ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
This month marks the annual Miss Kansas Pageant and earlier this month, a new Miss Kansas was crowned with Alexis Smith, who had recently served as Miss Butler County.
The rest of the Miss Kansas court includes 1st runner up Courtney Price Dukes, 2nd runner-up Tiayla Maholmes, 3rd runner-up Gabby Altenor, and 4th runner-up Haley Loya-Ruiz. In addition to winning Miss Kansas, Smith also won the Lesley Moss Preliminary Health and Fitness Award.
As Smith tells it, she and her family are not exactly strangers to the pageant world.
“I was born and raised in Wichita, and I followed my family's path into pageantry – my mother and my aunt had competed in pageants when they were growing up,” Smith said. “So when I was growing up, I competed for a while, then stopped doing it, and it took a bit of time before I regained the confidence to get back onstage, and that was when I was about 6 years old. So since I was 6 years old, I've competed in pageants, and that led me to the Miss Kansas Organization.”
Smith said it was a bit of a long journey to officially taking home the Miss Kansas crown.
“My first year with the Miss Kansas Organization was 2016, and at that point, a lot of my fellow participants were going into the Miss America Organization, so I always knew I would probably follow that pathway because I love the leadership of that organization,” Smith said. “But I took some time off, then came back, and then in 2022, I was named Miss Wichita, and I had come back because I was working with a group of teenagers when I was volunteering out of high school for a cheer squad. What I discovered was as they got comfortable with me, they were sharing a lot of their stories with me, and they really reflect my personal journey as a high schooler as far as relationships. It gave me a sense of purpose of what I could do as Miss Kansas and with the organization. So I came back, and I'm excited to share my story and hopefully help people who are experiencing abusive relationships. As Miss Wichita, I advocated for help with intimate partner violence, and as Miss Butler county, I wanted to broaden my platform so I'd be able to connect with more demographics, especially with younger people, so I tweaked my platform to include healthy relationships in all facets of life. I got to work with multiple organizations and groups that work with domestic violence victims, and that's been my platform since I started.”
Upon hearing her name called as Miss Kansas, Smith said her primary emotion was excitement.
“It was excitement, pure excitement that I'd finally earned the Miss Kansas crown, and there's so much I want to do to help with as Miss Kansas,” Smith said. “Something else that was really cool about this year was the Top 5 contestants were all women of color, and that doesn't really happen that often. When I was holding hands with Courtney [Price-Dukes], who would be named the first runner-up, I knew this year's Miss Kansas would be a woman of color, and that's something that's just so, so huge for our community, and I'm excited to be part of that legacy. I'm actually the third Black woman to ever win Miss Kansas, and again, that's just so huge.”
Smith then talked more about her platform.
“My platform is Respect Reclaimed: Advocating for Healthy Relationships, and that stems from my own personal experiences with domestic violence, whether that was in my household or my own experiences of falling into that cycle of abuse at the age of 14,” Smith said. “Now, as an advocate, I really want to highlight how this is a significant problem that's going on, not just in Kansas but globally, and as Miss Kansas, I have the opportunity to share my voice and help make some changes and help some people. As Miss Kansas, one thing I definitely want to do is continue hosting panel discussions – back in April, I hosted my first one, which was titled 'Love and Loss: Navigating Healthy Relationships in Real Talk,' where I encouraged different community members to come and expand on their perspectives of relationships and the advice they would give to others in order to maintain healthy relationships in all facets of life. As Miss Kansas, I want to continue those panel discussions in different areas of the state and really bring that representation. Going into this organization, you have to find something you're passionate about and something you want to help make a change with. For me, working with young women who were in unhealthy relationships, that's what solidified my decision for me with my platform, because I don't want anyone else to experience what I had to. For me to be able to help stop the cycle, it's what I want to do.”
However, Smith’s interests are not limited to the pageant stage, as she also works in the medical field.
“After I got crowned, I actually had to get back home and go to work. I work as a nurse in the cardiothoracic ICU,” Smith recalled with a chuckle. “When I decided to go to nursing school, I knew I wanted to get some experience leading in so I'd be more comfortable taking care of patients and have some of that background knowledge. When I applied to be a Certified Nursing Assistant, the only specialty that was available was on the cardiovascular floor, so I took it on and ended up falling in love with it. I love being able to have one specific specialty and build on all of that, and it actually ties in really well with the Miss Kansas work because the Miss America Organization actually partners with the American Heart Association, which I think is really neat.”
Smith said she expects to remain very busy during her time as Miss Kansas.
“At the moment I'm getting myself settled into the role and figuring some things out and deciding what all I want to do. I do have a couple upcoming speaking engagements, and soon, I'll also be making an appearance at the Miss Texas finals competition so I can have a chance to meet one of my fellow Miss America contestants, so that should be really neat,” Smith said. “I'm also a ventriloquist – outside of the pageants, that's not a talent I bust out that often, but I want to be able to use that with the different audiences I'll be talking to. Especially in regarding to talking with children, particularly at the elementary school ages, I want to bring my puppets along and perform, but it also allows for some creativity, and I want to be able to maybe do a craft where the children in the audience can make their own paper puppet friends. The panels I mentioned earlier are going to be really big for me, that's something I'm really looking forward to continuing working on. I also love talking to teenagers, so once school starts back up, I'm excited to visit schools around the state and visit with the students and share my story and maybe shed some light.”
Overall, Smith said, she is looking forward to the experience.
“I would love the state's support and I would love people to follow me on social media! I'm on Instagram and Facebook, and people will be able to tag along and see what all I'll be up to while I have the crown. And if anyone's interested in booking me for a speaking engagement, they would just need to send an email to
