We are so excited to introduce you to Christine Merrill as our Mom Feature Friday! Thanks for the opportunity to feature you, Christine! We wanted this mama to be able to share her story directly with you! Take it away, Christine ⬇️

“I am a Christian, wife, mother to 2 boys age 1 and 5 and step mother to two age 10 and 12 boys. I own and am CEO for HAND NUTRITION supplement company and alongside my husband an SVP for Primerica Financial Services. I was Miss Mississippi is 2008 and competed in Miss America 2009. I have a degree in Theatre and Dance and have landed speaking roles in NICS, Scream Queens, a National Popeyes commercial and a one liner in the movie Bad Moms. 

In January of 2022 while 12 weeks pregnant with our second son, my husband Tommy was shot and killed just yards away from me and our 2 year old son. That week my family moved us and the business back home here to D’Iberville and I bought the home next door to my parents. 

Shortly after having the baby, through nothing short of the Lord’s plan, an old friend and I reconnected. My now husband, Sean Merrill was actually the agent who delivered the death claim for my Tommy. You see, when I was 19, I worked for Sean as his first licensed agent with Primerica. I left the business to pursue acting, but when Tommy and I decided to start a family we called Sean to come write our life insurance policy. He now lovingly fathers my 2 sons as his own after being raise himself by a stepfather he called Dad who he lost a couple years back.”

Christine recently competed in America’s Most Beautiful Mrs Pageant, and was crowned “Americas Most Beautiful Mrs 2024”!

“After 12 years outside of the pageant world it felt very surreal being able to compete once again.  I wasn’t aware of Mrs. pageants to be honest and so I had counted pageantry as a checked box and closed door. After becoming a wife, mother, widow, business owner, and now newlywed, my life looks very different from the last time I competed. Being able to compete as a mother and woman with so much life experience was eye-opening for me. My world and my purpose was so much bigger than myself. Putting myself back under pressure, performing, and working towards a national title fulfilled two principals I had set for myself back in 2023.

To dream again and to give myself permission to pursue self alongside being a wife and mother. So often we as mothers and wives will put ourselves on the back burner for years that turn into decades until we have all but lost our identity. 

To SHOW my children to strive for excellence instead of just telling them. To BE an example in their life for going after their goals instead of only pointing to others.”

When asked to share one piece of advice to all the mamas out there, this is what she said:

“You will never be who you were before children so stop chasing her — take her passions, her dreams, some of her innocency, and all of her childlike qualities, and become the mother/ wife/ whatever else you want to be whole package. And know it will be chaotic, it will never be as efficient, and definitely never as glamorous. But when the babies are gone, we will all wish they still lived at home no matter how many messes there were. So embrace both. Don’t lose yourself… but don’t let the years pass you by without relishing in them either.