This region recently gained a new community advocate who wants to use her voice to bring a wider awareness to North Texas through the Mrs. Texas America pageant. Mrs. North Texas Secily Commons will be competing at the next installment of the Mrs. Texas America pageant set to take place in May of 2025.

Commons, who moved to Texas from Arkansas just four years ago, is a biological and adoptive mother and an advocate for women’s health and breast cancer prevention.

“I want Sherman to not just be the place that we moved to…not just the place that we live,” Commons said referring to herself and her husband. “I want this to be my home. I want to be a familiar face in the community. I want to be a person in the community that others know they can reach out to for help. I want people to know that if they call Secily, I can handle it.”

Commons’ introduction to Sherman came when her husband moved here for work at Texas Instruments and this is where the pair decided they wanted to raise a family.

“Our journey to parenthood was not the traditional one,” Commons described the challenges she and her husband underwent prior to becoming parents.

After seeing an infertility specialist, the pair learned about unexplained infertility.

WebMD says about 15 percent of couples experience this type of infertility and Cleveland Clinic describes this as ” when fertility testing hasn’t found a cause to explain a person or couples infertility. Treatments include fertility medication, lifestyle changes, intrauterine insemination (IUI) and in vitro fertilization (IVF).”

Due to the diagnosis, the Commons decided that they wanted to become parents using a different route.

“We decided to foster to adopt,” Commons said. “My daughter is adopted. We adopted her in 2023 when she was two months old.”

But there was a surprise waiting on the horizon.

“Like right when we started the process, we found out that we were pregnant,” Commons said. “We have two under two. It is the best blessing that we could have asked for.”

Around this same time, Commons was volunteering with Women Rock, a breast cancer education, advocacy and support organization.

“When we first moved to Sherman, we did not know a lot of people, but I wanted to volunteer,” Commons said. “I have always volunteered with a lot of different types of organizations. I reached out to a bunch and none of them got back to me. But Women Rock, they instantly, said yes. They took me in and I became a board member. I was on the board for two years when my position became available in May. They took me under their wings and I have enjoyed working with all of the people there.”

Commons is the development director for Women Rock and another one of Common’s platforms along with support for fostering and adoption is supporting women’s health especially for minorities.

“I want to tie my platform in with that to bring more awareness to breast cancer,” she said. “In the African American community, we have the highest death rate from breast cancer. We do not take it seriously until it’s a problem. That is not good at all.

“(Women Rock founder) LuAnn (Daniel) started a new program called “Taking it to the Streets” that will focus on education and access to care for African American, Hispanic and low-income neighborhoods. I am helping with that. I am partnering with Dr. Terre D. Quinn out of Plano.”

She is one of the first African American breast cancer surgeons out of the state of Texas. She is also the current Ms. Texas Senior America. She is phenomenal. She is amazing. The first time I met her I was in awe.”

Commons said the “Taking it to the Streets” initiative is mostly led by survivors.

“They go to events and show you how to do a self-exam,” she said. “They have diagrams and other things to show you what a lump might look and feel like. We give out shower cards that give information about how to do a monthly check. They can be displayed in the shower. We also want to start going into high schools so we can teach them about breast cancer and screenings.”

At this moment, Women Rock is preparing for its 14th annual Bras for a Cause event scheduled to take place on Oct. 12 at the Loy Lake Arena in Denison.

“We need volunteers to help with the models, to help with set up and take down, to help with the silent auction,” she said. “We need those willing to help escort people to their tables. We need help with the survivors and getting them in the right spot.”

And how this all helps with the pageant, Commons said any support she receives will go to Women Rock.

“I am not going to fundraise for this,” she said. “I am going to pay out of pocket (for the pageant). Any fundraising I will be doing will be for Women Rock. I do not want to take anything away from that. I am fortunate enough to be able to pay for this process myself.”