Last week was the big Miss Minnesota competition. Women from around the state who had won their respective town's title competed to become Miss Minnesota 2022. I was very excited when I saw who won this year for a few reasons but one of them is because she made history in the process!

Who is Miss Minnesota 2022?

Your new Miss Minnesota was Miss Winona this past year, her name is Rachel Evangelisto. So that means a southeast Minnesota resident is now representing our entire state, which is super exciting.

I also actually went to college with Rachel. We didn't know each other super well but I did know one of her big loves in life has been pageants. I followed along while she posted her week-long journey on Facebook this past week and was so excited to see that her hard work paid off!

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Finally, Rachel made history when she won Miss Minnesota because she's the first Native American woman to ever win the title. She's part of the Húŋkpapȟa Standing Rock Sioux tribe and is actually working to earn her Juris Doctorate in Tribal Law from Mitchell Hamline Law School, according to the Miss Minnesota website. Through her law work, her current work as an Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) Guardian ad Litem for the ICWA Division of Minnesota, and as Miss Minnesota 2022 she's hoping to make a big impact on the lives of Native Americans, specifically Native American children.

A big congratulations to Rachel! It'll be fun to see everything she does during her time as Miss Minnesota and on her way to potentially becoming Miss America.

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