About Madison

Growing up, it was no secret that Madison Hardy's two great loves were music & food. By age fourteen, she had performed all over the world, but it was after reviewing pictures from a singing trip to Europe that Madison decided that she had had enough of being the "bigger girl."

That fall, she joined world-renowned Weight Watchers, and after 4 months of consistently attending meetings, weigh-ins, and following the "plan," Madison had lost 35 pounds and felt better than ever.

The onset of high school brought many opportunities her way. Serving as Neshoba County's Junior Miss and becoming a top ten finalist at Mississippi's Junior Miss in 2006 really was a dream come true for Madison, one that may not have become a reality had she still been overweight.

In 2007, Madison graduated Valedictorian & S.T.A.R. student of her high school class, and made the move to attend Belmont University and pursue a degree in Music Business. There, she joined Phi Mu sorority and began taking classes and interning.

She became Belmont's Homecoming Queen as a Junior,

Worked the red carpet at the Grammy's,

and was invited to perform in Belmont's Country Showcase her senior year.

 






However, college is a challenging time for a lot of students, and Madison was no exception. Although she was doing just fine academically, it was the late-night eating and lack of regard for her health that proved to be detrimental. By the time she graduated in 2011, Madison had gained over 50 pounds from her first day of Freshman year at Belmont.








Upon graduation, Madison decided to join a 16-week half-marathon training program with her best college friend, Lacy, and their awesome trainer Christin.

That experience was both enlightening and maddening. Madison expected to lose a lot of weight through training for the half, but when 3 months went by and nothing had changed, she decided there was more that could be done. Knowing that Weight Watchers had worked for her the first time, Madison re-joined in August 2011 and to-date has lost over 45 pounds.
 

In June 2013, Madison will be competing for the title of Miss Tennessee as Miss Tennessee Soybean Festival. Having the ability to potentially compete for the title of Miss America is a lifetime of hard work & dedication culminating into one life-changing experience for Madison. She knows that none of this would have been possible without the re-dedication to her health that took place in 2011. By working to fight the obesity epidemic here in Tennessee through her platform "Tennessee: Get Up & Go!" Madison wants to promote the idea that being healthy & active is a privilege we should all be proud to take advantage of.