The public can vote for Cass Ponzi to be crowned “The People’s Choice” or “The Overall Fan Favorite,” earning her a spot in the semifinals and finals, respectively, at this link.
ASHLAND — Back in 2021, Cass Ponzi, then an undergraduate at Ashland University, was bored.
She decided to apply for the Miss USA program for fun. A year and a half passed before she got an e-mail back, saying she had been selected to participate in the Miss Ohio USA pageant.
At first, she thought the e-mail was spam.
It wasn’t.
This Friday and Saturday, Ponzi will compete against 50 other young women at the Miss Ohio USA pageant in Portsmouth, Ohio.
Ponzi is currently working toward her MBA in graduate school at Ashland University. Before that, she spent her undergraduate days at AU running cross country and track, working as a tour guide and studying as an Ashbrook Scholar.
Cross country and track were “kinda” everything she was good at, she said. She started on the team as a walk-on in 2018 before working her way up to a scholarship, but an injury sidelined her for the 2022-2023 season.
The Miss Ohio USA pageant has been a “nice distraction” from her training to get back into track, she said.
“I think the whole process has kind of helped me to discover myself more in running, too. I know that things will be OK even when they don’t seem OK,” she said.
According to Ponzi, she was shy when she arrived at AU. Her goal was to become more outgoing, so she signed up to be a tour guide.
She did that for four years and loved it, and now people on campus recognize her as “the Ashland University mascot,” she said.
As a child growing up in Los Angeles, Ponzi had a “terrible stutter” and was put on an individualized education program.
Ponzi’s parents worked with her “night and day” to overcome her educational struggles, and by the time she made it to high school she was already testing at a graduate level in English at 15 years old.
She said she was also the “chunky, awkward kid” in elementary school who typically sat out of sports. Now she’s a Division II collegiate athlete.
“I just always like try to tell people that, you know, if you want it bad enough, you can do it. It might take time, but it’s definitely worth it,” she said.
Because of this, Ponzi describes herself as an “overcomer,” a quality that she thinks will make her a good Miss Ohio USA.
To get ready for the weekend’s competition, she’s spent months preparing with Empowered Pageant Coaching, a Columbus firm with connections to her grandfather. The primary skills she picked up were interviewing, which is “a really big portion” of the competition, and the subtle art of pageant walking, she said.
Ponzi, who said she’s “not the most graceful” person, had to learn how to walk with a certain stride and how to stop and strike a pose, all while wearing high heels that “are not the most comfortable.”
“That took a lot of time to adapt to and get used to, but I think I have it down now,” she said.
Friday’s competition will consist of a two-minute interview with judges, then a swimsuit and evening gown competition.
Fifteen women, including one who received the second highest amount of fan votes known as “The People’s Choice,” guaranteeing her a spot in the semifinals, will move on to the next stage of competition.
On Saturday, the 15 semi-finalists will participate in the swimsuit and evening gown competition again, and from there, five women will be selected as finalists.
One of these five will be the “Overall Fan Favorite,” or the woman who received the most fan votes, earning her a guaranteed spot in the finals.
From these five, Miss Ohio USA will be crowned.
Ponzi would be “very honored and excited” to be Miss Ohio, but would still have fun even if she doesn’t win, she said.
Miss Ohio advances to the national Miss USA pageant in Reno, Nevada. The winner of the Miss USA pageant qualifies to compete in the international Miss Universe pageant to be held in El Salvador later this year.
