Hi queens! In this blog post we will be discussing essential steps and tips to be successful at your very first pageant. These may seem self-explanatory but you would be surprised at how often they are overlooked and the effort required to accomplish them. These are all things that I learned the hard way so I hope they help you. Let’s dive right in!
Go watch a pageant
The moment you become even remotely interested in a pageant, regardless of how many you have already seen, and before you even submit your paperwork, you need to go watch a pageant, preferably live. You need to watch a pageant and be in the mindset of a judge and potential contestant, not an audience member. Pageant girls need to watch pageants like football players watch their film. You should be watching to evaluate, critique, and apply. Pay attention to production. Pay attention to the consistencies and endurance of each contestant. Pay attention to stage presence. Evaluate what you see, critique what you see and think critically about areas of improvement, and apply those things to your prep.
Set a budget/shop consignment
My favorite pageant advice to give is that pageants are as expensive as you allow them to be, and to compete at the level you can afford. Once you decide to enter your first pageant, research your expenses and set a budget. Do you need to book a hotel? Are you paying for hair and makeup services or paying for lessons instead? Do you need headshots and will they be professional or DIY? How many categories of competition are there and are you getting new wardrobe for each category? Your budget should be based on your experience and the level at which you are competing. A good rule of thumb to follow is that as your experience, results, and competition level increases, so can your budget. Once you set a budget stick to it. Use your resources, get creative, and remember that you may be able to buy titles and connections, but your character and your resources are the only things that will help you maintain them. A queen will still be a queen in a $50 gown or a $5,000 gown. Although pageantry is an expensive hobby, do not base your worth and your impact on the amount of money that you have. When you are truly putting in the effort and when your heart posture is correct, resources and support will follow.
Be realistic
Most people do not succeed when they are trying something new for the first time. This is because life experience is the best teacher. Obviously you want to win the pageant, but mathematically the odds are against you simply because there are other girls competing. To avoid disappointment, set other goals and expectations in addition to winning. Being hyper-focused on winning and winning alone is a narrow-minded view for a contestant, and it does not allow you to see the bigger picture of your growth and personal development from competition to competition. Being realistic means making it easy to track your growth. Winning is an unwavering goal, but maybe you also want to get better at doing your own makeup. Maybe you want to perfect french turns. Maybe you want to be more concise in interview and decrease the amount of times that you say ‘umm’. These are smaller goals that will give you quicker wins and keep you motivated, and there is nothing wrong with that. Pageantry is about more than just winning, it is about personal development. The girls who prioritize that have already won.
Practice your hair & makeup
I believe that every feminine girl should know how to do her own hair and makeup. Back when I competed in the Miss America Organization you could hire a hair and makeup artist, but it was encouraged that you know how to do it yourself, because Miss America does not have an on-call hair and makeup artist. If the queen herself has to do her own hair and makeup for day to day appearances then you may as well start perfecting yours at the local level too. I also think that knowing how to do your own hair and makeup saves you so much time and money at the pageant. You are not bound to anyone else’s schedule, you won’t be punished if your artist is running late, and you can do your own touch-ups when you have down time. I’m not saying that hair and makeup artists are not important, they absolutely are! I’m just saying that a few makeup lessons will always be more affordable than 3-7 days of hair and makeup services, and invaluable because you’ve learned a new skill. I’m just encouraging you to invest more into taking lessons so that you can be independent in your femininity and still support the artist.
Make friends and have fun
If you continue to compete in pageants you will soon see that pageant girls run in the same circles, and you’ll start to see the same girls when you compete. So you may as well get to know them and support one another! In addition to personal development, friendship, sisterhood, and networking are three things that I love about pageantry. Not only are you seeing growth in yourself but you get to see new girlfriends grow and achieve their goals too. There’s no benefit to seeing the other girls as only competition and trying to always be better than someone else. This mindset will only stress you out and make you feel like you constantly have something to prove. Being sweet and kind is much more fulfilling. So while you are on this pageant journey don’t forget to make friends along the way. Compliment, congratulate, and befriend other girls. Goof off backstage. Pray for each other before interview. Have sleepovers. What good is being a queen if you don’t have good girlfriends?
Prep and practice the categories
Practicing for a pageant is common knowledge, but we must be on the same page as to what practice is and how often we should be doing it. If you want to win you have to be strategic and intentional with your preparation, while being open to feedback and repetition. Practicing in your heels a week before the pageant is not good prep and practice. Going over interview questions in your head and not out loud, without recording yourself, and without practicing with someone is not good prep and practice. Good prep and practice includes diligence in every area and a lot of repetition. Whether you are hiring coaches or starting out with the free resources available to you, you have to put in the daily work, seek guidance, and challenge yourself. Before you know it, your pageant skills will be muscle memory and you’ll have a curated prep strategy that yields results.
Treat yourself
Every time I have competed in a pageant, no matter what the results were, no matter what kind of mood I was in after crowning, my mama and I would always go to Waffle House afterwards, and I always order a grilled cheese plate. The only time I have not been able to do this is when I competed at Nationals in Las Vegas, but we still found a cute little burger joint. This is my tradition. This is my way of treating myself for my hard work, congratulating myself for following through, and self-reflecting with some good food. Competing in pageants is a long game, and you will lose more than you will win. So every time you follow through and you give it your all from opening number to crowning, you deserve a treat. Crown or not, you should always acknowledge your hard work and do a little something for yourself.
If you are just starting your pageant journey I hope these essential tips will help you achieve your dream title! If you are a pageant pro I hope these tips were a great refresher for you! If you would like to watch the corresponding YouTube video to this blog post click the link below!
