TULSA, Okla. — The last three days have been a blur for Lauren Frost.
She’s worked tirelessly for the last four years to win the title and finally walked away from the Miss Oklahoma competition with the crown.
“The moment it kind of hit me was in my crowning moment and I looked around at the other contestants standing behind me,” said Frost. “Their faces were just full of joy and they were nodding… ‘Yes, yes, it’s you, it's you,’ and I just thought, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s me, it’s me.”
Frost competed in Miss Oklahoma three times before receiving the crown. At first, it was just about showing off her talent for clogging, but it quickly grew from there.
“The rest of it I was super awkward in,” said Frost. “It took me a while to get used to it, and I think that’s the beauty of the organization - you grow in it. You learn skills that are going to be useful in careers and other opportunities in life.”
But Frost doesn’t compete in pageants just for the glitz and glamour; she has a deeper purpose: She wants to make a difference.
“One thing that’s super important to me is that word hope, being a beacon of hope for not only adopted kids, because I’m adopted but also just women in general,” said Frost. “I grew up knowing I was adopted, being so proud to be adopted. I had a very healthy understanding of who my birth mom was, and my parents really respected her and loved her growing up, just reminding us how selfless she is to give us this opportunity to be a family.”
It was the always knowing and always sharing that helped Frost realize she could use her voice to help others.
With the $39,000 she received from winning Miss Oklahoma, Frost plans to go to law school to become an adoption attorney.
“As I’ve kind of gotten older, I’ve realized I get to make a career out of that, and I can be a spokesperson for those kids who are waiting for adoption, or for those moms that are facing an unplanned pregnancy that don’t know their resources, and so I get to be a voice that says here are your options, and anything you choose I am here to support you and respect you along the way because now, I have a relationship with my birth mom and she was in the audience on Saturday night, along with my half siblings sitting next to my adoptive parents and I think that in and of itself is a beautiful story.”
Frost hopes to be able to bring those moments of hope and understanding to other families going through similar situations.
As for what comes next for Frost…
“Competing at Miss America, and living every day as Miss Oklahoma and Lauren Frost,” she said. “I think those two coincide very well. I get to be myself in this position, and I get to speak to kids, children, adults just everyone I can about adoption, about the program of Miss Oklahoma, what it can do for people.”
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