Luxe Life Blog
Exclusive: 2009 Miss America Katie Stam reflects at halfway mark of reign
Miss America Katie Stam at Planet Hollywood.
Photo: Denise Truscello/WireImage
It’s been nearly six months since Katie Stam won the 2009 Miss America Pageant here at Planet Hollywood, and now as the halfway mark of her reign approaches, she returned to Las Vegas. While in town, she had some time off to visit Donny and Marie Osmond after seeing their show at the Flamingo. She also promoted the pageant’s wardrobe sponsor the Joseph Ribkoff Co. with their trunk show at Paradiso in The Mirage.
At Planet Hollywood, which plays host to the 2010 pageant in January, she took part in autograph and photo sessions for guests and posed for photos at the Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley memorabilia auction taking place this weekend.
I met with Katie at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon in The Venetian, where we played catch-up over afternoon tea after attending the cookbook signing by “America’s Best Chef.” She told me she’d just flown in from New York after attending the Duke of Edinburgh Award Presentations at the U.N. International School and helped His Royal Highness Prince Edward present the gold, silver and bronze medals.
Robin Leach: Getting close to the six-month mark now. Are you keeping a diary?
Katie Stam: I am, every single day. It’s a detailed journal of everything I do during the day, specific memories. Fortunately, no drama; just a little fatigue. There are days where I am so exhausted, but nothing that has made me sick or anything like that. It’s been so incredible so far. I have really grown up. Just the way I handle different situations, my reaction to different things that happen, my outlook, my perspective on different situations is much more positive. The amount of people that I have met, the different conversations I have had, my communication skills have improved, everything has improved. I have grown immensely from this.
RL: What have you done in your reign that you had never done before?
KS: So many things. Going to Germany to meet the U.S. troops, meeting the president, so many different sporting events that I had never been able to do, all of my work I have gotten to do with Children’s Hospitals. I have always done volunteer work with Children’s Hospitals, but not to the extent that I have been able as Miss America. My work with Children’s Hospitals is definitely something that this opportunity has allowed me to do. Going to the Oscars, going to Puerto Rico. We will now have 53 Miss America contestants in January.
Donny Osmond and Marie Osmond flank 2009 Miss America Katie Stam.
It is so tough when people ask me what the highlight has been so far because there are so many wonderful and such a variety of appearances and events that I have gotten to do that it is so difficult to weigh them and figure out which one has meant more to me. They have all made a huge impact on my life, so obviously my highlights are my trip to Germany and time with the troops and my visit to the White House.
RL: How many times as Miss America have you been back to Vegas, and how many times have you gotten home to Indiana?
KS: This is my third time to Vegas counting the pageant. I have been back home to Indiana six times. My boyfriend and I have kept our romance together. We have never broken up. It’s still going strong and working out well.
RL: There must have been at least one standout day where everything went wrong, even for Miss America.
Miss America 2009 Katie Stam and Robin Leach look at a copy of Thomas Keller's book Under Pressure at The Venetian.
KS: There was a switch day between my two tour managers at the beginning of this month. I was in L.A. trying to get to Bentonville, Ark., Bentonville via Dallas. My first flight was delayed -- mechanical problems. We left 2 1/2 hours late and obviously missed the connection in Dallas, so they booked me on a later flight to take off at 6:30 p.m. In Dallas, I had to hop on the tram to get to my gate. I am two stops away from my gate. We go one stop, and the tram breaks down. I have to get another tram. They say things happen in threes, and when I get to my gate, they’ve switched that because the next plane also had mechanical problems. By now, it’s the No. 6 problem of the day. I was getting frustrated, but by the sixth thing, I just had to laugh. When so many things go wrong, you just have to laugh.
I am all by myself. Miss America running around airports unaccompanied but holding on to the crown safely. I land at my destination five hours later only to find No. 7: They lost both my bags, and all I have is my roll-on bag with the crown and my makeup. I figure if I have nothing else, I can get by if I have my crown and my makeup. Makeup is too expensive to just go out and buy brand new stuff all of the time. I am very thrifty. Those are the two things … I can’t replace my crown and I don’t want to go out and buy a whole new carry-on of makeup. I have snacks and stuff in my carry-on, but my shoes, clothes and toiletries are in the checked luggage.
We wound up being in Bentonville such a little amount of time that there wasn’t even enough time to deliver the bags to me. Thankfully, both pieces came in, so we picked them up at the airport on the way out for the next flight! It was definitely the worst travel day so far, but it was so good to be there, though, to help Wal-Mart with their fundraisers because they are huge sponsors of Children’s Miracle Network. When I finally met up with my alternate tour manager, she said it was better to have gotten all the problems out the way in one day! Hopefully, it’s all over and will never happen for the remainder of my travels. Fortunately, I can sleep anywhere. I have the unique capability of falling asleep the second my head hits the pillow, so once I’d slept, everything was back to normal and right with the world again.
RL: At nearly six months in, what haven’t you achieved yet that you really want to?
Miss America Organization Chairman Sam Haskell III, His Royal Highness Prince Edward and Miss America 2009 Katie Stam at the Duke of Edinburgh Award presentation at the United Nations.
KS: I want to be on the cover of a mainstream magazine. Vogue, Elle, I want to be on the cover. My dream is a shoot with some of the top American designers, an eight-page spread in the middle, cover shoot, with the title saying Miss America makes a comeback … talks about the whole revival of Miss America. Not for me but for Miss America. I think it would be something that would be a great story and get it out there. It would make Miss America popular like it was in the ’60s. It used to be the Super Bowl of events, and I’d like to help make it that way all over again.
RL: When I interviewed you after the win and before you left to appear on Fox News in New York, your first TV network appearance, you told me you wanted to have a communications career eventually. Might you now do the Los Angeles TV challenge?
KS: Possibly. It is still a dream along with three to four other dreams. That is the beauty of this experience: It opens up so many more opportunities for you. I have dreams of being an author, I have dreams of pursuing modeling, and I have dreams of continuing what I do as Miss America, traveling on behalf of different organizations.
RL: You will become 23 on July 9, so you’ll be one year older and 10 years wiser?
KS: It is very true. Five months of being Miss America will teach you more about yourself, the world and what you want to do than most people learn in a lifetime.
Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.
Follow Robin Leach on Twitter HERE.
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