Barbara Matthews of Murfreesboro was named Miss Tennessee for America this month. She said she is a strong supporter of heart health for women and children.
Barbara Matthews of Murfreesboro was named Miss Tennessee for America this month. She said she is a strong supporter of heart health for women and children.
Barbara Matthews of Murfreesboro will take her promotion and encouragement of heart fitness for women and their kids to Las Vegas in August when she competes in a national beauty pageant.
Matthews was selected Miss Tennessee for America this month held in Destin, Fla., to partner with two other state pageants She will represent the state at the national event Aug 10-22. It was only her second time competing in a pageant.
“I entered this pageant because I wanted to be a great representation for my 6-year-old daughter and also grow awareness of heart health for moms and women and children,” Matthews said.
Matthews’ career usually places her in the healthcare world. She is a Principal Client Lead for North Highland Worldwide Consulting in Brentwood. She supervises a team of consultants who meet with hospital administrators in Nashville and Charlotte, N.C., to support the medical facility’s business and healthcare strategies.
Matthews, a Michigan native who moved to Murfreesboro in 2019 to help her previous company get established in Tennessee, also has some personal knowledge with heart health. She said a close family friend, then 26, collapsed and died at the finish line of a marathon from a heart issue.
Matthews participates in activities with the American Heart Association’s organization in Middle Tennessee, especially the Go Red for Women program.
She said she is planning an event for this fall in Murfreesboro that will promote heart health for mothers and their kids.
Matthews is the second woman from Murfreesboro to win a pageant this year. Rutherford County Public Health Director LaShan Dixon won the Mrs. United States of America title in February. Matthews said that Dixon is a friend of hers and that Dixon provided some pageant advice before Matthews entered her first one.
