USMC spouse wins Mrs. California

CAMP PENDLETON – Elizabeth Peace, Marine Corps spouse, federal employee and child advocate, was crowned Mrs. California America 2021 on Aug. 14 at the Fox Events Center in Redlands. She'll represent the Golden State when she goes on to compete for the national title of Mrs. America in Las Vegas in November.

Peace, age 41 and mother of two boys, competed to bring awareness to the No. 1 health epidemic facing children: child sexual abuse. Every 73 seconds someone in the United States is sexually assaulted. Every 9 minutes that person is a child.

"My goal is to show today's youth that they can be anything they want to be when they're older, no matter what difficulties they go through in childhood," Peace said. "Many of today's youth are struggling with bullying, low self-esteem, violent dating relationships and child abuse. I want to show them that those traumas don't determine their future and that they can take their power back."

Peace is a former news anchor who began working in public affairs for the federal government after marrying a U.S. Marine. Her husband, Warren, is serving at Camp Pendleton. She previously served in the U.S. Air Force. Together, they created Operation Innocence after finding that many of the tools available to parents to protect children were unknown in the military community.

Child sexual abuse is the number reason for federal incarceration of military service members. Operation Innocence is focused on bringing child sexual abuse prevention classes to military families. Peace also created Sgt. Bark and the "Body Boundaries" coloring book for children.

"The most difficult part is not being a survivor, it's discovering how much this happens to our own children without us knowing about it," she said. "My goal is to share with other military communities the things I've learned so they can protect their own children. As a mom of a survivor, I know the pain and guilt of finding out after it was too late. If we can save one child, the work is worth it."

Peace has been a certified facilitator with Darkness to Light, an evidence-based nonprofit that teaches child sexual abuse prevention classes, bystander intervention, keeping children safe online and more. She has been teaching the classes for more than eight years across the country and previously taught the class to the Governor of Maryland's Crime Prevention office. Now stationed in California, she hopes to bring the classes to elected officials here.

Peace is also hopeful to work with elected officials to pass a child sexual abuse awareness month, which currently does not exist, and is eager to see more protections for survivors of military sexual assault.

An avid volunteer, she has served on the board of Court Appointed Special Advocates, worked in the youth courts mentor program and volunteered at a domestic violence shelter. She had the opportunity to speak with HBO about the long-term effects of child sexual abuse during the filming of a documentary on the USA Gymnastics sexual abuse case. But she feels her most important work is talking directly to children on an age-appropriate level about creating their own futures. She encourages survivors of childhood trauma to speak out and tell their stories as a form of healing.

"Statistically speaking, I shouldn't be breaking glass ceilings and happily married, raising two children," she said. "And for a long time, I let the abuse dictate who I was going to become. I had to find the strength to believe in myself so that I could make the future I wanted to have and not the one other people thought I was worthy of."

Submitted by Elizabeth Peace.