The reigning Miss Colorado USA stood before a roomful of school children and admitted her life isn’t all glamour. In fact, Blair Griffith‘s reality is far from it. “I am currently homeless,” she told the students. “I do not have a home to go to.” 9News captured the footage in a feature on Colorado’s contender for the Miss USA crown, who grew up in Morrison and graduated magna cum laude from the Art Institute of Colorado. Blair and her mother, Bonita, were evicted from their home only weeks after Blair won the Colorado title late last year. Her father died when she was in her early teens, and her mother suffered a heart attack three years ago, requiring a major surgery that hit the family’s pocketbook.

As if she hasn’t experienced enough adversity, Blair will lose her job when her employer, Saks Fifth Avenue at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center, closes its doors next month. “I was telling my mother the other day, ‘You know what would be really shocking? To hear great news,'” she jokes. But seriously, Blair believes the challenges are making her stronger, and she’s making money on the side teaching wannabe queens how to compete on a budget.