Griffin Holliday chatted with #Powerjournalist Markos Papadatos about representing Missouri in the 2026 Mister USA competition.
Jimmy Dean once said: “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” This quote applies to Griffin Holliday, 25.
On competing for Mister USA, Griffin remarked, “It’s a little nerve wracking, I’m not going to lie. It’s something I haven’t done before, so I’m excited to go on the journey and we’ll see what happens.”
Overview of Mister USA
Mister USA is an American beauty pageant, which is held annually, and the winner goes on to represent the United States in the Mister Universe competition. It is a celebration of culture, diversity, beauty, intelligence and empowerment.
It believes in the power of young leaders to make a difference in the world. It is not solely about outer beauty; it recognizes the inner beauty and intelligence of their contestants.
Representing the state of Missouri
On representing his home state of Missouri, he stated, “I love Missouri. I’ve pretty much lived here my entire life.”
“Growing up, I lived in St. Louis and then we moved to Columbia, which is directly between Kansas City and St. Louis. Then for college, I went to Ohio, another Midwestern state,” he said.
“After Ohio, I actually moved to Florida where I lived for a year, and now I’m back again in Missouri. So, I’ve been all around, but I always end up back here in Missouri for some reason,” he added.
Advocacy for Mister USA
On his advocacy for Mister USA, he stated, “I am just trying to take risks and take chances. When I was a teacher in Florida, I wanted to inspire my students to take those risks. By having a platform such as Mister USA, I can push for that.”
“I want to inspire other people that if I can do it, then they can do it too,” he added.
Daily motivations
Regarding his daily motivations, he said, “I’m really trying to be better than the person I was yesterday. It’s kind of pretty classic, but growing up, I struggled with confidence issues. So now that I’m kind of here, I just want to make small progress every day.”
“In 100 days, I am going to be 100 percent better than I was before. So, I’ve had that mindset for probably the past year, and I have made a ton of progress from where I was,” he acknowledged.
“So, that motivates me to keep going and to keep chasing my dreams,” he added.
Future plans
On his future plans, Griffin shared, “I would love to move to either Los Angeles or New York. That’s one of my goals. I would love to get into commercial modeling. That would be fun. It’s what I’m chasing right now.”
Stage of his life
On the title of the current chapter of his life, he revealed, “Work in Progress.” “To be honest, my title right now is ‘World in Progress’,” he said. “I’ve made a lot of progress but I’m not where I want to be yet.”
“So, Mister USA is a big step for me into getting me to where I want to be. So, I am taking things day by day,” he added.
Success
On his definition of the word success, Griffin said, “Success is going to be different for everybody but mine is pretty much just working to what makes me happy, and working towards my dreams. Some of the kids that I graduated with in college, who are my age (25) are married with two kids now.”
“That’s not what my goal is for right now,” he admitted. “I would like to move to a big state and accomplish a lot of things, but I would still consider them successful. They have a happy, healthy families.”
“My goal is to progress towards getting into the modeling industry,” he added.
Closing thoughts on Mister USA
Griffin hopes that he can motivate other people to go after their dreams.
“Right now, I literally work as a sanitation worker. My entire family has always been blue collar folks… my father was a trash man growing up,” he said.
“So, these are two completely different industries that I am doing. If I can make the change, I hope I can inspire others to chase their dreams,” he concluded.
To learn more about 2026 “Mister Missouri” candidate Griffin Holliday, follow him on Instagram.
