(Bridget Bennett | The New York Times) Hannah Neeleman, last year’s Mrs. American pageant winner, holds her newborn daughter, Flora Jo, as she gets ready for the Mrs. World beauty pageant at the Westgate Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in January 2024. A recent profile by the British paper The Times launched a heated debate that tore through Latter-day Saint blogs, social media and text threads between friends and family. At the core of the debate is whether Neeleman is a victim or an inspiration.
Tamarra Kemsley has been a reporter at The Tribune since 2021 but has been covering religion and politics since 2019. Her work has appeared in Religion News Service, the New York Post, and Religion & Politics. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Brigham Young University and a master’s in Islamic studies from Hebrew University.