Reigning Miss Cicero on a mission to improve mental health in Latinx community
CHICAGO (CBS) -- This weekend a brand-new Miss Illinois was crowned in downstate Marion, and we wanted you to meet one of the Chicago area contestants who stood out: Natalie Baeza, Miss Cicero, whose platform comes from a personal mission to improve mental health in the Latinx community.
"It's the first time Cicero competes in the Miss Illinois [Scholarship] Organization so this is something exciting for me," said Baeza, a mental health counselor at MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn.
How important was it to her to represent not only west suburban Cicero, and the Latnix community, but her platform?
"It's first started off with my platform. So, educating Latinos about mental health, it was a big issue for me, because coming from a Hispanic background, we lack the education about that," she said. "Growing up, we don't get educated or know about stress and anxiety; all these stuff that … we weren't aware about, and I want to let it known to the world that it's something important that we should all know and educate our young people, especially because that's where all starts."
Baeza has made a career out of this issue, working as a mental health counselor at MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn. She said she has seen results in communicating the importance of mental health with other people she's worked with.
"I even went as far went as far as going to the Cook County Board to initiate my topics about mental health, and to bring more funding into our community; not only in Cicero, but Stickney, Berwyn, everywhere, you know? And it was something really big for me to make this change, and I have seen improvement a lot," she said.
She plans to compete again in Miss Illinois next year.
"I do plan on coming back. We'll see, because school and work coming together was a struggle, but I definitely made it happen, and I'm planning on coming back next year," she said.
Baeza did not make the top 10 this past weekend, but she's ready to compete again in 2024, and she said she'll keep mental health in Latinx communities as her platform.
