In light of this year's pageant controversy at the 2016 Miss Teen USA pageant, I have a few things to say.

In 2012 I won Miss Kentucky Teen USA. That same year I went and competed in the Miss Teen USA competition in the Bahamas. I did not win that title, and the girl who did win was deserving of it because she earned it.

In the world of pageants, girls win and girls lose. These girls win and lose because they earned it or did not earn it. They do not win and they do not lose because of the color of their skin. I am sick of pageants being criticized if, one year, they have a lack of 'diversity.' Who are you to say that those girls didn't work their ass off for years to be where they are? Just because other ethnicities weren't represented in the top five does not mean that those girls didn't deserve their placement. They worked out hard, ate healthy, volunteered and practiced for hours to be in that position. How dare someone criticize them, and down play their hard work, because of the color of their skin (this goes for all colors of skin). Does anyone see the irony in this? People want to see diversity....but in order to do so they put others down. Just because this years winner is white does not affect how great of a titleholder she will be, just like if the winner had been a from a different ethnic background.

I did not win miss Teen USA in 2012 because I did not earn it. The winner wasn't picked because she represented a different ethnic group, she was picked because she was who the judges thought would be the best role model for young girls/boys that year. And you know what, she killed it during her reign. It's easy for people to criticize pageants when they themselves have never participated in one- It's like a sport. If a team lacked diversity yet they went on to win a championship it would be because they outplayed the other team, not because of privilege. It is the same in pageantry. I'm sick of hearing people complain about this supposed privilege in pageants when it is mostly non-existent. You work for what you get, and if you don't work hard enough you don't get anything. I've known plenty of girls from ethnic backgrounds take home the crown during my 8 years of competing in pageants. They earned those titles because they worked hard, and the same goes for the white women that win titles.

So please spare me and quit complaining about shit that you have no knowledge about. The pageant world was not built on the ideology that everyone gets a juice box. In the world of pageantry everyone has an equal chance to win, no matter their race, so long as they work hard and that's how everything in this country should be. Everyone should have the same chance to succeed with hard work.

Remember, everyone is entitled to have their own opinion, but it's just common courtesy to not put someone else down in the process. Instead we should spread positivity and love, not hate and disrespect.