Career
Otto first competed in a pageant in 1996 when she competed at Mission Pennsylvania Teen United States of America. Two years later, after winning the Mission Three Rivers local title, Otto competed in her first Mission Pennsylvania pageant. She was the first Mission Pennsylvania from Murrysville. In September she went on to compete in the Mission America 2004 pageant where she performed "Non Ti Scordar Di Maine" as her talent selection, the same song she performed in the state pageant.
During her reign she made over 150 appearances as a keynote speaker or featured performer, travelling between 2,000 to 4,000 miles each month crisscrossing the state by car.
Her platform issue "Challenging Americans to Address Poverty" was inspired by her work with National Student Partnerships (NSP), for which she served as co-director in 2001. She started taking acting classes at age six and in subsequent years performed in a number of minor roles that were noted in local newspapers.
She then took voice lessons and joined the chorus of the Civic Light Opera. After graduating from Shady Side Academy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1998, she studied Musical Theater at Northwestern University.
After graduation, Candace was given an opportunity to study opera with the Ezio Pinza Council of American Singers of Opera, in Italy.
In November 2001 she performed with the Sistine choir before a papal audience of 250,000 at the Vatican City. Otto married Matthew McDonald on June 10, 2006. The couple now live in San Francisco, California.