By: Isabelle Puente
The Miss Tennessee Volunteer 2027 winner is … Miss Madison County Karenna Rainey. The
finals for the Miss Tennessee Volunteer pageant were held Saturday, July 25 at the Carl Perkins
Civic Center.
“I was in a state of shock and I honestly feel like I’m still in a state of shock because, it was a
dream that I have been working towards since I was 13,” Rainey said. “It’s a dream I’ve had in
my heart since I was 11 years old, so it was just a full circle moment.”
Rainey, an Adamsville native, and 2024 graduate from the University of Tennessee Martin with a Bachelor of Science in Health and Human Performance degree, started her pageant journey when she was just two years old.
She started officially competing in multi-category pageants when she was 13, and was a frequent visitor to the Carl Perkins Civic Center to watch the Miss Tennessee Volunteer pageant.
Now, she holds the same title she watched others win as a little girl.
When asked what Miss Tennessee Volunteer means to her, Rainey said the crown and the title
carry so much weight that she is honored to have and she is ready and prepared. She explained the years in her past have built her for this moment and have prepared her to carry this legacy.
Rainey said that the pageant isn’t about sparkly dresses and photos for social media but about the work that goes on behind the scenes.
She showed gratitude towards the sponsors that help put on the pageant saying if it wasn’t for them, she wouldn’t have been able to graduate debt free. Now, she is also able to pursue a Master’s degree in Strategic and Digital Communications debt free, with the goal of becoming the public information officer for the TBI.
Rainey explained that she has been in pageantry for 11 years and until now she has never won a state or teen state title.
However, during those years she said that she learned so much about herself and every time she was told no, it helped her grow through her ideas and what she stands for. Rainey’s biggest inspiration throughout her career has been her mom, who she said is her biggest encourager and has always lifted her up especially when she couldn’t lift herself up.
“We were taking photos after and I asked ‘Has anyone seen my mom, like is she okay?’, and they told me you get to see your parents last because you get emotional,” Rainey said. “But she ran up to me and the very first thing she said was ‘You did it!’, and I was like ‘No, we did it, this is just as much yours as it is mine’”.
Through her new title and platform, Rainey will be an ambassador for St. Jude Children’s
Research Hospital as well as The Salvation Army. She will also use her title to grow her personal
platform, S.M.A.R.T, which stands for social media and responsible technology awareness.
Through S.M.A.R.T, Rainey hopes to give kids across Tennessee the empowerment and
knowledge to safely navigate the internet.
Rainey said that while working with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation she learned that in 2025, over 22,000 children had been exploited online in some way. She explained that if her new title can help her help just one child navigate the internet safely, then all of her work will have been worth it.
(PHOTO: Karenna Rainey, Miss Tennessee Volunteer)
