Tammy Horst Miceli

After high school I went on to UNR to study Speech Pathology/Audiology with a minor in drama. I was on scholarship as a UNR cheerleader for 2 years from 84-86. I continued to do pageants in the Miss America system to earn scholarship money to pay for school. I was 1st runner up to Miss Reno in 1986 and then won Miss Sparks that same year. I then went on to Miss Nevada and was 2nd runner-up. My "senior" year in college I transferred to Brigham Young University (BYU) in UT to pursue my first passion in Musical/Dance Theater. After 1 year there I came home for the summer and met my first husband at a church function. We were married in 1988 and I put the remainder of my college on hold to support him in discovering a career choice. I had my first son, Brennan in August 1990 and unfortunately got divorced in 1991. I met my second husband in 1992 and we were married in February of 1993. We have been married ever since. He adopted my son and we have had two other girls; Whitney in May 1995 and Hannah February of 2001. I was blessed to be a stay at home mom for most of my kids growing up years and had my own business selling Tupperware for 12 years. I stayed involved with the Miss America pageant system for about 10 years acting as board member, traveling companion, and eventually Executive Director for Miss Nevada until my resignation in 2001. I traded in my pageant days to go to my other love of cheerleading and wrapped up my 9 year coaching career for SYFL cheer while also coaching for 3 years at McQueen High School. I started a career in the medical field where I worked for Renown Health for 4 years. After receiving training in Alzheimer’s and dementia, I discovered a passion for working with the families of those suffering from the effects of this terrible illness. I became a Family Liaison for Arbors Memory Care in Sparks then expanded that career after moving to Texas in 2014 for a job opportunity for my husband. I became Director of Sales and Marketing at 2 different Memory Care Assisted Living facilities in the Houston area. In 2015 I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer which seriously changed the trajectory of my life. I “retired” in 2017 from actively working and have become involved in breast cancer support. This is a group no one wants to become a part of but I have been so blessed by it. I have been in remission since 2016. We have lived in Texas now for 10 years and feel we have put down roots here. We still have a lot of our family in Reno including our son and grandchildren. Reno will always be home!

I tried to be involved in many things during high school to broaden my horizons! I was a member of the Hug High Shamrock Drill Team my sophomore and Junior year and a member of the newly organized Spirit Team (combined Cheerleaders and Songleaders) my senior year. I was a Hug High Harlequin;the children's musical theater program run by Mrs. Loomis. We did shows in the elementary schools and community events. I was in some plays and loved the theater which I still do! I loved to sing and wished we had more of a choir program although the theater program was great! I was in student leadership and a student body officer my senior year; COPA - Commissioner of Public Affairs. I started competing in pageants my senior year and won Nevada's Modern Miss which led me to more after graduation for the scholarship money. I had many circles of friends from the artistic to the athletic. I think I hung more with the smart kids although I don't think I was that smart...lol. High school is what you make of it and I think I had a great experience for the most part except I wish I wouldn't have spent so much time thinking I needed a boyfriend! Broken-hearted teenagers are the worst!