Miss Idaho Elite advocates for 'giving the gift of life'

Lifelong Post Falls resident Rebecca Luciani has a pretty strong resume. Air Force veteran, living donor, nurse, mother and after her win at the National American Miss Pacific Northwest Regional Pageant over Labor Day weekend in Bellevue, Wash., she is now also Miss Idaho Elite. 

"I got an invite to the pageant on a whim," she said. "I thought 'Why the heck not?'"

The 36-year-old nurse said she didn't expect to "win anything" after entering the regional pageant but she was "happily shocked" when she heard her name called. 

"It's a little daunting and overwhelming at first but it's been super fun to do it," she said.

Before Labor Day weekend, Luciani has never competed in a pageant before, let alone win one. Judges are shrewd, and contestants can lose points for small things like saying "um" between words in a sentence. She had to spend time learning new skills and sharpening her old ones. She practiced being interviewed, speaking publicly and more. 

"There are a lot of factors there," she said. 

According to Luciani, many of the contestants will run on a platform or a passion to give them talking points during the pageant. A living donor herself, Luciani chose to speak about and advocate for kidney donation, or "giving the gift of life" as she calls it.

While serving in the Air Force and stationed in Alaska several years ago, Luciani started babysitting for a family whose baby was suffering kidney failure. She said the child could be on dialysis for up to 14 hours, and having a young child on it makes the process "really, really tedious."

She said both parents were disqualified from donation and that they would have to look for a donor, which can be very challenging.

"I was kind of just the babysitter/nanny at the time," she said "But I thought to myself 'What the heck"? I've got two of them, I can share one.'" 

After testing revealed she was a match for the baby, Luciani was able to donate her kidney to the child in 2020.

"The kiddo was 2 at the time," she said, "He is now 8, playing sports and going to school."

Luciani is currently preparing for the national pageant in Orlando, Fla., to take place during the week of Thanksgiving. She said she is excited to have the opportunity to get to know the other girls at the pageant and called the competition "fierce." 

She said one of the reasons she decided to participate in the National American Miss pageant was to "diversify" her experiences and to "connect with people outside my normal little sphere."  

"Every single one of these girls has a unique story and getting to know their story gives you a little piece of who they are and why they are today," she said. 

Luciani will have the chance to add National American Miss 2026 to her resume at the national pageant in Orlando from Nov. 20 to 29. When asked about how it feels to be recognized by her peers on such a huge stage, she had this to say:

"I don't really care about the recognition as much as hoping to inspire other people to consider it," she said. "I mean there are thousands and thousands of people who are on the transplant list right now."