Page 9 - MVA Book

The HostS
Shandi FinnesseY HigginS
Shandi Finnessey was crowned Miss USA in 2004 and was first runner up to Miss Universe later that year. As Miss USA, she championed the causes of breast and ovarian cancer education, research, and legislation helping raise over 30 million dollars for breast and ovarian cancer research.
An honors graduate from Lindenwood University, she received a BS in Psychology in three and a half years and conducted research on androgyny published in the SEPA Journal.
Shandi enjoys promoting inclusion of individuals with mental challenges and authored a children's book titled "The Furrtails," for which she won the distinguished AWMAD for Authors Who Make a Difference.
Shandi moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the entertainment industry and became a host on GSN’s highest rated game show, Lingo, as well as the late-night live game show, Playmania. She also hosted CBS’ The Ultimate Blackjack Tour, served as a color-commentator for the 2006 & 2011 Miss Universe Pageants, competed on the 4th season of Dancing With The Stars as well as NBC's Ready For Love. Most recently, she was an entertainment host on the nationally syndicated entertainment news show, OK! TV.
Her dedication to health and fitness moved her to become a pescatarian in 2008, eating mostly a plant-based diet. She recently launched her own special “green drink” to help promote a healthy diet on GreensofGratitude. com. She now lives in Tennessee with her husband, their three sons, Finn, Bodhi and Charlie, their Maltese fur- baby, Cricket, rescue cat, Bugsy, and a farm filled with animals!
Hayley LewiS
Hayley Lewis grew up as a head football coach’s daughter and the sister of a D1 football player so conversing about sports has always been second nature. She joined the Kansas City NBC Sports team in 2019 after returning to her hometown from Eugene, Oregon where she worked as a sports reporter and anchor for the local ABC station. Prior to working for the ABC affiliate, Hayley reported for WKRN News 2 in Nashville while attending Belmont University. As an intern, she covered sporting events for Belmont, Vanderbilt University and Middle Tennessee State University.
She graduated with honors from Belmont University with a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Music Business and a minor in Classical Vocal Performance. During her senior year at Belmont, Hayley pursued a career in sports broadcasting as on-air talent. In addition to interning for WKRN, Hayley served as a sports reporter for Belmont Athletics and the Ohio Valley Conference, covering games across the conference. She also covered sporting events on ESPNU, ABC, radio sports shows, as well as the TSSAA State Championship tournament, OVC tournament, and NCAA
Tournament Selection Show.
Hayley's life has always been centered in sports, but her career pursuit truly began in 2014 when she captured the title of Miss Tennessee. She placed in the Top Six at Nationals during her year and traveled as the Governor’s Official Spokesperson for Character Education, traveling over 80,000 miles and speaking to over 50,000 school children about character and respect. Her tenure as Miss Tennessee included numerous spokesperson roles and TV appearances, which perfectly prepared Hayley for her career today. Hayley’s talents have taken her to the Final Four, the Rose Bowl, she has covered the PAC-12, the College World Series and two Super Bowls.