Confidence is not always something you are born with. Sometimes, it is something you build through challenges, setbacks and the courage to keep going. For Hillsborough College (HC) alumna and Miss Florida USA 2026 Aileen Cerchiara, that journey led from nursing school to the Miss USA stage, where she represented Florida and finished as first runner-up to Miss USA 2026. Today, she draws on the lessons she has learned along the way to advocate for cancer awareness, champion health and wellness and encourage others to recognize their own potential.
Long before she stepped onto the pageant stage, Aileen was focused on a different kind of calling: nursing. A Tampa native and graduate of Strawberry Crest High School, she began taking dual-enrollment courses at Hillsborough College while still in high school before entering the nursing program at 18.
As one of the youngest students in her cohort, she faced doubts about whether she was ready for the demands of the program. Rather than letting those doubts define her, she used them as motivation to keep pushing forward.
As she moved through the program, Aileen began building the confidence to trust her abilities, a process that was strengthened by the support of her classmates. They leaned on one another, shared study strategies and encouraged each other through the challenges of nursing school.
For Aileen, those relationships reinforced an important lesson she would carry with her beyond the classroom.
“When we work together, we really build each other up.”
Her determination was also shaped by experiences beyond nursing school. Aileen balanced her studies and job as a server while her father was undergoing chemotherapy. Watching her father undergo treatment after his cancer diagnosis when she was 12 sparked her interest in nursing and gave her a personal connection to the work she hoped to pursue.
Although balancing school, work and family responsibilities was challenging, she continued moving forward.
Today, she has no regrets about the path she took.
“I wouldn’t take any shortcuts,” she said.
As she approached the end of nursing school, Aileen realized she had spent so much time pouring into her education, career and family, that she had neglected her own well-being. She reached a point where she knew something needed to change.
By making her health a priority and becoming more intentional about her own well-being, she developed a stronger sense of self-confidence.
That experience helped shape a philosophy she would later carry into her personal brand.
“You don’t find your glow—you build it.”
As Aileen continued growing and challenging herself, she began exploring a new path through pageantry. Having spent more than 15 years modeling, she was encouraged by her mother to consider competing.
What began as a new challenge soon became an opportunity to connect with others in a different way.
“I realized that pageantry is so much more than smiling and looking super polished,” she said. “Pageantry is about sharing a message. It’s about connecting with others, building that rapport and those relationships and connections.”
Aileen found that the communication and relationship-building skills she developed as a nurse also translated naturally to the pageant world, helping her connect with audiences advocate for causes she cares about and share her story in a meaningful way.
Her path to the Miss Florida USA title was built through persistence and a willingness to keep challenging herself. During her first competition, she did not have a team behind her and handled her own hair and makeup and still earned a spot in the top five.
She returned the following year, finishing as first runner-up at Miss Florida USA in 2025 before earning the state title in July 2026.
Reflecting on the experience of coming so close to winning, she said pageantry taught her how to lose before winning.
She carried that perspective into the next competition, representing Florida at Miss USA in August 2026 and continuing to build on the resilience and confidence she had developed throughout her journey.
For Aileen, advocacy is one of the most meaningful parts of her role as Miss Florida USA. After losing her father to leukemia, she became passionate about raising awareness of leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).
Through her campaign, Making Days Significant, and her partnership with the National MDS Foundation, she works to educate others, advocate for patients and families and support fundraising efforts.
One of her proudest moments came when she served as the keynote speaker at the 2025 Move for MDS event in Tampa.
She described it as a full-circle experience, bringing together her work as a nurse, her advocacy campaign and her title.
“The crown and the sash, more than anything, allow me to spotlight these things.”
Her advocacy also extends to healthcare workers, particularly those who served during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she began her own nursing career.
“There were so many times when I felt like I wasn't listened to, valued or appreciated,” she said.
Now, she uses her platform to help highlight the work and experiences of healthcare professionals.
Looking back, Aileen credits Hillsborough College with helping lay the foundation for both her nursing career and the person she has become. From the professors who guided her to the classmates who became lifelong friends, she says the experience helped shape her path in ways that continue to influence her today.
She hopes her journey encourages current students to keep moving forward, even when the road ahead feels uncertain.
“The challenges we go through in life, they don’t define who you are. It’s the way that we can rise above them,” she said. “All of that started in my school system, and so I’m very grateful for HC.”