Page 84 - Demo

84 || FASHION MAGAZINE || OCT-NOV 2017Let%u2019s talk about pageants. First, Most would like to congratulate you on your recent win, Miss Malibu Teen USA. Who introduced you to pageants and how did you get started?Thank you so much! I am actually very proud of winning this title because it is very competitive and I was not planning on competing. I decided to compete very last minute. I prepared in a little under 2 weeks for this one so I wasn%u2019t quite sure what the outcome would be, but it all came together in the end and on that day of competition, I felt confident. Pageantry for me started with a flier/advertisement in the mail. I remember I was just about 5 years old at the time in my dad%u2019s office and he was going through the mail and I saw this glossy flier that stood out to me. It was a flier for %u201cNational American Miss%u201d pageants. I was very girly and noticed some of the girls on the flier were my age and were in these pretty dresses. I literally grabbed it from my dad and asked him what it was. He read through it and only because there was absolutely NO makeup allowed on girls under age 13, he asked if I wanted to do it. I immediately screamed %u201cyes%u201d and he said %u201cshow mommy and ask her%u201d and I did! She said I could enter because she liked that there was no makeup allowed on girls under 13 and she thought it looked like it could be fun for me! It was a blast and I competed against 50 other girls my age. I was 4th runner up and couldn%u2019t wait to come back the following year, which I did, and I won the title and crown! I was hooked after that! It was so fun for me and the fact that they didn%u2019t allow makeup on kids was such a great message in pageantry that had never really been heard of. It is now the largest pageant system among young girls which I love because they are sending a positive message that you don%u2019t need all that makeup as a young girl to be beautiful and it%u2019s about personality and beauty within. Now I compete in the Miss Teen USA system which is a little different but pretty much the same positive message .... %u201cconfidently beautiful%u201d. They want someone not only with outer beauty but beautiful inside and compassionate, intelligent, goaloriented, a leader and great role model.Tell us about the day to day behind the scenes at the pageant and a bit about the camaraderie among the contestants.It can get hectic and competitive, I%u2019m not going to lie, but you will make more friends than you will enemies. For the most part it becomes like this sisterhood and we encourage each other. I try to just go into it thinking that if I win, this is just an added bonus to my life that I feel is already so full of amazing accomplishments and if I don%u2019t I will just try again next year! If you get way too serious and competitive, then you miss all the fun!