Former Miss America Mallory Hagan already sees the influence of Gretchen Carlson, just two days after the former Fox News host was named chair of the Miss America Organization.
“One of the things she’s already bringing is transparency,” Hagan told Cheddar in an interview. “We didn’t know what was happening behind closed doors, we didn’t know what the reasoning behind a lot of the rules were. It was just, ‘This is the way it’s going to be, or you gotta get out.’ It became a very cult like community.”
Carlson’s appointment, along with three other former pageant winners who were named to the board, follows a chain of resignations from the organization. Former CEO Sam Haskell and ex-chairman Lynn Weidner resigned after a report that leaders used demeaning language to refer to participants in emails.
Hagan, who won the crown in 2013, was mentioned herself in the emails.
“It was hard to stomach...To see it in black and white was difficult.” she said. “But to know there was a person who stood up for me, and not only me but all the women in the Miss America program, was really something that was very special to me.”
Carlson has been vocal in her efforts to combat sexual harassment, most recently working with members of Congress to introduce legislation that puts an end to arbitration clauses in workplace agreements. She also was the first to publicly accuse Roger Ailes, the late CEO of Fox News, of sexual harassment.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/gretchen-carlson-is-the-new-miss-america-chairman).
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