The Pageant Factor
By Carolyn Jennings
Miss
West Virginia USA 2004 To start this off I will address the
most common question people ask me: "how do you become Miss
West Virginia USA, or a "Miss" anything for that matter?"
I could give a general answer about entering a pageant and the
overall competition itself, but in all honesty, I have absolutely
no idea. There is no science to it: doing A, B, and C will not
create a beauty queen.
Now that I have cleared the air on that issue I can talk about what I do know. The first thing I have learned through my experience is how to accept defeat. You learn fast that only one person walks away the official winner, and I have had my share of victories and defeats. At one point I thought that first runner-up was my middle name! "And the winner is . . . not me."
I stepped into the world of pageantry at age 14 after a suggestion from my parents. I am a violinist and they saw it as a great vehicle to perform in front of a crowd. Plus, it forced me to practice for fear of public humiliation! I had just signed with a modeling agency, but had absolutely no confidence whatsoever. As a child, I was the little girl with thick glasses, an overbite, zits, and a chronic bad haircut that would grow into another bad haircut. It was a never-ending cycle, and I was picked on constantly. I decided to humor their flights of pageant grandeur.
Now at age 21, with almost eight years of pageantry under my belt, I have learned that win or lose, you must take something from each and every experience. Through my teens, pageants were something that gave me confidence, the thing I never had! I could feel it just by the way I carried myself. I held my head up high and voiced my opinions even in the face of opposition. The insecure little girl was gone, along with the overbite . . . thank you mom and dad for the braces!
By the time college rolled around I decided to take a break from competing. But I used pageants again to help guide me with my major. Picking a major is like picking out clothes, and you have to try things on and see if they fit. I used my pageant background to help me evaluate my likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses. I loved speaking in front of a crowd, entertaining, and meeting new people. So, I went with broadcast news as a major, and today I am one year away from graduating with a degree in something I truly enjoy. I did not have to win any title to figure out that I have gained so much more than a rhinestone crown and banner.
Entering adulthood, I was not sure how pageants would fit in. I always knew I would graduate and have to get a "real" job at some point (every college kid's fear), and I assumed that walking around in a bathing suit and heels and donning an evening gown would not be the right way toward the real world. Boy was I wrong! Having always dreamed of working in the entertainment industry, the Miss USA Pageant was one of the best ways to get my foot in the door. As Miss West Virginia USA, I have done things I never imagined I would or could do.
One of the highlights was competing on the Miss USA edition of Fear Factor [the episode aired before the Miss USA pageant on April 12]. I made it to the final stunt. I did not win any money, but I took something else from it: networking in the entertainment industry. I currently have the executive producer of Fear Factor helping me find an internship with NBC in Los Angeles!
Miss USA was held in Hollywood this year, the main hub of entertainment. I was on many television shows, and even got to crown Jimmy Kimmel Mr. USA on live television. Again, the networking continued as well as the résumé building. Now, as I look to my future in the "real world" I realize that fear is not a factor for me.