Here she comes: Mrs. Florida

The newly crowned Mrs. Florida America 2016, Rachael Neudecker, experienced her own “Mrs. Congeniality” moment during the qualifying pageant May 7, in Orlando.

“I tripped over my gown three times Saturday night,” Neudecker confesses.

But if one of Neudecker’s favorite film characters can recover from falling on her face, she figured she, too, could overcome a misstep.

“It’s all about recovery, and you don’t let it show. If you trip and that ruins your whole night, then you’re in it for the wrong reasons,” said Rachael Neudecker. 

That recovery paid off when Neudecker, 34, progressed through the rounds and found herself in the final two with Mrs. Tampa Bay, Tiffany Ubele. Before the final announcement, the two held hands on stage in anticipation. The husbands were called onstage to join their wives.

“I could see him, and I was trying to look at him and trying to look at Tiffany. It just felt like an eternity,” Neudecker said. “Then I heard Tampa Bay (announced as the runner-up), and I just hugged her. It was kind of an out-of-body experience.”
 

Originally from Portland, Tenn., the new Sarasota resident has competed in more than 100 pageants since starting in the glitz and glamour scene at age 12. At first, pageants were an excuse to play dress-up. As she progressed, her goal became to win scholarship money before she shifted her focus to competing in the Mrs. America system.

“Even going into the Mrs., it’s changed because I’m now a married woman,” Neudecker said. “It’s more about family now, and your husband is involved more. He gets to experience a little bit of what I did as a child and growing up.”

The Mrs. Florida-America Pageant in Orlando was the first for Neudecker as a resident of Florida. She didn’t decide to compete until six weeks before the pageant.

“When we moved here, I wanted to compete in the next couple years before we have children and get the business going,” Neudecker said. “My husband was telling me, ‘You know you want to, just do it.’”
 

Qualifying to represent Sarasota was simple, because there were no other contestants signed up from the area. Aside from residing in the county, the only requirement is that the contestant currently be married. The Mrs. Florida-America Pageant is the preliminary for the Mrs. America Pageant. The winner of that contest goes on to the Mrs. World Pageant.

The pageant includes an evening gown display, swimsuit and interviews but no talent portion. Along with preparing for the Mrs. America Pageant scheduled for August in Las Vegas, Neudecker works one day a week as a nurse for an urgent care facility in Venice and with her husband, Chris, in their business, PuroClean. Together, they prepare for the pageants with workouts and interview questions.

A question that stumped Neudecker in a previous pageant was, “Tell us something about you that we don’t already know.”

“In my head I’m thinking, ‘I wrote everything down about me that is interesting,’” Neudecker said. “That was a struggle, but I recovered after what felt like 10 minutes of crickets chirping.”

Neudecker is aware of the stigma tied to pageants.

“It’s not about having the perfect body,” Neudecker said. “It’s not about a crown or who’s the prettiest, it’s about strong women who lift each other up.”

As she preps for the Mrs. America Pageant in Las Vegas, on her to-do list is finding a state costume to represent Florida.

She has one hint: lots of pink.