A former Miss North Carolina died at just 22 following a “courageous battle” with cancer, her heartbroken family announced on Monday.
Carrie Everett, the 2024 Miss North Carolina pageant winner, died Sunday, less than a year after she was diagnosed with a rare but aggressive form of cancer.
Everett clinched the coveted Miss North Carolina crown at the annual pageant while she was still a full-time student at North Carolina Central University.
The beauty queen was diagnosed with metastatic signet ring cell carcinoma — a rare and aggressive gastric cancer — just one year later, in the summer of 2025, according to a GoFundMe organized by her family.
“This is happening for a reason, and God has allowed me to use my voice to give a voice to others,” Everett said at the time.
She started undergoing chemotherapy in hopes of staving off the worst of the cancer.
But in a March 21 update, her family announced the treatment wasn’t working.
Everett, a devout Christian, died on Easter Sunday, just 15 days later.
She was an accomplished vocalist and was set to graduate from North Carolina Central University with a degree in vocal performance in 2027, HBCU Gameday reported.
“The cries of her heart became songs that stirred the spirits of everyone who had the pleasure of hearing her sing. She lived a full life, and with her last words, on stage and in life, she proclaimed the goodness of God. Her impact on this world is undeniable, and we will carry on her legacy of advocacy and praise,” her family wrote.
Everett was also dedicated to her self-founded “We Need Equity To Build Communities” initiative, which aims to topple systemic barriers in society so that more young women can join the Miss America community, according to her pageant biography.
She was always candid about the invisible barriers that block many aspiring beauty queens from entering the pageant — namely, the compounding costs beyond the entry fee.
Everett herself showed up at the 2024 Miss North Carolina pageant with just $40 in her pocket, according to HBCU Gameday. In her victory speech, she credited her community that “surrounded [her] and backed [her].”
She was also the first student or alumna of a historically black college or university (HBCU) to be crowned Miss North Carolina.
The GoFundMe organized by her family continued to receive an outpouring of donations even after Everett’s death was announced. It inched over $70,000 on Monday.