Long before I started working as a model, I competed in beauty pageants. And I still do to this day (as of writing, I'm a National Finalist for Ms. Galaxy Australia).
Without beauty pageants, I may never have become a model or had the opportunities for the personal and professional growth I’ve experienced that have shaped me into who I am. After you read this post, check out more about my pageant to modelling journey.
Professionally and personally, I've discovered a lot through beauty pageants. So, let's unearth the gems of wisdom that models can learn from the world of crowns and sashes, from confidence building to personal branding and modelling skills.
Confidence Building
As a pageant girl, I know first-hand just how empowering beauty pageants can be. In the lead up to a pageant and throughout the week of the actual competition, pageant girls are exposed to a lot of opportunities to build confidence.
Whether that’s empowerment workshops, pageant walk training, or even connecting with other women who have similar interests and aspirations, pageants propel you into a world that is far beyond the ordinary.
The intensity of pageants especially has a lot of overlap with what it feels like to work as a professional model. Whether it’s organising outfits; booking your own photoshoots for pageant headshots; physical preparation including skin, hair and nails; running to tightly scheduled days during pageant week and more, there’s a lot of behind the scenes work that goes into preparing for a pageant, which makes it great practise for what it’s like to work as a model.
All of these things combined make pageantry a great testing ground to build your confidence. Pageantry is a great opportunity to prove to yourself that you are capable of difficult things, that you can work under pressure when the stakes feel high, and that you can make lasting connections with other women that follow you through life beyond pageant week.
Personal Branding
This is probably one of the biggest overlaps between beauty pageants and modelling. A saying that I heard once which is both extremely true and hilarious is: “pageant girls can outperform anyone on personal branding.”
As a pageant girl, I’ve never heard a more accurate statement.
In beauty pageants, personal branding is extremely important. Personal branding shows other people who you are, what you do, and why you do it. This overlaps a lot with modelling. As a model, you need to know what type of work you want to do, what your skills are, and you need to be able to remember your “why” when you face challenging times (because like any job, there will be challenging times!)
Doing a beauty pageant is like doing a course in personal branding to develop how you think about and communicate who you are, what you do, and why. When I was at the beginning of my modelling journey, the personal branding I had begun to develop through pageantry helped to guide me at the very start, and probably gave me a big mindset boost early in my career.
Modelling Skills
Beauty pageants and modelling have some similarities when it comes to developing skills. While beauty pageants have a different “style” than modelling, pageantry can give you an opportunity to test and develop some modelling skills.
Now, I’m not saying that beauty pageants and modelling are exactly the same. Beauty pageants are more about personality (as well as particular skills like walking in evening gowns, swimsuit rounds, interviews, and volunteering/community service), where modelling is more about the skill of displaying a garment in a range of settings.
But, where beauty pageants and modelling overlap is photoshoots and stage experience.
For beauty pageants, it’s very likely that you will have to do a photoshoot at some stage, whether it’s pre-competition or during pageant week. This gives you an opportunity to experience what it’s like to be in front of a camera, how to take direction from photographers, as well as practise posing.
On top of this, beauty pageants have multiple rounds of competition where you walk on stage, perfect for building experience in a high pressure situation in front of a crowd.
It’s a great gateway experience for aspiring models. After I competed in my first beauty pageant, and when I went on to book my first photoshoot, I felt confident because I knew that pageantry had provided me with that experience.
I had already done it once, so I could do it again!
If you’re a new or aspiring model, beauty pageants have a lot of great things to offer you. From confidence building to personal branding and modelling skills, beauty pageants could open doors for you that you never knew existed, like they did for me.
This week, I’m competing at the Ms. Galaxy Australia National Finals. You can follow my pageant journey from 1st - 4th May on Instagram to see the behind the scenes for yourself.
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