USM Intern

Ashley Maguire, Gorham resident and a broker at Schrager Hampson Aviation Insurance Agency, was announced Mrs. Gorham Maine in a press release on January 19, 2022. Mother, wife, volunteer, neighbor, friend, and founder of the nonprofit organization “The Backpack Buddy”, Ashley Maguire is competing for the title of Mrs. Maine at the Mrs. Maine America Pageant.

Maguire is competing for the title on April 3, 2022, at the DoubleTree Hotel in South Portland. The competition will consist of three phases; private interview, swimsuit competition, and evening gown. Maguire will be competing for a grand prize valued around $10,000.

Maguire has been working for an in-office large insurance brokerage for the past four and a half years. There, she has been working at home and considers herself to be thriving. Maguire got into insurance while a student at Husson University through Cross Insurance in Bangor, Maine. There, she was promoted within.

Being a Gorham local, Maguire’s favorite thing about living in the university town, as she describes it, “is the people; every single one is so kind and so helpful.”

Along with work, motherhood, being a wife, and running The Backpack Buddy, Maguire also volunteers with her husband through “coaching a few sports that our first grade son is involved in.”

Maguire also mentions volunteering for food pantries and at the Maine Mall to ring a bell for The Salvation Army.

Maguire’s organization, The Backpack Buddy, focuses on providing essentials to local first graders at Narragansett, Village & Great Falls.

“The focus of The Backpack Buddy is to provide a new backpack filled with health and educational supplies to every first grader,” said Maguire. When it comes to the competition for the Mrs. Maine America title, Maguire is “certainly nervous,” but also “super excited.” Maguire is looking forward to showing “the state what I have to offer in April!” The Maine pageant women were also mentioned. Maguire describes them as “each one different in their own way and each one having so much to offer.”

Maguire gave this piece of advice to other women, “The best way to living a fulfilling life, is to be honest, be authentic, work hard, and know your self-worth.”