Miss Kentucky Mallory Hudson graces November Chamber luncheon podium

Nov. 7—There she is ... Miss Kentucky. At the Somerset-Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce luncheon, no less.

Mallory Hudson, Miss Kentucky 2023, was the November speaker for the monthly Chamber membership luncheon held at The Center for Rural Development in Somerset. With her, she brought her sash, her tiara, and a book she wrote to help promote her mission of finding a place for people all kinds and abilities in the area of performance — "Inclusive Stages."

That's also the name of her podcast and her community service initiative based around the same mission, providing theatrical and artistic opportunities for individuals with special needs, as its put on www.misskentucky.org. The 2020 graduate of South Warren High School in Bowling Green, is currently a senior at the University of Kentucky where she is studying Communications and Political Science with an aim to attend law school after graduation.

"Let's embrace the mantra that accessibility is more than being able to get into the building," said Hudson, "diversity is getting invited to the table, inclusion is having a voice at the table, and belonging is having that voice be heard at the table. I encourage you to ... intentionally invite, welcome and embrace all to the table, because there is such a big difference in having that seat and providing that voice, and it's been such a joy so far in my little over four months as Miss Kentucky to promote inclusion across our commonwealth."

Hudson has made about 145 appearances around the state doing just that, talking about her mission as well as the wealth of locally-produced products in Bluegrass communities that bear the "Kentucky Proud" label.

"What a lot of people don't know about the job of Miss Kentucky is that it comes with a full-time position working for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture as Kentucky Proud's official spokesperson," said Hudson, whose grandfather owns a 256-acre farm in Edmonson County, Ky., a place where she fondly remembers jumping hay bales, and learned how important it is for young people to understand agriculture's role as the "backbone of our economy ... (and) of our state," part of Kentucky's heritage and future alike.

"I always say that the partnership between the Miss Kentucky Scholarship organization and the Kentucky Department of Agriculture is still so important," she said, "because we're ensuring that Kentucky's youth know at least one more farmer than Old McDonald, understand that chocolate milk does not come from a brown cow and strawberry milk doesn't come from a pink cow, and understand the process of getting their food from farm gate to plate."

Hudson will go on to participate on the Miss America stage, leaving in less than two months to participate January 6-14 in Orlando, Fla.

"I'm just so, so excited to immediately step onto that stage and represent my home state of 21 years in that capacity," said Hudson. She talked about the initiative she'd be featuring there, "Inclusive Stages," which she described being "all about knocking down barrier to accessibility, celebrating diversity and promoting inclusion in Kentucky communities, specifically through a theatrical or artistic lens."

Hudson is a veteran of the musical theatre world, first stepping on stage at age 5 and immediately catching "the theatre bug." She added, "I got into theatre because I was always the loudest kid in the room, so it was a great avenue for my parents to push me on stage, and they knew I was projecting to the very last seat in the very back of the auditorium."

After a performance of "Hello, Dolly!" at South Warren High School in 2018, individuals from The Buddy House of Down Syndrome of South Central Kentucky, located in Bowling Green, recalling specific physical movements and musical moments from the show.

"I told my my mom on the way home, 'Wouldn't it be so cool if we offered theatrical classes at The Buddy House?' It wasn't until I got involved with the Miss America organization a couple of months later that I was finally able to put that initiative into play and create Inclusive Stages," said Hudson. "Really, what I love about Inclusive Stages is ... it's a grassroots movement that I can see is affecting individuals in the south central Kentucky community, and now the Kentucky community as well in this position."

Through Inclusive Stages, Hudson has been able to teach acting classes to young adults with a diagnosis of Down syndrome, and has written scripts with helpful social information for people in an autism-centered program at Western Kentucky University. Hudson also talked about distributing theatrical sensory kits to make theatre more accessible for individuals with sensory processing disorders, with items like noise-cancelling headphones and sunglasses "to diminish things that might make the theatre environment overwhelming for those individuals."

Hudson has a podcast, "Inclusive Stages: Behind the Curtain," which highlights Kentuckians working to remove barriers to accessibility and promote inclusivity in their respective fields.

She also read from the children's book she wrote, illustrated by her younger sister, which described the adventure of a Down syndrome individual exploring an interest in the performing arts.

Hudson was not the only woman celebrated at Tuesday's Chamber event. Rikiyah Pryor, president of the Somerset Business and Professional Women's Club presented Pulaski County Public Library Director Charlotte Keeney with the club's 2023 Women in Business Award.