Telling My Story: Pageant Girl Edition
Hey friends! Forget that I was a pageant girl? Sometimes I do too but it has truly made an impact on who I am! So here we go....
Let me remind you. I am telling my story to embrace my insecurities, embrace my past, embrace my future, and hopefully give you the courage to look at your life and tell YOUR story, all the while trying to figure out what it TRULY means to be 100% authentically, unapologetically, Rachel.
If even one person actually reads my post all the way through and feels a little less alone, a little more encouraged, a little more seen. Then it is worth the time and courage it takes for me to blab about my life.
National American Miss
I did my first pageant when I was 10 years old. It was a natural pageant (meaning I couldn't wear make-up at my age). The main competition included: personal introduction where I said my name, where I was from, and what I wanted to be when I grew up; an interview; and formal wear where I was escorted on stage by my dad. Then I entered side competitions like acting (where I did a band-aid commercial & bubble gum commercial), talent (musical theater baby), and casual wear modeling (remember when I wanted to be a fashion designer lol - I was living!). I learned SO MUCH THAT FIRST YEAR. And decided to go back the next year. I aged up so I could wear some natural make-up and I took what I knew from before and I crushed it. I won Spokesmodel, placed in acting, and was 1st runner up over-all. THIS. WAS. HUGE.
Things I learned:
How to write a good thank you note.
These pageants are NOT cheap and how contestants pay for them is by getting sponsored by friends and family and businesses. In the event program their name goes next to yours to show support. I got really good at asking for donations and explaining why competing was so important to me and to every single person who donated (whether it was $5 or $100), I sent a PERSONALIZED thank you note. And guess what my first year competing the ONLY award I won...was the best thank you note award. And honestly I am still SO PROUD of that fact. Ladies and gents it is really important to be able to humbly ask for money and graciously thank people for it. Learn how to write a thank you note.
How to answer questions and present myself.
The interview portion of NAM is a sit down 1:1 interview with each judge. Between this and the on stage introduction I learned how to articulate who I was and my goals clearly and concisely. I could speak 1:1 with an adult or stand in front of an audience of 500 and introduce myself. It is a very important life skill to be able to confidently and comfortably talk to adults and this pageant provided that teachable moment! Now these skills have transferred well into other areas of my life.
Personal introduction:
I like to turn my shirts into skirts! That is why when I grow up I want to be a fashion designer, from Muncie Indiana I am Rachel Jewett!
Or something like that! haha I think the first year I wanted to be a Rockstar. Not much has changed I guess - now I am pursuing being an actress? Love that for me.
Miss America
When I was 13 my babysitter (I had a newborn baby brother, toddler brother, and elementary sister it was a lot) and bible school teacher invited my mom and I to watch her compete in the Miss Ball State pageant. Of course we said yes. Little did we know this was going to change everything. When we arrived, we discovered there was a Miss Ball State Outstanding Teen pageant too. That girls ages 13-17 could compete for a title. AND we happened to know the girl who held the title and the girl who won that year -sisters who went to our community pool! I was hooked. My mom and I went to an information meeting one late cold night in a random room on the college campus and life was never the same. You may think I am being dramatic but I assure you, I am not. From that meeting on everything was about pageants. Finding a dress, answering questions about school, my life, politics, social events, the organization itself, writing essays, coming up with a platform, practicing my talent - I was a full on pageant girl.
Things I learned:
How to write a short essay:
Part of the application process is to write a 100 word essay about your platform (an organization or issue you stand for). Narrowing all this down to 100 words was a rough time. Also, in our resume they ask a couple questions like "why should you be the title holder" and a few other get to know you questions. My mom worked with me and now I have a process; free write, talk to someone while they type up main ideas of what you are saying (now I can do this part myself but before mamma did this for me), format those ideas, and proof-read.
How to Interview, Speak on Stage, Sparkle:
I could write an entire blog post about how to interview! But I definitely credit my time with the Miss America pageant system for my interview skills. I had an old family friend at church practice with me and that made a HUGE impact - find someone who knows about what you are doing and have them host a mock interview. I also had my family ask me hard questions. I had a giant document of current event and personal questions that I wrote out answers to and practice responding out loud. My biggest piece of advice is when you are interviewing in front of a panel you start the answer by looking at the person who asked it, then scan and connect with each judge, then finish the answer back with the person who asked it. *Also you can answer the question you wanted them to ask by working it into the answer to the one they did ask -> do NOT ignore their question (see the horrible presidential debates for what not to do)
Sparkle. When I have a big interview, performance, or just something major coming up my mom will write me a note or shoot me a text that says "Sparkle". It is our way of saying "Be your best self, have fun, be bold" - a trigger word if you will to remind myself that "I've got this". What is your word? Your inspiration?
How to believe in something and talk about it:
A HUGE part of the Miss America system is that each contestant has a platform, just like the organization as a whole. Miss America partners with Children's Miracle Network. My first year my platform was "Girl UP", a united nations organization supporting girls in other countries having rights to education. Then the next year I switched to "Help Portrait" this organization that takes family photos or headshots for low-income and homeless people - they do their hair and makeup and watch their kids. I volunteered there through my church and it was so cool. But a pattern kept happening, I would have my "elevator speech" for these platforms but I wasn't doing anything outside the pageant for them - which defeats the purpose. So when I decided to compete again I created my own platform,
"The W.H.Y.: getting involved in your community" - it is all about Who to reach, How to reach, Your time and Your heart. I am passionate about people volunteering because they WANT to not because they have to and doing so by using their personal skills and talents to help out! When I truly found something that was important to me it was easier and more enjoyable to talk about.
My advice: find a cause you are passionate about and SPEAK UP!
Growing up in the church I knew that giving back to the community in both time and money was important but it wasn't until pageants that I really started to understand what it meant to defend and believe in a cause. With everything that is going on in the world today I am so thankful to know how to research and articulate my opinion and support respectfully and coherently (most of the the time haha).
What a pageant really is for and how to defend it:
Yes we wear pretty dresses. Yes there is a physical fitness category (and swimsuit for miss**). Yes we get to wear a crown and call ourselves princesses and queens. But guess what THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO IT. Both organizations I competed for are scholarship pageants, they are about empowering young women to be their best selves, to be educated, and to make a difference. My favorite part of the Miss America organization is that the crown has four points and they all stand for something (I even wrote my college common app essay about it).
Service: Volunteering is important. Standing up for something you believe in.
Style: I do think how you dress says a lot about you. Style is not about who is the prettiest or has the hottest new clothes; it is about taking the great stuff on the inside and showing it on the outside, and being confident in who you are - style helps you figure out who you are.
Scholarship: Your intelligence and education are IMPORTANT.
Success: It encompasses all the points into one. To be successful, people need to be confident (style), intelligent (scholarship), and support their community (service).
I will never force my future daughter to do a pageant but I really kinda hope she wants to.
How amazing it is to be apart of a sisterhood:
Back while I was competing old pageant sisters would let me borrow dresses and clothes for events. During competition we had each other's backs in the dressing room. Today so many of my Facebook friends are old pageant sisters. We encourage each other in our daily lives. My old pageant mentor and friend even reconnected with me and now I am on her Arbonne team running a business! The pageant community is small but large. We will come to the rescue and defend each other all day long.
That I really love wearing the dress:
Was the idea of getting to wear a pretty dress on stage one of the main reasons I wanted to do a pageant. Yes. And the crown and sash? Of course. But I continued because of the platform to speak out about what I believe in, make friends, win some scholarship money, and become a better version of myself.
But I am so looking forward to going to my first Oscar Awards so I can wear another pretty dress.
Pageants are not just for preppy, popular, stereotypically pretty girls they are also for educated, down to earth, sporty girls. I could list any quality and you'd qualify.
*I will be decorating my daughters room with my crowns so she knows she is a princess. (and because they deserve to come out of storage some day)
If you made it this far: thank you. I know I tend to ramble but the point of this series is for me to remember who I am, to honestly tell my story and piece together the girl behind these words and to hopefully inspire at least one other person to do the same.
~Be you
Rachel
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