This is, a series from KTOO sharing weekly perspectives from the homelands of the Áak’w Kwáan and beyond.
But I’d never done a Miss USA or Miss Volunteer America or Miss America Pageant before. You know, those circuits are so glamorized. And they’re so big and well known that they’re kind of intimidating. Every pageant you compete for, you need to have a platform, which is basically something that you stand for. This one, they call it their initiative, and you have to put in work.You have to have such a developed and dedicated platform that really shows what you’re doing in your community and how you specifically are making a change. It’s not just “I want to do this,” it’s “I am doing this.”
And — sorry — I had come home from my shift at McDonald’s, to the little room that we shared. And she was there completely unresponsive with an empty bottle of pills right near her.And it’s really unfortunate that children here don’t have the same kind of resources. Adults’ resources are abysmal. And it’s just, it’s something I’m fighting so hard to change. And I’m really excited to go to Nashville and fight for national resources for my community.
And what I love about pageantry now is that beauty has completely changed. Beauty is a spectrum and every girl who gets on that stage is beautiful, because the reasons that she’s there is to make a change.