Casana Fink sauntered across the stage, waving back to raucous applause as red, white and blue lights beamed down on her. She had just been crowned with the title she had dreamed of since she was 13: Miss Florida.
Fink, a 26-year-old UF business administration graduate student, won the 2024 Miss Florida pageant in June with a talent of lyrical dance and a community service initiative called Give to Live — Donate Life.
Fink is set to compete for the Miss America crown in January alongside other states’ misses.
For Fink, her 13-year journey to the Miss Florida crown was defined by self-improvement, higher education and advocacy for organ donation.
“The amount of things I’ve been able to do over the past years is just incredible,” Fink said. “I think my crown and sash gave me a really wonderful platform. People listen a little more because they’re curious. ‘Who is this girl? Why is she wearing a crown and sash?’”
Contestants in Miss America pageants answer questions about their efforts at community service during both the private and onstage interviews, which account for 40% of a contestant’s score. Fink’s interest in pursuing organ donation for her community service came from witnessing close family struggles with the organ transplant process.
At 14, Fink’s father was found unresponsive and in need of a liver transplant, which took a yearlong series of hospital visits to get. Witnessing her father’s drawn-out transplant process prompted Fink to start a nonprofit, Give to Live - Donate Life, which advocates for organ and tissue donation while working to unite hospitals and donation organizations across Florida.
Through the organization, she has advocated for organ donation initiatives at the DMV, hospitals, the Florida Legislature and Tampa General Hospital to renovate ICU nurses’ break room.
Jim Fink, 60, Casana Fink’s father, said her advocacy work is “one of the things that makes [him] proudest of all.”
“I had to wait a year for my liver. People die everyday waiting for organs,” Fink said.
Had he been unable to receive a new liver, Jim Fink said he would have missed his daughter’s graduations, her pageant wins and the time he’s been able to spend with her day-to-day. Additionally, he would have been unable to see her growth as a person.
“It has just been a journey of her getting better and more polished every year,” he said. “Her self-confidence is through the roof.”
Selena Fink, 63, Casana Fink’s mother, said the Miss America pageants, beyond boosting Casana’s confidence, have been instrumental in supporting her education. The Miss America Organization provides over $5 million of scholarship funding for young women in the United States, according to its website. Fink began competing at 13 in order to secure scholarship money for her schooling.
“[Casana] is a second round Gator, and she will graduate again literally debt free,” Fink said. “This organization is not a beauty pageant; it’s a scholarship pageant where [girls] can further their education.”
In addition to financial support, Selena Fink said participating in Miss America Organization events helped her daughter prepare for college.
“When she was a teen applying for colleges, she was able to fill out resumes, fill out applications and have writing skills and speaking skills,” she said.
Casana Fink said pageantry helped her develop confidence and a professional attitude.
Initially, she felt intimidated and confused as to her purpose within the Miss America pageantry world, especially as she joined at a later age than many other girls, who typically begin in elementary school or sooner. However, she eventually came to see the organization as a way to “become a much better version of yourself.”
“I realized very quickly that all of the women that were competing were extremely impressive and devoted to advocacy,” Fink said.
The pageant taught her to push her limits and explore outside her comfort zone, she said.
“I would be faced with these experiences [like public speaking and interviewing] that made me extremely uncomfortable and that I initially wanted to shy away from, but the more I put myself in those situations, I realized I was growing and becoming more comfortable,” Fink said.
As a business owner and student, Fink said, her efforts at the pageant translate to real life skills.
“If you have work ethic and resilience and perseverance, there really is nothing you can’t accomplish,” she said.
Due to her positive experiences with Miss America pageants, Fink said she felt disappointed stereotypes around Miss America pageants miss out on aspects like community service and personal development while failing to credit improvements like the removal of swimsuit contests.
“[Miss America] is focused on the substance of an individual: how they carry themselves, how they articulate themselves, how passionate they are about things,” she said. “There’s always room for improvement, but I really appreciate the strides that have been made, especially in the past decade… to ensure we’re not objectified.”
Looking ahead to the Miss America pageant, Casana Fink said, “I’m going in with a sense of peace with whatever the outcome might be. I would much rather enjoy the moment than panic and stress about trying to control it. I’ll control what I can leading up to it [by putting work in], but after that it’s about being myself, being authentic and having fun.”
Contact Avery Parker at aparker@alligator.org. Follow him on X @AveryParke98398.
Avery Parker is a third-year English and History major covering university affairs for The Alligator. Outside of reporting, Avery spends his time doting on his cats, reading, and listening to music by the Manwolves.
