Abbey Curran, born with cerebral palsy, made history as the first person with a disability to compete in major beauty pageants when she was crowned Miss Iowa USA in 2008, and competed in the Miss USA pageant. While still in high school, she founded the Miss You Can Do It pageant, for young women with disabilities ranging in age from five to twenty-five, designed to illustrate Abbey's core belief that you can do anything if you are willing to try.

The pageant became the subject of an HBO documentary titled Miss You Can Do It, and Abbey has appeared on CBS's The Early Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Access Hollywood, CNN Headline News, and Fox & Friends. Abbey graduated from Saint Ambrose University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in business communications. Always seeking ways to be of help to others, she is currently in nursing school.