Rosalie Taormina Crowned NAM New Mexico Elite, Starts Rise with Rosalie Series
Rio Rancho resident Rosalie Taormina, 29, was crowned National American Miss New Mexico Elite 2026 and launched "Rise with Rosalie," a thrice-weekly video series advising foster youth while often wearing her crown.
Rosalie Taormina of Rio Rancho used her new title as National American Miss New Mexico Elite 2026 to launch Rise with Rosalie, a social-media video series that posts thrice-weekly videos aimed at advising and encouraging foster youth and often shows Taormina wearing her crown in everyday settings. Taormina, 29, was new to pageantry after receiving a letter in the mail last year inviting her to an open call and then competing in Scottsdale in June 2025 in the NAM 24-39 age division.
Taormina grew up as a foster child and says she channels her preteen and teenage foster-care experience into the Rise with Rosalie project. She framed the initiative as part of a personal mission statement developed during her pageantry journey, not as a requirement from the National American Miss organization. "I always wanted to do better and be better," Taormina said, and she described the crown and platform as driving that aim: "This (achievement) is one of the bigger things that will help me become the woman I am already becoming."
Locally, Taormina balances the initiative with two Bay Area employers in Rio Rancho: she manages On the Spot Automotive Detailing and works as a financial representative with Primerica. Breanne Ewing, executive director for NAM New Mexico, described Rise with Rosalie as "empowering and deeply impactful." The NAM New Mexico Instagram presence for the title lists an official account notation and invites inquiries with the instruction to DM @iam_breanneewing for pageant details.
Taormina’s pageant path began with that mailed invitation and her debut in Scottsdale in June 2025; the profile reporting notes she is six months into her reign. Competing in the NAM 24-39 division, Taormina moved quickly from open-call invite to state titleholder and has used the early months of her reign to produce the series and raise visibility for foster-care experiences in Sandoval County and surrounding communities.
Rise with Rosalie’s format and frequency position it as a grassroots resource that could influence local conversations about supports for foster youth in Rio Rancho. By posting thrice-weekly, often-crown-wearing videos, Taormina aims to model stability and practical advice for young people who have lived in foster care and to amplify lived experience alongside the visibility of a state pageant title. Executive director Ewing’s endorsement underscores how the pageant platform and Taormina’s local work intersect.
As Taormina continues producing Rise with Rosalie from Rio Rancho while managing On the Spot Automotive Detailing and working with Primerica, her dual roles and NAM New Mexico Elite title anchor a public-facing effort to turn personal foster-care experience into regular outreach for youth in Sandoval County.
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