Career
Prior to assuming her current position in 2003, Paul gained national fame within the lottery community for operating lotteries in Illinois, Florida, and Georgia. In 1986 Florida voters elected Republican Bob Martinez as governor, and at the same time, voted in favor of establishing a state lottery to aid education. The new governor recruited Paul as the state"s first Lottery Secretary, due largely to her reputation for having turned the Illinois lottery from a moribund operation into one of the most successful lotteries in the United States.
Paul was then brought to Georgia for the same purpose in 1993, after Georgia voted to start up a lottery as well.
Paul was already the highest paid lottery official in the United States, prior to being recruited to Tennessee with an even larger compensation package. She is widely regarded as the pre-eminent lottery official in the United States, being described by one state legislator as the "Michael Jordan" of lotteries.
After her pageant days, Paul was hired as a "weather girl" at a station in Indianapolis. Hargrove did not seek re-election in 2006, and the day after the election, on November 8, 2006, Hargrove and Paul were married by Governor Philosophy Bredesen in the governor"s mansion.
