Today we’d like to introduce you to Judy Irwin.
Hi Judy, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, how can you bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
A little background about me: I was born in California but raised in North Carolina. I would come to Florida often for vacations, and I knew that eventually, I would make Florida my permanent residence. Growing up, I was always a tomboy, especially with three brothers, but I also maintained a girly side. I was introduced to the pageant world when I was in high school. One of my teachers suggested I enter our high school pageant, and I loved it. Fast forward after high school, I married a wonderful man named Matthew, who I have known since middle school. We were together for nine years and had two beautiful children. Unfortunately, Matthew passed away from glioblastoma, a stage four type of brain cancer, at 27. This brings me to my platform. I try to be a strong advocate for brain cancer/brain tumor research, and that is how I got involved in the pageant industry again as an adult. After a long process of interviews and judging, I was selected and gained the title of Ms. North Florida America, 2022. I wanted to have a bigger platform to enable me to help raise awareness and funds for brain cancer research. Also, there’s a big stigma around widows being much older, and I wanted to use my platform to break that reputation, let others know that widows can be of any age, and never judge a book by its cover. As the title holder of Ms. North Florida America 2022, I have had countless opportunities of a lifetime. For example, this year, I was featured on a billboard in Times Square and walked in New York fashion week for three designers. I also flew to California to compete in the Ms. America pageant 2022. Although I didn’t place, I had the best experience, especially meeting the other contestants, who were all doing amazing work for their communities.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Life is a journey, and it has not been a smooth road for me. Being a single widowed mom of two young children is a challenge. You add other duties to it, such as working full-time as a registered nurse in the operating room along with pageant duties, volunteer work, and my children’s extracurricular activities, and it can be tough.
Thanks for sharing that. So, you could tell us a bit more about your work.
I work as a registered nurse in an outpatient surgery center in Jacksonville, Florida. Nurses have two roles during surgery, either as a scrub or circulating nurses, and I do both. We specialize in orthopedics and neurosurgeries at the facility where I work at. When I am not working, I am either volunteering, dancing at different Bailey’s Zumba classes, doing promotional modeling throughout Jacksonville, or cheering on the Jacksonville Jaguars!!
Do you have any advice for those just starting?
My advice to those that want to get into the pageant world or nursing or if you’re struggling either as a caregiver or have recently lost a loved one is to always strive for the stars and when life happens, just take it one day at a time. Every day is truly a blessing, as tomorrow is never guaranteed. Always keep a positive attitude and outlook because life is what you make it.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: instagram.com/msnorthfloridajudy
