How one devastating accident became the catalyst for a beauty queen’s mission to redefine empowerment for women worldwide
When Annastasia Mason looks in the mirror today, she doesn’t just see Ms. Universe® 2025. In fact, that is rarely what she sees. She sees every version of herself: the little girl who watched her model mother seem magical in front of cameras, the high school theater enthusiast later designing costumes backstage in college, the art teacher inspiring young minds, and most importantly, the woman who had to learn to smile again after losing it all…literally.
That last version? She’s the one who changed everything.
The Accident That Rewrote Her Story
Three years ago, what began as an ordinary afternoon with her youngest child ended in a split second that would reshape her entire life. A hoverboard accident resulted in a head/brain injury and severe dental trauma, leaving the Georgia native without her top teeth and unable to drive for over a year.
“There were days I couldn’t bear to look at my reflection,” she admits, her candor cutting through the polished veneer often associated with pageant winners. “But somewhere in that darkness, I made a decision: I refused to stay feeling broken.”
What followed wasn’t a quick fix or an overnight transformation. It was a painstaking journey of reconstruction—both physical and spiritual that is still a work in progress. With unwavering faith, friend & family mental support, and what she describes as a “divine encounter” with someone specific that she feels was placed in her path specifically to help her heal, Annastasia began rebuilding not just her smile and understanding of what beauty means, but her entire life.
“That accident became my one of my greatest teachers,” she reflects. “It absolutely demolished everything superficial and everything I felt I was to reveal what genuine strength and beauty actually look like if I was ready for the challenge.” She knew it would be a long hard road.
From Personal Pain to Global Platform
The woman who emerged from that experience didn’t just reclaim her confidence—she channeled her continuing transformation into a mission that now reaches women across continents. Today, Annastasia serves as Executive Director of Universe International®, overseeing global operations for Mrs. Universe®, Ms. Universe®, Miss Teen Universe®, and all associated Universe International ® titles.
But her real work and passions happen beyond the stage lights.
Through her empowerment brand, Positively You™—Mason focuses on domestic violence awareness and women’s empowerment through beauty, education, spirituality, and self-discovery. She encourages others to transform with her. Her signature program, Beauty From Ashes©, helps women transform their trauma into testimony, their pain into power.
“When I was young, I chased all the wrong metrics: fame, conventional beauty standards, money,” Mason explains. “Now I understand that real success is peace—living authentically with faith, love, and purpose driving every decision in hopes of helping others.”
It’s a philosophy born not from textbooks, but from lived experience, admittedly bad decisions along the way and plenty of hard knocks. Mason’s background in Art Education and Psychology, combined with teaching art to little ones and designing theater production costumes, and her naturally very curious and creative mind gave her the creative and genuine foundation she needed. However, it was her own journey through adversity, she feels, that gave her the authority to speak into other women’s lives with genuine understanding of the bad, the good and the in between.
Redefining What It Means to Wear a Crown
Approximately 6 months into her reign as Ms. Universe®, Mason is orchestrating a complete rebrand of the Universe International® organization. New visual identity, modernized digital presence, expanded opportunities in fashion, advocacy, and leadership—all designed with a singular vision: creating a platform where purpose matters as much as, if not more than, appearance, where faith and fierceness not only coexist but amplify each other and place where beauty is seen in everyone.
“This isn’t about making pageantry more palatable,” Mason clarifies. “It’s about fundamentally reimagining what these platforms can accomplish. Every woman deserves to recognize her own divine crown—not because of a competition result, but because she understands her inherent worth.”
Her upcoming projects reflect this expanded vision. An international empowerment retreat in Italy will bring together men and women seeking connection, healing, and transformation. Collaborations with global fashion designers and visionaries are underway. A cosmetics partnership launching during international fashion weeks has been merging her aesthetic expertise with her commitment to inner transformation while celebrating not only her achievements but others as well.
The Ministry of Self-Worth
Ask Annastasia about her ultimate goal, and she doesn’t talk about expanding her brand or accumulating titles. Instead, she returns to a deeply personal mission statement: “I want every woman who has ever felt ‘not enough’ to stand tall and declare, ‘No way, not today, Satan!'” She understands that journey.
It’s bold language, unabashedly spiritual, and exactly the kind of authentic voice that resonates with women tired of empowerment messages that feel sanitized, corporate or disingenuous. Mason’s approach—rooted in her deep faith but welcoming to all on a global scale—acknowledges the spiritual dimension of rebuilding self-worth after trauma.
“My dream is witnessing every woman walk in her divine confidence,” she says. “That’s what Ms. Universe® truly represents—not perfection, but the light that emerges when you embrace your purpose, resilience, and grace despite everything trying to dim it.”
A Blueprint for Rising
From a small-town Georgia girl appearing in commercials with her mother to a global figure reshaping how women’s empowerment organizations operate, Mason’s trajectory offers something increasingly rare: a success story that doesn’t airbrush the struggle.
“Life will absolutely knock you down,” she says, and there’s no Instagram-filter prettiness in the statement. “But here’s what I learned: your crown is waiting for you in those ashes and every time you doubt that just remember that our higher power created us to be prosperous and celebrated. The question isn’t whether you’ll fall—it’s whether you’ll rise. I fight my own battle daily to show you that you, indeed, can! “
For the thousands of women now following her journey on social media and participating in her programs, Mason represents proof that the fall doesn’t write the final chapter. The rise does.
And sometimes, the most powerful thing you can do is share your scars while wearing your crown and she admits that can be a very vulnerable place but is a very healing place—showing other women that both can exist simultaneously, and that the combination might be exactly what changes everything.
Connect with Annastasia:
Website Coming Soon: AnnastasiaMason.com
Instagram: @MsUniverse.2025 | @PositivityIsEmpowering
Facebook: @Annastasia.L.Mason | Warrior Women International™ community groups
Photo credits: MM Photography and BTA Productions
Hair and Makeup: Positively You™
Stylist: Positively You™Empowerment Studio