At 43, Plainfield’s Tiffany Kory is stepping back into the realm of pageant competition.

Thanks to a recent rule change within the Miss USA organization, Kory’s dream to compete again now can become a reality in one of the most historic competitions of its kind.

A single mom to an 11-year-old son, N.J., and a local salon owner, Kory will represent Plainfield in the Miss Illinois USA competition held in Bloomington in May.

If Kory is victorious, she will move on to the national Miss USA pageant, and then, if successful, the Miss Universe competition.

Kory will be competing in active wear/swimsuit, evening gown and an interview category.

Except for one pageant competition when she was growing up in Georgia up until several years ago, Kory was new to the pageant world.

After her divorce and finding herself as a single mom in a town with no family locally, Kory said that she prayed to God for help and “he put a crown on my head and said you are still a queen and don’t need a king to be a queen. That is my mantra for helping other women.”

Over the past several years, she competed and won in several different pageant competitions, including one that was filmed for a reality show.

These competitions are open to women who may be a bit older and are either married, single, divorced or widowed.

“I did this with my son by my side to prove to him that I was still strong,” Kory said. “We did a lot of volunteering in these roles together.”

After fulfilling her commitments to those organizations, Kory thought that her time competing was behind her.

“I was feeling kind of down in the dumps,” she said. “I missed being around those high-caliber, amazing women, and the next day Miss USA announced they were increasing the age limit.”

After completing an application, Kory found out that she earned a spot to compete in the Miss Illinois USA pageant and will get to represent Plainfield.

Beginning in 2023, married, divorced women and mothers were allowed to compete in the Miss USA competitions.

In 2024, the Miss USA organization removed the 28-year-old age limit.

Jennifer Vannatta Fisher, co-director of Vanbros and Associates Inc. – the official producers of the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA state pageants in Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma – said anyone older than 18 “who had a dream of chasing the Miss Universe title” can sign up.

“It was an effort to be more inclusive,” she said.

These pageants can be life-changing for young women, Vannatta Fisher said, adding they are “something that doesn’t need to end at a certain age.”

Fisher said that for women whose lives went in a different direction, such as marriage or children, that previously would have prevented them from competing, this gives them another opportunity to jump back in and compete.

“Let’s face it: Women in their 30s, 40s and 50s are perfectly capable of competing, setting goals, feeling and looking beautiful, polishing their communication skills, building their self-confidence, and getting out of their comfort zone and chasing this kind of opportunity, and it should be available to them,” Vannatta Fisher said.

“We are looking forward to having a more diverse group of contestants and becoming more inclusive,” she said, adding that there still is an age limit in the teen division.

“Pageantry is a sport, and it forces you to be your best self,” Kory said. “It gives you a goal and gives you a reason to kick yourself in the tail and make you think about how you are going to make an impact the world.”

Kory is seeking sponsorships and appearances in the Plainfield area to offset the cost of competing.

She credits her friends and neighbors in Plainfield for supporting her on this journey.

“They are angels in my life,” Kory said.

“When I am not doing big, huge, scary things, I get bored,” she said. “I like to challenge myself.”

Kory’s experiences competing and her life up until that point was so transformational that she wrote a book about it.

The book, “Ms.: No Matter the Title, Rise from Trauma To Triumph and Learn to Love Yourself,” outlines Kory’s life from growing up in Georgia to her life as a single mom in Illinois.

Titling the book “Ms.” was very important to Kory “because you hear about Miss and Mrs., but what is a Ms.?” she said.

Kory also is working on her second book about “the crown falling off and straightening out and put it back on again and again,” which should be released later this year and will contain some of her upcoming adventures returning to pageant competitions.

More on Tiffany Kory

Her past pageant titles include the following:

Ms. Illinois International 2020

Ms. Illinois World International 2021

Ms. USA Universe 2022

Ms. Universe Global 2023

If you are interested in sponsoring her, email missplainfieldusa@gmail.com.