By Maxim Tamarov, news editor

Nia Sanchez, the 2014 Miss USA winner, teamed up with Boston-based New Balance this weekend to promote the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and kick off October as  Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

As Miss USA, Sanchez is a spokesperson for breast and ovarian cancer education. She represented Nevada in the annual beauty pageant and will go on to represent the US in the Miss Universe pageant in Florida in January. Touring the country for her fundraisers, Sanchez found herself on the east coast for the first time this month. New Balance, her partner, is celebrating a 25-year anniversary of supporting Susan G. Komen.

“I’m here with New Balance and we are bringing more awareness to the Susan G. Komen race,” Sanchez said in a Sept. 25 interview. “It’s not just October when you can raise awareness and money for breast cancer awareness research. Through their retail lines that they have all year long, you can raise money for [breast cancer awareness and research].”

The Miss USA platform is centered on ovarian and breast cancer awareness. September and October are national ovarian and breast cancer awareness months, respectively. But various organizations have their own time periods to honor specific awarenesses.

“We were thrilled that Nia’s visit happened to fall during our annual ‘Passionately Pink’ week,” Carrie Garfield, the New Balance spokesperson, said in an e-mail to the News. Passionately Pink is a celebratory week that includes events throughout the New Balance building to help educate about, fundraise and raise awareness for breast cancer.

“Nia was able to interact with New Balance associates and congratulate them on raising more than $6,000 for the recent 2014 Komen Massachusetts Race for the Cure,” Garfield said.

Sanchez, who was born in Sacramento and now resides in Las Vegas, has always been an avid traveller. After high school, she had a brief stint working as a nanny in Europe and spending time in Hong Kong. Her philanthropic duties as Miss USA allow her to pursue her passion and promote causes the pageant has embraced.

“As Miss USA … I get to travel across the US. I get to work with different communities, whether it’s working with children in hospitals or it’s feeding the homeless,” Sanchez said. “It’s a whole wide range of responsibilities, but it’s fun and I love the travel aspect of it.”

Sanchez’s role in Boston is to advocate for the Komen fund, a not-for-profit organization, through the “Lace Up for the Cure” initiative. New Balance, which raised $1.75 million through the program last year, will donate five percent of all purchases to the Komen fund and promises to raise a minimum of $500,000.

The Massachusetts Komen race is focused on local programs, especially for people who have encountered barriers to care and treatment. The race funds clinical breast exams, mammograms, and diagnostic tests. Each year, individuals and teams that raise the most money for the race are featured on the event’s website.

“This is the 13th time that I’ve done it. And I walk, I don’t run, just to be clear,” Erna Place, a Needham-based doctor who has topped the fundraising for a second consecutive year this weekend, said. “I am a breast cancer survivor. That is definitely my motivation. I had fabulous healthcare in Boston — and Susan Komen really helps those women who don’t have access to fabulous care get it.”

Place said that although there have been recognitions in the past for such achievements, the process has lately been stream-lined to omit this stage. Place is happy with this decision, since it means more money is going towards the actual goal.

“75 percent of the money is staying here in Massachusetts to go towards breast cancer treatment, education [and] awareness programs,” Sanchez said. “The money that people in this state are donating is staying right here and helping their local programs.”

Besides travel and pageants, Sanchez is a taekwondo black belt and has been practicing the Korean martial art her entire life. She has also dabbled in dancing. Five years ago, she decided to try out for pageants.

“It was on a whim,” Sanchez said of her decision. “I was flipping through channels and I landed on the Miss USA competition and thought, ‘This could be fun. Might as well try it out.’ Once I entered I really loved the competition aspect of it but also the making friends.”

Despite some social preconceptions that pageants involve a great deal of fighting among the contestants, Sanchez explained that the atmosphere of competition was healthy, and her experiences with the pageant have been pleasant and beneficial.

“You learn how to interview. You learn how to have confidence in front of a big group of people,” Sanchez said.

Though the quintessential event of the annual pageant is its bathing suit show, Sanchez said she didn’t find the competition demeaning or misogynistic.

“That aspect of the pageant can really show your commitment and dedication to the goal that you’re pursuing,” Sanchez said. “It takes a lot of discipline to focus, eat healthy, work out, be in the gym — so I never felt sexualized.  It was more of an empowering type thing, because I worked so hard and I’m confident in who I am and I’m confident to present who I am.”

Photo courtesy Miss USA