COOK — For North Woods art teacher Rachel Betterley, winning the Miss Minnesota USA title last weekend was about far more than a crown.
It was the fulfillment of a dream she once believed had permanently slipped away.
Betterley, who will represent Minnesota at the Miss USA competition in Miami in August, is the first married woman and mother to win the state title since the Miss USA organization dropped longstanding restrictions on age, marital status, and parenthood in recent years.
For Betterley, a longtime pageant competitor and former Miss Minnesota and Mrs. Universal Petite 2024, the rule changes reopened a door she had already closed in her mind.
“It kind of made me go back and realize I can fulfill this dream when I thought it was forever closed,” she said. “I had always wanted it, but I had put it out of my brain.”
The Miss USA and Miss Universe organizations traditionally limited competitors to younger, unmarried women without children. Betterley welcomed the removal of those restrictions, but said that did not automatically erase skepticism surrounding older married contestants and mothers entering the competition.
“It’s one thing to get rid of the rules, it’s another thing entirely to get rid of the mindset,” she said.
Betterley competed in Miss Minnesota USA for the first time last year, finishing as first runner-up. This year, she said she entered the competition with a sharper sense of purpose and preparation.
“So, when I was there, it wasn’t butterflies, but it was just like locking in, like an athlete,” she said. “I treat it almost like it’s an athletic competition, and you have to be mentally prepared with no stone unturned.”
That focus, she said, also reflected a broader goal beyond winning the title itself.
“Each one of us that wins paves the way for other women to feel comfortable competing, regardless of where they are in their life,” she said. “They can be all the things they want. They don’t have to settle for just one thing.”
For Betterley, pageantry has become less about competition and more about personal growth, confidence, and empowerment.
“I feel so 100 percent sure of my message and what I’m here to do,” she said. “I’m just taking the title and running with it and making it my own. I’m not second guessing what I’m doing anymore.”
That message is closely tied to her work as an educator and advocate for healing through the arts.
Outside the pageant world, in addition to teaching at North Woods, Betterley also leads Sketchbooks for Kids, a nonprofit that provides sketchbooks and art supplies to children facing trauma and hardship. The organization grew out of her own experiences using art as a form of healing during childhood.
She said pageantry and teaching continue to feed each other creatively.
“I want them to see that you can do it regardless of what it is,” she said of her students. “You just have to be creative with how you problem solve. Doing things that scare you a little bit helps you find out they’re not so scary after all.”
Betterley said she tries to model authenticity and confidence for students growing up in a rural area where opportunities can sometimes feel distant or out of reach.
“I make life my own - it’s unapologetically Miss Betterley,” she said with a laugh.
Her latest title also places her within the most internationally recognized pageant system in the world. Betterley said the connection between Miss USA and Miss Universe creates a global audience unlike many other pageant organizations.
Even so, Betterley insists the deeper value of pageantry is not found in glamour or competition, but in growth.
“It creates confidence and resilience,” she said. “You really work at learning about yourself as you do it.”
That personal evolution, she said, is part of what has kept her passionate about pageantry long after she first entered her initial competitions more than a decade ago.
“I’m not burned out,” she said. “I am having fun. I am making it my own.”