This is the best time of year because the Miss America Pageant rolls around and the word gets buzzing on what it is actually like to be a girl that competes in pageants. The televised showing of the Miss America pageant shows you everything on stage from the Top 15 strutting their stuff and displaying their confidence in a swimsuit, to the crowning of our new Miss America (By the way, HUGE shout out to Cara Munds for being North Dakota's FIRST EVER Miss America). Before, during, or after the live show everyone is talking about the pageant and essentially 'jumping on the bandwagon'. Everyone wants to know what it is like to be an actual pageant girl. Lucky for you, I'm one of them.

You want to know what it is like to be a competitor in the Miss America Organization? Well, I'm your girl. Being in this organization for 15 years, I have been able to learn a thing or two about what it takes to get to the top, or even fail. But most of all, I have been able to learn tips and tricks about how to succeed in this world of pageants. So you want to know the secrets to being a pageant contestant? Well, I have your inside look on all the confessions that I have to offer...

1. Yes. Butt glue is a thing.

The swimsuit competition accounts for 15% of a contestants score. When you are walking around on stage in nothing but heels and a swimsuit, you want to make sure that everything is secure. Ladies and gentlemen, that is where butt glue comes in. Putting it on yourself, or putting it on someone else, THIS. IS. IMPORTANT. Whether it be roll-on that you buy from a dress store, or baseball adhesive spray (which is what I use), This stuff is ESSENTIAL to make sure you don't get that major wedgie on stage.

2. CNN, Fox News, The Skimm, you name it... It is on our phones.

Being a contestant in the Miss America Organization, you have a 10-minute private interview with the judges. With that being said, they can ask you anything they want. From your personal platform issue to anything about yourselves, to any political or current event issue. Yes, you heard that right. We should be educated on every current event issue that there is and have a stance on it. They can take that 10 minutes and do anything they want with it. So to all those news apps, notifications, emails... thank you from the bottom of our hearts for keeping us on our toes with the who's, what's, when's, where's, why's and how's.

3. If you see us talking to ourselves, we are just practicing.

In the mirror, in the car, in the shower, in our dreams... we are practicing the answer to any possible question that we could get in our interview or as our on-stage question. You sit and talk to yourself several minutes a day and see how much you improve. I PROMISE you will! We aren't totally crazy...

4. Sometimes we are just naturally tan, but MOST of the time... It's the spray tan that gives us that perfect glow, or maybe not so perfect...

Those stage lights are HARSH. So you must be tan. If there were a pageant rule book of do's and don't's, the spray tan would be in the "You MUST do" column. A couple days before the pageant, you usually go get your spray tan PRAYING you don't end up looking like an orange. Come pageant day you either have that perfect glow you were looking for or sometimes... you do end up as that orange you did not want to be. But have no fear, Sally Hansen's is here to save the day. Lotion, spray on legs, touch up makes up, whatever you need for you perfect pageant glow, she's got it for ya. Shout out to Sally, you help our world go around.

5. And yes... IT IS A SISTERHOOD.

For those of you who still think that pageants are a place for girls to be petty with one another, or for us to get catty and throw tantrums... You need to catch up with the times because not only is that old news, it's fake news. In the Miss America Organization, there are 4 points to the crown. Style, scholarship, service, and success. If there were a fifth point, it would be for Sisterhood. I think I can speak for every girl in the organization when I say that you met your soul sisters when you come into this program. When you share the same dreams, aspirations, goals, work ethic, etc., of course, you are automatically going to become best friends! So this is my shout out to all of the girls that I have met over the years in this organization, you all are amazing and I wouldn't want to share these experiences with anyone else.

Did you want the confessions? You got them. This program is amazing in every way possible, now you have an inside scoop on what it is like to be in our shoes.