When you hear the words ‘pageant girl’ what do you think of? Tall, skinny and blonde? Mean but gorgeous? There are so many pageant girl stereotypes out there, and the reality is most pageant girls don’t fit those stereotypes. There are queens with curves and queens with disabilities. There are queens of all races, ethnicities, different height and weight. There are queens with chronic illnesses and queens with learning disabilities. There are queens who aspire to be nurses, teachers, doctors, pilots, authors, artists, lawyers, politicians, actors and literally everything else under the sun. There are queens who have dyslexia, ADHD and anxiety. There are queens who use walkers. There are queens who are more athletic and queens who are more creative. The point is, there really is no such thing as a typical pageant girl. When you think ‘pageant girl’, your mind probably automatically goes to the list of pageant girl stereotypes. You automatically think “oh, she’s a pageant girl, so she must be skinny, tall, flawless, a stupid air head, catty, rude, or any mix of those, right?”
WRONG. While there are some pageant girls who may be like that, the majority of us are actually smart and nice. We’re friendly to our other competitors, and many of us are honor students. Many pageant systems actually have an academic achievement contest where you can win additional scholarship money simply for having good grades. We’re typically pretty well rounded, and in my experience, welcoming to newcomers. My first year competing in a pageant, I met girls who had been competing in this system since they were six or seven and were now fifteen or sixteen years old. They weren’t rude or unwelcoming. They were helpful throughout the entirety of pageant weekend. Most pageant girls willingly volunteer within their community, simply because they want to. We’re not all tall, and we’re definitely not flawless. We work hard to build up the self-confidence we need to get up on stage in front of all those judges and the audience. We still get nervous each time you get up on that stage in your gown or your suit, no matter how many times you’ve done it before. We still get stressed about little things, and the majority of pageant girls are not superficial. We don’t all get spray tans, and we’re not all perfect. We get pimples and blemishes just like everyone else. We practice our circle turns and our introductions in front of the mirror countless times a week, and we’re generally pretty nice. I’ve met maybe one or two girls who did not seem genuinely nice over the past four years. 9 out of 10 girls will help newcomers out and will help you out throughout the weekend.
I am a pageant girl. I’m five foot three, about 112 pounds, and I have brown hair. I have brown eyes, too many freckles, and I wear glasses every day. I have ADHD and I take medication every morning. I don’t have the best self-confidence in everything, and I have trouble walking solidly in one and a half inch heels. I rarely wear makeup, and the only thing I can do to my hair is put it in a ponytail. I've competed in National American Miss for 4 years, and I've won Miss Personality, Actress, and Top Model, I've gotten 2nd runner up for Spokesmodel, 4th runner up for Top Model, and I've made the top ten two years in a row. This year, I was a runner up for the miss title for New York and will be representing Long Island at nationals in November.
When I tell people I do pageants, more often than not they will just look at me in disbelief and say “but you don’t look like / act like a pageant girl!” Well that’s just it; none of us do. Because In reality, there’s no such thing as a ‘typical pageant girl’.