The path from grief to healing does not consist of a three-step program or a five-stage process. Grief does not end with a funeral; it lingers in the space where a friend once stood, the text message you never sent or the photos that seem a lifetime ago. For Genevieve Alexander, the healing journey began with a closet filled with dresses and wigs.
After losing her mother to triple-negative breast cancer, Alexander decided to turn her pain into purpose. Her first step was to revisit her mother’s bedroom closet, where each blouse and dress held a memory. Alexander recalled how her mother walked animals at the local shelter or how she baked her signature better-than-sex cake.
While Alexander rummaged through the closet, she wondered, “What can I do to honor my mother’s impact on the community?”
“I was confused about how to continue living after my mom passed away,” Alexander said. “I wanted to challenge myself. If I had a goal, I could set my mind and try to achieve it.”
Despite her diagnosis, Alexander’s mother, Angel, remained a pillar of strength in the small town of Benton, Louisiana. She decorated the floors of her cancer treatment center, hoping to brighten the day of incoming patients. On social media, Angel documented her treatments—exhausting rounds of chemotherapy and mesotherapy. Still, Angel’s commitment to bettering her community never wavered, a trait inherited by her only daughter.
Now, surrounded by her mother’s clothes, Alexander saw an opportunity to honor her mother’s work in the community.
“My mom liked to get dressed up, go to her appointment and try to put her best foot forward,” Alexander said. “That’s how she led her life. I would love to do the same: allow women to feel beautiful and get through their treatments.”
Alexander sought to change the narrative around cancer, advocating for patients to be seen as more than their diagnoses. The disease did not define how Angel led her life, and Alexander refused to let other women suffer in silence.
“I want to allow the community to feel my heart and do everything I can to give back,” Alexander said. “I want to bridge that gap between supplies and resources. Impacting people is how I grieve.”
Contacting family members and friends, Alexander began collecting clothes to donate to women diagnosed with cancer. The growing piles of wigs and clothes led to the creation of Angel’s Impact, a local nonprofit named in honor of Alexander’s mother.
As head of the nonprofit, Alexander searched for ways to build connections within Ouachita Parish. Then, she thought of her mother’s love for pageantry.
In the 1980s, Angel Alexander served as Miss Louisiana Coed Teen and eventually as Miss American Coed Teen. Although Angel rarely spoke about the experience, watching pageants became a pastime she shared with her daughter.
“She passed away on June 25, and June 19-21 is when Miss Louisiana is,” Alexander said. “I remember watching the pageant on her iPad in her hospital room when she was pronounced to go into hospice.”
Alexander never imagined that she would compete in pageants. She was a rodeo star, riding horses and barrel racing. However, swapping her cowboy boots and wranglers for heels and ballgowns was an easy decision.
“Creating Angel’s Impact was the reason I went into pageantry,” Alexander said. “I knew that it would make me a better woman. It would push me to be the best leader that I can be and provide open doors to allow me to grow my nonprofit.”
In the fall of 2024, Alexander entered the Miss ULM Titleholder competition—her first-ever pageant. Although she did not claim the crown, Alexander gained confidence through competing. Her talent for spoken word, dedicated to her mother, focused on the beauty she found along her healing journey.
“Going into this, it was so new, so scary,” Alexander said. “Even writing my spoken word was an emotional process of thinking back to those memories that you don’t necessarily think about every day. So, I was able to turn my grief and my opinion into a purpose that allowed me to be here.”
Determined, Alexander considered Miss ULM a learning experience. She started practicing interviews and perfecting her spoken word. The weeks of practice and preparation paid off when Alexander earned the title of Miss Ouachita Parish.
“Representing Ouachita Parish has been a blessing,” Alexander said. “This title, it means a lot to our community, and it is really great getting to go out into the community, wearing the sash and deepening my family roots here.”
Miss Ouachita Parish prioritizes four points of the crown: style, service, scholarship and success. During her reign, Alexander embodied the four characteristics of the titleholder. By promoting Angel’s Impact, she uplifted the voices of the nearly 315,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.
In June, Miss Ouachita Parish will participate in the Miss Louisiana competition. As she walks across the stage, Alexander will not only represent Ouachita Parish or ULM; she will also walk in honor of her mother, the woman whose legacy shines through her daughter.
