Texas Heart Institute (THI) partners with leaders in different communities – from Gold Medal Olympians to heart transplant survivors to beauty pageant participants and community advocates – to train and prepare them to become Heart Health Ambassadors. One of THI’s current Heart Health Ambassadors is Alexandra Wallace, a bio-chem major at University of Mississippi and Miss Capital City Tennessee 2017/2018. Since becoming an Ambassador, Alex has launched Project Heart in Mississippi and Tennessee, sharing her personal story with cardiovascular disease and promoting heart health awareness among children and adults in these states.

The work she has done with THI and Project Heart was used as her personal platform in the Miss Tennessee Scholarship Pageant. At the competition, her platform – Project Heart: Keep Your Beat – was awarded third alternate for the Jean Bartel Quality of Life Award, which recognizes contestants who are committed to enhancing the quality of life of those within her community through volunteerism.

Watch the video below to learn more about the work Alex has been doing as an Ambassador for THI and why it is important to her.