Dreams really can come true. Just ask the newly crowned Miss Mississippi Anna Leah Jolly. Just 12 years ago, she was an orphan in Ukraine. Now, Jolly will be representing the state in the Miss America Competition.

“It still hasn’t sunk in,” Jolly said Sunday, during an interview following a night of festivities to celebrate the 24-year-old.

“It’s been crazy. I definitely woke up and I was like, ‘Mom, I’m like still Miss Mississippi 2025.’”

This is Jolly’s second time competing for the state title. Last year she was named fourth runner up to 2024 Miss Mississippi Becky Williams.

Jolly was also a preliminary winner in the talent phase of the competition in 2024 and 2025, both times performing a dance routine en pointe.

Jolly, who openly tells her story, said she first came to the U.S. via a program geared toward bringing orphaned children to the states. It was at this time that she would also be introduced to Brandon natives Jay and Kelly Jolly, who later adopted her.

“I didn’t grow up with a dad and my mom was just very abusive from a very early age,” Jolly said, thus forcing her into a system that she compared to a “boarding school” from ages 5 to 9.

“And my mom just kept taking me out and putting me back in and it was just really not a good situation at all and I mean I was abused in every way you can imagine,” she said. “And just overcoming that has been very difficult, but I know that if I can do it that others can as well, and that’s a little bit of why I’m here and I’m sharing my story.”

At 11, Jolly said her mother’s parental rights were revoked and it was at this time that she first came to the U.S.

“It was eight of us,” she said, adding that originally, she had not been one of the eight chosen.

Jolly went on to say that her parents had not intended to adopt, but after Kelly Jolly had a dream, their feelings changed.

“Fun fact,” Jolly said, “My mom (Kelly Jolly) had a dream that she gave birth to a full-grown child that looked like me. I think this was such a God thing. I think God can speak through dreams and when she (Kelly Jolly) saw me she was like, ‘that’s the girl in my dream.’”

When Jolly arrived back in the U.S. to become Jay and Kelly’s daughter, she said she spoke very little English, “I only knew one phrase, ‘May I go to the bathroom?’” she laughed. But with the help of television — Disney shows — and assistance from her Pinelake Church small group leader, who she said happened to be from the Czech Republic and could speak Russian, she learned more.

“He (the small group leader) was translating the Bible stories my very first summer,” she said.

In addition to learning the English language Jolly also took dance lessons for the first time.

“I truly started dancing just to give myself an outlet. I did not like dance at first, and then it just became a passion,” she said, which was evident during Friday night’s preliminary round of the Miss Mississippi Competition as she performed to a self-choreographed dance entitled “Vivaldi.”

While dance is her passion, Jolly is also committed to promoting her Community Service Initiative — Limitless, which she said, “grew out of her story.”

“At first Limitless started with just sharing my story and making sure that everyone feels heard,” she said.

And because of her passion to let children know they matter, Jolly has also penned a book entitled, “Theodore: The Little Bear with Big Feelings.”

“It talks about the emotion wheel and how to use it, and it can be used not just for foster care, but just in schools right now,” she said.

Jolly is also partnering with Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), who advocate for children who are going through the foster care system.

As Jolly begins her year-long reign, she said she looks forward to promoting Limitless, her opportunity to be an ambassador for the state, and of course the opportunity to compete in the Miss America Competition, which is scheduled to take place in September 2025 in Orlando, Fla.