Canton Woman Heads To Arizona For 'Mrs. America' Pageant

PLYMOUTH (WWJ) - She's not Miss Michigan, she's Mrs. Michigan -- and this weekend a Canton mother of two will compete in the Mrs. America pageant in Tuscon, Arizona.

Lisa Hemmie may look like a real housewife, but the blonde hair, blue-eyed former Marine says she's anything but that.

"You get to be a woman, you know, at a certain age you start to do some things a little bit differently and you know, you do sometimes just wake up and go 'You know, I want a new challenge,'" she said.

And that challenge is becoming Mrs. America.

"Obviously, it's made up first and foremost of married women. Most of us, you know, have been around a little bit longer so we're a little more experienced."

The 43-year-old says she doesn't really doesn't have "pageant pedigree" but along the way to wining the crown, she's learned some tricks of the trade.

"Spanx are a must for any pageant queen," Hemmie said laughing. "It just smooths everything out. So, yeah all those things are absolutely true, we do all that stuff."

Mrs. Michigan doesn't compete for the crown through a talent, but rather through tests of fitness, elegance in an evening gown and the interview section -- which she says is the most important part. The issue Hemmie is talking about is bullying.

"Everybody has been affected by the nature of bullying at some point in their life. It's certainly taken a different turn now-a-day that it was, say 20 years ago," she said.

You can watch the pageant and see the winner crowned online at www.mrsamerica.com.