By Geena Monahan—For the North Star Reporter
North Attleborough’s Faith O’Hanlon — a pilot, pianist and heart health advocate — has added another title to her résumé as the newest Miss Boston.
The 20-year-old earned her place on the state stage after rising to the top of a 28-contestant field, and will compete for Miss Massachusetts on June 19 and 20 at the Hanover Theatre.
“I felt very proud just to be standing there next to 27 incredibly talented women,” O’Hanlon said. “That in itself was an honor. So to hear my name called was a blessing.”
The one-day competition began with morning interviews and concluded with an evening pageant, capping months of preparation.
“There are so many phases of competition,” she said. “I’ve been doing mock interviews for months. For talent, I’m already practicing constantly as a piano performance major. There’s staying fit, working with a walking coach — there’s a lot involved. But it’s all very fun. The preparation is honestly my favorite part.”
O’Hanlon first entered the Miss America competition as a high school junior in 2022, competing in the teen division for two years before advancing to the Miss category for women ages 18 to 28.
“My first-ever pageant was in this organization, and I’ve stuck with it ever since,” she said.
Now a sophomore at Auburn University, O’Hanlon is pursuing concurrent degrees in professional flight and piano performance — two demanding disciplines that require equal parts precision and composure.
She has played piano for more than a decade and has competed extensively, a talent she will showcase on the Miss Massachusetts stage with a performance of “Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat Minor” by Frédéric Chopin.
Aviation, she said, began as an unexpected interest in high school.
“I don’t have any family ties to aviation,” she said. “When I started, I didn’t even know anyone who was a pilot.”
Today, O’Hanlon holds a Federal Aviation Administration private pilot license for single-engine land aircraft, allowing her to fly solo and carry passengers, and is working toward her instrument rating. That training was tested last year when an engine failed mid-flight.
“Luckily, we landed back at the airport safely,” she said. “It was very memorable. But ultimately, it made me a better pilot.”
The experience reinforced the mindset she brings to both aviation and competition.
“You learn how to stay calm under stressful situations,” O’Hanlon said. “I don’t really look at things with regret. I look at them as lessons or blessings. That mindset translates to pageants and everything else I do.”
Advocacy rooted in family
O’Hanlon’s community service initiative, Hope for Hearts, is inspired by her younger sister who was born with a rare congenital heart defect and has undergone multiple heart surgeries, including a nine-hour experimental open-heart procedure last summer.
“Growing up with a sister with a critical condition like that is very difficult for a family,” O’Hanlon said. “But I’m incredibly grateful to be from a family that turns negatives into positives.”
Her mother founded Sisters at Heart, a North Attleborough-based nonprofit supporting families affected by congenital heart disease. O’Hanlon’s initiative, developed during her time in Miss America, builds on that mission.
“You take something overwhelming and sad and turn it into bettering yourself and leaving the world better for people like my sister,” she said.
O’Hanlon has partnered with the American Heart Association and local nonprofits and has helped install more than 30 publicly accessible automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, in communities near her hometown.
“The things that don’t get shared are often the most impactful,” she said. “There are families quietly being helped every day. A lot of that work happens in silence.”
She has authored a children’s book, “Princess Valentine’s Perfectly Important Heart,” to ease anxiety for young patients facing heart procedures, which emerged after watching her sister struggle emotionally before surgery in 2020.
“The anxiety she felt before the operation was almost worse than the operation itself,” O’Hanlon said. “She was only 8 or 9 years old. It’s hard to explain something like that to a child in a lighthearted way.”
The book has sold more than 1,000 copies, with all proceeds supporting heart disease research.
Representing Boston — and home
As Miss Boston, O’Hanlon will hold the title for one year, balancing public appearances with continued preparation for Miss Massachusetts. She plans to attend community events throughout Boston, including the South Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade, while continuing her heart health advocacy.
Winning Miss Massachusetts, she said, would allow her to expand her platform and grow Hope for Hearts statewide.
“I’d love to install even more publicly accessible AEDs in communities across Massachusetts,” she said. “And to advocate on a national level — to share my story and my sister’s story — that would be life-changing.”
Through it all, she remains deeply connected to North Attleborough. She credits local organizations such as the North Attleborough-Plainville Rotary Club and her education at Bishop Feehan High School with shaping her work ethic and values.
“I think we have really good, respectable people in this town,” O’Hanlon said. “I’m incredibly proud to be from here.”
When asked what she hopes young girls in town see when they look at her, O’Hanlon’s message is clear.
“I want them to realize they can be or do anything they want,” she said. “I’m a first-generation aviator in a predominantly male field. That doesn’t take away from the fact that I can also be a beauty queen. You really can do both.”