Rebecca Bledsoe is a former beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Delaware

Miss Delaware

The Miss Delaware competition is the pageant that selects the representative of Delaware in the Miss America pageant. The event takes place annually in the month of June and is currently held in the state capital of Dover, Delaware at the Dover Downs Hotel and Casino...

 2005 and ranked as a Non-Finalist Talent Award winner at the Miss America

Miss America

The Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...

 2006 pageant. Bledsoe attended Middletown High School in Middletown, Delaware

Middletown, Delaware

Middletown is a town in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the town is 18,871.-Geography:Middletown is located at with an elevation of ....

 and is a 2004 graduate of the University of Delaware

University of Delaware

The university is organized into seven colleges:* College of Agriculture and Natural Resources* College of Arts and Sciences* Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics* College of Earth, Ocean and Environment* College of Education and Human Development...

 with a degree in English. She became the first known Hispanic

Hispanic

Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...

 Miss Delaware, as her maternal grandmother is Puerto Rican

Puerto Rican people

A Puerto Rican is a person who was born in Puerto Rico.Puerto Ricans born and raised in the continental United States are also sometimes referred to as Puerto Ricans, although they were not born in Puerto Rico...

.

Bledsoe competed three times for the title of Miss Delaware. She was a non-finalist contestant in 2002 and 2003. She took a year off from competing in 2004 and completed school. She returned to the Miss Delaware pageant in 2005 where she captured the preliminary talent award and the crown. She spent her year of service as Miss Delaware advocating against domestic violence

Domestic violence

Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...

 and was a 2006 recipient of the Verizon Wireless HopeLine Award.

Since crowning her successor, Bledsoe has appeared in a cabaret act in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

and is pursuing a career in the entertainment industry. She has also served as a volunteer for the Miss Delaware Organization.