Grace Stanke knows a thing or two about confidence.
Fresh from trading in her Miss Wisconsin sash for the Miss America Crown, the 20-year-old got candid about how she practices self-love while embracing all sides of herself—as a nuclear engineering student, classic violinist, water skier and pageant winner sharing just when she feels most beautiful.
"I think every moment of every day when I am just living my best life," Grace exclusively told E! News. "There's something powerful about living in the moment being present, connecting with people and understanding who I'm with. And that's one of the things I'm most excited for as Miss America—to meet people all across the country and just hear stories and share stories."
Meanwhile, when it comes to sharing her number once piece of advice for those sharing the same dreams and aspirations as her, the University of Wisconsin student encourages them to stand tall—high heels and all.
"Don't be afraid to flip your hair," she explained. "Smile, stand up tall. I'm 5'11. I'm a physically large human being and I wear heels and you can do it too. There's something about wearing heels. There's something about embracing the femininity and growing up and understanding who you are and embracing yourself."
And embracing that authenticity is key. As she continued, "100 percent for me, it's heels but for other individuals it might not be and that's okay—as long as you are 100 percent you."
Grace—who rocked a high pony throughout the competition—shared her secret when it comes to great hair and, once again, she attributed that to confidence and owning all parts of yourself—even those you may not love.
"For me personally, I love a good power pony. I really do," she explained. "But I think the power pony comes from confidence and knowing who I am and what I stand for. For me, I do love my long straight hair, but it also really annoys me in my face. I love to just embrace who I am and and tie it back a little bit."
But when it comes to reality vs. the movies, is anyone asking the contestants to describe their idea of perfect date? Not quite, as Grace confessed that the real-life pageant world is nothing like what viewers see in the hit 2000 movie, Miss Congeniality.
"I just watched the movie for the first time in October," she admitted. "But no, it's definitely not anything even remotely similar to that. We have a very strong community of women that stand backstage and we've got volunteers across the country that are putting in time and effort and truly changing lives. I credit a lot of the communication skills I've learned to my time in the Miss America organization."