Rose grew up in Syracuse, New York.

"I used to be super, super shy," she says. "My parents had a friend who suggested they put me in a beauty pageant. So, they put me in a little beauty pageant and put me up on stage. I needed a talent, so I started taking dance classes – and that was my talent." 

What she didn't realize then, was how much both of those things would become part of her life – and help shape her life down the road. 

"I did it, I gained some confidence, and I found out how much I loved dancing. So, even though I tried doing other sports and activities like ice skating and tennis and soccer, I even tried softball, gymnastics was a big one – but dance was the one that kind of won my heart over and won over my time too."

A roundabout path to college eventually led Rose to South Bend, Indiana.

"I ended up doing a five year program for college where I went to school out near Boston, so total opposite side of New York – went out east and then after three years, I transferred to Notre Dame, where I'm a proud graduate of the University of Notre Dame."

And it was there that dance led her back into pageant life.

"There was a dance competition that I used to compete in, it was called the United States Tournament of Dance (USTD). And this dance competition, they had their nationals in Atlantic City, New Jersey, which is the home of the Miss America pageant," she says. "The owners of the competition would always tell me at all the regional dance competitions that I was going to be Miss America, so I always had that seed in my brain growing up."

She entered her first pageant with the Miss America Organization, she fell in love with it, and she was very successful at it.

"My very first year, I was Miss Great Lakes. My second year, I was Miss Collegiate North. And then my third year after I was living in Indianapolis, I was Miss Central Indiana."

Through Miss America, Rose met a few Colts Cheerleaders. The dancing aspect appealed to her, but so did the community service.

"When you're a titleholder in the Miss America Organization, you do so much community service. That's one of the four main points of being in that organization."

So, after settling in Indianapolis after college and taking a job in engineering, she decided the time was right to chase her next dream.

"I decided, 'Ok, the time is now,' and I auditioned for the Colts. And here I am."

She didn't become Miss America. But she did become a Colts cheerleader.

And as she starts her rookie season, she couldn't be more excited or more grateful.

"It's exciting to know that I'm a part of something that so many other people are so passionate about."

For Rose, the Empire State made her, but Indiana made her a Hoosier.

"I say I grew up in New York, but I'm a Hoosier by choice."