Allison was born and raised in the small state of Rhode Island. As a child, she excelled in athleticism and prided herself in being a Tom Boy. She was strongly influenced by her family to exceed in mu ...Show More
Allison was born and raised in the small state of Rhode Island. As a child, she excelled in athleticism and prided herself in being a Tom Boy. She was strongly influenced by her family to exceed in multiple sports. However, nothing would influence her as much as her babysitter and female role model. The moment Allison saw her competing on TV at Miss Teen USA, she knew that it was something she aspired to do. Pageantry did not come easily to Ms. Paganetti. She felt like an outcast and that only fueled her desire to compete. Every time she took the stage and walked away empty handed, she vowed to try again with the lessons she learned. Outside of her hidden pageant life, Allison spent her extra time coaching cheerleading for her sister's youth team and being an athletic mentor with the Special Olympics. Coaching became another platform for Ms. Paganetti to compete in a way that was least expected of her. She became the first local youth cheerleading coach ever to have a team place at states. The next two years she broke three more records. She became the first coach to win a state championship, which was the first state title for JV and the following year was the first state title for the Varsity squad. Following September 11th, 2001, Allison gave up competing to serve her country. Her dreams of enlisting in the Marines were halted by the influence of her grandfather, a retired Naval Officer. At the end of her senior year of high school, she was granted a full ROTC scholarship to the University of Rhode Island. While attending URI she studied Kinesiology and excelled as an athlete within her ROTC Battalion. By her sophomore year, her desire to compete outside of her cadet life drove her back to pageants. Taking the stage again was the furthest she could get from her current state of preparing to go to war. Allison was never the best when it came to pageants. She devoted an entire year to making a comeback like no other. On her final attempt, she was crowned Miss Rhode Island USA 2005 and competed at Miss USA in Baltimore, Maryland. Shortly after Miss USA, Allison was shipped to Fort Lewis, Washington to attend her Cadet evaluation. While at the Leadership Development Assessment Course (LDAC) she became the only Cadet from her Battalion to achieve RECONDO for her advanced ranking in all evaluated fields. Ms. Paganetti claims that 2015 was the most stressful and time-consuming year of her life. She acknowledges that her fierce dedication and fear of failure was in spite of all the people claiming that she not capable of taking on what she had set out to accomplish. This projected her voice in supporting and educating young girls in athletics, dealing with insecurities and pushing the limits beyond stereotypes. The day Allison graduated college she was commissioned into active duty as a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army. She completed training schools at both Fort Benning and Fort Gordon, Georgia before finally being stationed at Fort Huachuca, Arizona with the 11th Signal Brigade. From December 2007 to March 2009, Allison deployed to central Baghdad, Iraq. During her deployment, she was the battle captain of the Regional Network Operations Security Center. Upon her redeployment back to the US, she changed positions to the Public Affairs Officer (PAO) of the Brigade. In 2010, Allison opted for an Honorable Discharge from service and relocated to Los Angeles, California. Hide
