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A young mother of seven children and winner of this year’s Mrs. American contest gave a rousing pro-life speech at the pageant that won her a standing ovation.
The Catholic News Agency is reporting on Hannah Neeleman, 33, who runs a farm in Utah with her husband Daniel and seven children, went on to win the crown after giving a powerful pro-life response to an onstage question during the pageant.
A judge asked her: “When have you felt the most empowered?”
She responded: “I have felt this feeling seven times now as I bring these sacred souls to the earth. After I hold that newborn baby in my arms, the feeling of motherhood and bringing them to the earth is the most empowering feeling I have ever felt.”
The audience responded with a standing ovation.
Neeleman, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose ranch outside Park City, Utah is known as “Ballerina Farms,” is proud of her children who range in age from 11 to one. The former Mrs. Utah 2021 and Julliart School graduate who holds a bachelor of fine arts degree in dance, Neeleman promotes an agrarian lifestyle and is not afraid to get her hands dirty while raising cattle, baking bread, and milking cows.
Unabashedly pro-life, she was actually pregnant with her seventh child during one pageant.
Formerly Hannah Wright, she was the home-schooled daughter of Chad and Cherie Wright and was the eighth of nine children in her family. According to Deseret News, she wanted to be dancer from grade school and spent two summers at Julliart on scholarships at 14 and 15 years old. By the age of 16, she won a full scholarship at Brigham Young University's theater ballet, and eventually auditioned and won placement at Julliard. Competing in beauty pageants is how she paid for her schooling, winning Miss Springville at age 17, Miss New York City and eventually Mrs. Utah in 2021.
She married Daniel Neeleman, son of former Jet Blue CEO Daniel Neeleman, and accompanied him to Brazil where they lived for four years. It was here, while experiencing Brazil's vibrant farming community, that the couple became enamored with the idea of farming.
As CNA reports, “one day while visiting a cattle ranch, they were shocked to see pigs roaming freely on the land. From then on, they dreamed of raising their own pigs and cattle on pasture so when they came back to the U.S., they bought land and started their own farm.”
This busy working mom is planning to compete in the Mrs. World 2023 pageant later this year.
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