This article is part of our Women and Leadership special report that coincides with global events in March celebrating the accomplishments of women. This conversation has been edited and condensed.
Madison Marsh was a teenager when she started wondering about the fragility of life. Her mother, Whitney Marsh, had just died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 41.
“It really opened my eyes about how important it is to live a life that you love,” she said in an interview.
“We have a very short time on this earth. You get 20 years, or 41 years like my mom, or if you get 100 — every day and every moment that you get is something that you have to spend well.”
Now 22, Ms. Marsh is following her own advice, blending her disparate passions into a life that suits her many interests and includes public service.
In January, after graduation from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, Ms. Marsh was crowned Miss America. She is the first active duty military officer to win the title in the pageant’s 103-year history. (Ms. Marsh grew up in Arkansas but entered the pageant as Miss Colorado, having won that contest in 2023).
Her interest in the military began at age 14 when she spent a summer at NASA’s Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala., and decided she wanted to be an astronaut. She started flying lessons at 15 and had her private pilot’s license two years later when she applied for admission to the Air Force Academy.
