BUFORD, Ga. — When Paige Ewing stepped onto the stage at the 2025 Mrs. Georgia America Pageant, she wasn’t just competing for a crown — she was carrying the weight of a story marked by deep loss, healing and renewed purpose.
The two-day event, held June 28–29 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Roswell, welcomed contestants from across the state. For Ewing, a Buford mother of two and fourth-generation business owner, the pageant marked a return to the spotlight nearly 20 years after placing first runner-up in 2006.
“I was so young and newly married then,” Ewing said. “My desire to be a wife to Michael and start a family took center stage, and I thought my pageant days were behind me.”
Now, nearly two decades later, Ewing reentered the competition not for applause, but to lead by example and to inspire others with her resilience.
In the 30 days leading up to the pageant, she launched a daily social media series sharing her personal journey, from the glitz and glamor of pageantry to the grief and healing that shaped her life.
Between 2015 and 2022, Ewing and her sister, Jessica Curran, experienced the loss of eight close family members, including both parents, their only brother, and three grandparents. In the midst of that pain, Ewing also endured a medical error that left her undergoing unnecessary surgery and in recovery for 12 months.
“The grief was relentless,” she said. “My sister and I faced it all — weight loss, brain fog, depression, ulcers, shingles, strained marriages. And those breakdowns on the kitchen floor while raising small children — that was real life.”
Determined not to let grief define her, Ewing pursued a Trauma-Informed Grief Certification through Blythe Landry’s “Grief to Purpose” course. She began using her story to help others navigating similar loss.
“My purpose is to bring hope and healing to hurting hearts and to help others flourish in their higher calling,” she said.
Known by many as the “Good Grief Girlfriend,” Ewing has built a platform centered on empathy, empowerment and education. Her signature phrase — “Because good grief, girlfriend… you’ve been through a lot” — has resonated with women across the state.
For Ewing, the pageant wasn’t just about the stage. “It was a countdown to personal redemption,” she said. “A declaration that beauty isn’t about hiding your pain, but honoring the journey it took to heal.”
She also seeks to change the narrative around grief itself.
“The most harmful misconception about grief is that it can be fixed,” she said. “It can’t, because it’s meant to be experienced, and it never, ever leaves you.”
She likens grief not to weakness, but to love. “I like to imagine grief, when it shows up, not as a negative emotion that shows weakness, but as a dance partner wanting to move through the current moment with you,” Ewing said. “Grief isn’t the enemy, it’s the evidence of great love.”
As she stood under the pageant lights once more, Ewing wasn’t striving for perfection. She was showing that true strength is forged through hardship and that choosing to shine after darkness may be a woman’s greatest triumph.
With the Mrs. Georgia America crown in hand, Ewing will represent the state at the Mrs. America Pageant on Aug. 27, 2025, in Las Vegas. There, she will compete in the interview, swimwear and evening gown categories.
Professionally, Ewing plans to launch a 12-week guided grief course this fall, designed for high-achieving mothers coping with the loss of a parent or sibling. Pre-registration is available at www.paigeewing.studio. She also plans to tour Georgia to offer speaking engagements focused on grief education, literacy and emotional support.
Despite her busy schedule, Ewing remains firmly grounded in her Buford roots, cheering on her daughters as a Buford Competition Cheer and Women’s Golf mom, directing the Little Miss Buford Pageant, working as a headshot photographer at Favored Studio, and supporting her husband, Michael, a 10-time Gwinnett “Best Pre-Owned Car Dealer” award winner at Ewing Motor Company.
