Their answers are nearly as polished as their appearances.
Not a “world peace,” “end world hunger” or “create education better” answer to be found. Nor any other gaffes, real or imagined. The four local contestants entered in the upcoming Miss California USA and Miss California Teen USA pageants and outgoing Miss Teen, all from Long Beach, wanted to dispel the stereotypes and misconceptions they say others have about their endeavor. All seemed eager to hone their skills on a reporter. Though they have practiced their pageant walks and turns and sculpted their bodies for competition, nothing quite prepares a beauty queen for “the question” posed to her on stage in the final portion of competition. It is always the big unknown, the one thing you can't really ever prepare for.
And nothing threatens to unravel all that carefully constructed confidence and wholly undermine the preparation quite so much as a botched answer to a question about global or domestic issues.
And few things do more to cement the perception some have of beauty queens as vapid mannequins or Stepford wives. The image is still fresh of this year's Miss Utah staggering through a televised answer about ongoing wage disparities between men and women and famously uttering her “create education better” line. That relegated her to an also-ran and went viral online. It also landed her a spot on the “Today” show.
“I've been following the headlines. I don't want to be Miss Utah,” said Saby Ramirez, 18, a Cal State Long Beach freshman from Long Beach who's representing Signal Hill in the teen pageant. “People get the wrong stereotypes and negative views of pageantry,” said Taylor Cassady, 18, a freshman nursing student at CSULB. “Everyone jokes about world peace as an answer.”
“The biggest misconception is that it's only about beauty, said Sasha Ulysse, 23, a recent CSULB grad. “It's about determination and stamina. The pageant isn't all (we) do.” “I think pageant girls are the most focused and ambitious women, who just happen to look good,” said Nelly Umeh, 22, a Lakewood native in her junior year at UC Riverside. Chloe Hope Hatfield, 18, who will hand over the crown she earned four months ago when the standing Miss Teen California advanced to a different level of competition, said the notion of crazy and ruthless beauty queens is also overstated. Hatfield, a second-generation beauty contestant, said: “The pageants are where my best friends come from. I've never had a bad experience.”
The local Long Beach women competing in the pageants come from diverse backgrounds. Some are pageant veterans; several are trying it for the first time. Some have moms who were contestants and have passed it along. Others have come into it by pure happenstance. Some have gained sponsorship or help to pay the many thousands of dollars it costs to be in a pageant, and others have pulled extra work shifts and scrimped and borrowed.
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