LOVINGTON, N.M. – During her reign as Miss Rodeo America, Emma Cameron will have traveled approximately 50,000 miles as the official ambassador of ProRodeo.
None, though, will be as sweet as those she maneuvers in her home state of New Mexico. She will return to the Lea County Fair and Rodeo, set for 7 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; that also includes Lea County Xtreme Bulls, which is Tuesday.
“There aren’t many places you can go where rodeo so purely relates to the life story as it does here in New Mexico,” Cameron told New Mexico Magazine earlier this year. “Everywhere in the country has rodeo, but in New Mexico, it truly translates to the people here and the life here.”
From Santa Fe, Cameron was crowned the New Mexico High School Rodeo Association’s queen in 2016. A year later, she won the National High School Rodeo Association queen title, becoming the first New Mexican to win the crown in nearly 50 years.
She graduated with honors from Cornell University and worked as a commodity risk management analyst in the Midwest before taking a job as a diagnostic technical specialist in the animal-health industry in the Southwest. After serving her role in ProRodeo, she plans to attend law school. For now, though, she is going to events across North America representing the sport she loves.
“You hit the ground running, and you have that whole last week of the (National) Finals in Vegas,” Cameron said. “Then right after the new year, you get on the road to Denver and have to learn as you go. The support system behind Miss Rodeo America makes it a really smooth, enjoyable transition, so I’ve been really grateful for that.
“You learn so much that you didn’t know, not only about rodeo and how rodeos work, but also about yourself and how you see the world and what you want to do. It’s a really phenomenal experience.”
Her reign will end this December, when the next Miss Rodeo America is crowned in Las Vegas during the pageant held in conjunction with the National Finals Rodeo.
“It’s really a dream come true,” Cameron told the Albuquerque Journal. “I’ve been doing pageants for 15 years now. It was really special because I remember the moment when I was a child meeting Miss Rodeo USA.
“It’s my turn to carry that torch.”