected turn when someone I have been healing from tried to disrupt my peace."
In the caption on her post, she went into more detail about why she has chosen to use her painful experiences to help uplift others.
"Instead of falling into silence, I chose to live out my vision for a better world," she wrote. "I took back my power — not just for myself, but for my dreams and everyone watching and listening."
In an interview with KSN, Alexis spoke about using her platform to advocate on behalf of other survivors of domestic violence.
More from LittleThings: Woman Receives Shocking Wedding Invite Asking Her To Babysit For Free
Her involvement with the Miss Kansas Organization gives her the opportunity to share her story and empower other women, she said.
"Me, being a woman who needed that empowerment all my life, being a bystander to domestic violence, a victim, a survivor, and now an advocate as well as a young woman who is educationally driven, I have the opportunity not only to share my story on such a large scale but also go back to school," she told KSN.
In addition to being a survivor of domestic violence, Alexis has seen how domestic abuse has affected other women in her life.
"My family, every single woman in my family, was impacted by domestic violence," she told KSN, adding that her first relationship, which she entered at the age of 14, was abusive and it's "something that I’m still experiencing and dealing with today."
If you or someone you know has been the victim of domestic abuse, you can find help and support at DVIS.org, the National Domestic Abuse Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or by contacting your local women's shelter domesticshelters.org.
