Fmr. Miss America talks anorexia, strives to help women nationwide

By Darlene Hill

From magazines to models, society has an image of what they think pretty is. "I think that being thin in this culture is highly glamorized, and the truth is, that to be on a diet all of the time, to be obsessed with food and weight loss, is not a way to live," said Kirsten Haglund, Former Miss America of 2008. Haglund struggled with an eating disorder at an early age. She was a 12 year ballet dancer who thought she was too fat.Three years later, Haglund's parents discovered her secret: she was anorexic. "That was my life, but my parents showed me that I was deteriorating not only my physical health but my mental health as well. I was depressed. I pushed my friends and family away and I was just a totally different person," Haglund said.When Haglund received her crown in 2008, she made ‘Eating Disorder Awareness' her passion and platform. 

Haglund travels all around the country, talking to women ages 18 to 24 about eating disorders and body images. The Former Miss America said that parents everywhere should listen if the topic comes up. She also said to watch your child's eating habits because eating too much or not enough will tell you something.
"Some of the signs to look for are [an] obsession with calories and [an] obsession of weight loss method. [Also] over exercising, frequent trips to the bathroom after eating, hiding food or hoarding food, eating in private or avoiding situations that involve food," said Haglund.

Lavetta Schneider is crowned 2014 Mrs. Nevada America

By Robin Leach

Congratulations to Lavetta Schneider, who won Sunday night’s 2014 Mrs. Nevada America Pageant at Sam’s Town. Lavetta is a hair artisan at Michael Boychuck’s salon Color at Caesars Palace. Lavetta has worked on hairstyling for Britney Spears, Kim Kardashian, Jenny McCarthy and Nicole Scherzinger, plus, music videos for Billy Ray Cyrus, Terry Fator and Kid Rock. Lavetta’s husband of 18 months, Stephan, is general manager of Wet Republic at MGM Grand. She arrived at the Mirage in 2007 from Los Angeles and has worked for Michael since 2011. “The Strip has become my home, and that was why I represented the unincorporated town of Paradise in Clark County,” she told me. “It was my very first pageant,” she laughed. “The 2011 winner encouraged me to give it a shot.

“My husband said that he would support me fully if I gave it all my heart to win. I still can’t believe it happened, even though I worked really hard. It’s still a dream the morning after; I am still in a state of shock.” Lavetta now represents Nevada at the 2014 Mrs. America Pageant in Tucson in August. Lavetta’s platform is anti-bullying, and she promotes the organization Nevada People Empowering People. Lavetta also is an educational director of the online Michael Boychuck Hair Academy and appears in his videos. Michael has become a fixture in the pageant community and helped with many Nevada pageant winners, including Jill Barnhart, Mrs. Nevada United States 2013; Lauren Hudman, Miss Nevada Teen USA 2008; Georgina Vaughan, Miss Nevada USA 2009; Kristie Gulia-Jelinsky, Mrs. Nevada America 2012; and Amanda Kouretas, Mrs. Nevada America 2011. Michael also is a sponsor of the Miss Nevada USA Pageant, working with executive director Shanna Moakler and winners Jade Kelsall and Chelsea Caswell. As a judge of the Miss California USA Pageant in 2011, he helped select Alyssa Campanella, who won and went on to become Miss USA.

Miss Alabama USA 2014 Jesica Ahlberg on Katherine Webb, her movie cameos and her new title

By Mia Watkins

Jesica Ahlberg may have acted next to Ryan Reynolds and may call Katherine Webb a friend, but that’s not the coolest thing she’s done recently. The 24-year-old began her official reign as Miss Alabama USA 2014 Saturday, Nov. 16. “It was just the most overwhelming feeling,” she said. “It’s so hard to describe, maybe a mixture of just shock and joy. I couldn’t believe it. It’s something I’ve wanted for so long.” She began her pageant career in Florida as a teenager.

“I was never a pageant girl,” she said. “I was asked by a friend to do one of the local preliminary pageants. I did it for fun, I wore my prom dress and I ended up winning,” she said. She was eventually named the second runner-up in last year's Miss Alabama USA pageant. Throughout her journeys in the Miss USA pageant network and her most recent competition, she said she made plenty of friends who also celebrated her win along with almost 30 of her loved ones. “The greatest feeling of the night, though, was after I’d won and they crowned me I just remember turning around and then seeing all of the new friends that I had made running towards me and jumping all over me. That was the coolest thing ever,” she said. One of those pageant friends includes fellow Auburn grad and Miss Alabama USA 2012 Katherine Webb. Ahlberg calls her a good friend. “She helped me a lot along the way,” she said. “She helped me pick out wardrobe; she let me borrow a lot of her jewelry.” Ahlberg said she admires how her friend has handled sudden fame. “She’s a really good person,”she said.” I see some of the things that people tweet at her and write on her Instagram and it hurts my feelings for her because she really does have a good heart and she’s not trying to ride the coattails of the football team.” In addition to her newest role as beauty queen, Ahlberg also maintains a career as an actress and a model.

Ahlberg ‘s career began in a very 21st century, internet-savvy way: through Google. “I didn’t know anything about it, but I’ve always wanted to do it,” she said. “I took it upon myself to Google and figure out everything myself.” She dove into the acting world by reading books on acting and working with UAB’s Artplay. She began with a job as an extra on the show “Drop Dead Gorgeous.” She soon followed up with parts on “Necessary Roughness” with John Stamos and “Banshee” on Cinemax. She also has a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” and a part in the newest “Spongebob Squarepants” movie. On the modeling side, she is currently the “Sleeping Face” for Delta Airline’s Business Elite class. “Acting is just what I absolutely love to do, so I hope that keeps growing,” she said.
When she’s not acting or fulfilling her Miss Alabama USA duties, she volunteers with the Better Basics program in Birmingham to promote literacy. Ahlberg works with a class at Hayes K-8 School to motivate students to read. She said reading has always been important to her. “It’s a great way to further yourself in life and it’s very important to education,” she said. In the meantime, she said she will continue all of her endeavors while working with trainers and sponsors to prepare for next year’s Miss USA pageant. “It’s such an honor to be chosen to represent the state at the Miss USA pageant,” she said.

Colombe Akiwacu Crowned Miss World Rwanda 2014

Colombe Akiwacu was crowned Miss Rwanda 2014 at the conclusion of the pageant held on February 22 2014 at the Petit Stade in the capital Kigali. The 20-year-old student from the Eastern Province stands 1.75 m. Colombe will represent Rwanda for the first time ever in the Miss World 2014 pageant, scheduled for November in London, England.

Miss USA Erin Brady on Pageant Fashion: ‘It’s Definitely Modernizing’

BY MEGHAN BLALOCK

Beauty pageants aren’t exactly a hotbed for forecasting the next season’s big runway trends, but it is true that more and more pageant contestants (and winners!) are opting to forego the traditionally sparkly, sequin pageant dresses for more high-fashion runway (and sometimes, even couture) looks. Miss USA Erin Brady wore a custom-made Sherri Hill dress (a brand loved by celebrities like Selena Gomez,Bella Thorne, and more) for her big win last June (below), so she knows this better than anyone.

“Pageant dresses are a lot of glitz, glam, and beading, and I think that’s great, but I love that runway is couture,” Brady told StyleCaster at the launch party for Richard Chai’s collaboration with leather designer Andrew Marc at Scoop in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood. “You can stand out in a different way that catches somebody’s eye without having all the glitz and glam.” “I’m actually happy to see that pageants are transitioning more into red carpet looks rather than that stereotypical pageant look,” she added. “It’s great to see that people are really looking at the styles and the different influences of each season and really trying to incorporate that into their looks more. It’s more couture and high-fashion, and it’s modernizing, which I think is great. It makes people look at pageants in a different light, and they get more attention from the fashion industry when they see things like that.”

So will we be seeing more and more couture on the stage at events like Miss USA and Miss Universe? Brady tells StyleCaster that she loved many of the dresses from Zang Toi’s glamorous Fall 2014 lineup, so keep your eyes peeled come June when she hosts the big competition!

Emerson College Sweeps the 2014 Miss Boston & Miss Cambridge Pageant

by Lauren Landry
Associate Editor, BostInno, Streetwise Media

Emerson College swept the 2014 Miss Boston and Miss Cambridge Pageant Sunday, with an alumna and current graduate student capturing the coveted crowns. Meagan Fuller and Michelle Nigro won the titles of Miss Boston and Miss Cambridge, respectively. Fuller is pursuing a masters in health communication at Emerson, while Nigro serves as a communications associate for Dhar Law, LLP, as well as the firm's nonprofit incubator, The Next Mile Project.

The two were among 16 other contestants, getting glitzed and glammed up before receiving a pep talk from last year's Miss Boston and Miss Cambridge, Morgan Berg and Carrie Sunde. Prior to the 2014 pageant, Berg posted a photo on Instagram, admitting that, although she was sad to realize this was the last day of wearing the crown, she is "excited to see what else is in store."

Nigro and Fuller each received a $1,500 academic scholarship, as well as a second scholarship and prize package worth more than $10,000. Throughout the year, the two will also be given the opportunity to further promote the platforms they entered the contest supporting: Boston Bakes for Breast Cancer and Fuller's personal platform "Knocking Out Dropping Out: Promising Youth Success in School." Sunday's pageant, held at the Omni Parker House Hotel, was an official preliminary to the Miss Massachusetts and Miss America contests. And for Fuller and Nigro, that means the weekend's win could be the first of many. "Can't thank everyone who helped me on my road to [Miss Boston] enough," Nigro tweeted out prior to donning the crown. For those who missed Sunday's festivities, we've gathered up photos of all the behind-the-scenes events, including the 2014 Princess Party, where contestants were able to decorate cupcakes and crowns with mini pageant princesses.

Miss Sulawesi Barat wins Miss Indonesia 2014

Source: Tribune News, Indonesia

Miss Sulawesi Barat, 22 year old Maria Asteria Sastrayu defeated 33 other delegates to win the Miss Indonesia 2014 title last night. She was crowned by outgoing title holder and Miss World 2013 top 10 finalist Vania Larissa and the reigning Miss World, Megan Young from the Philippines. Sastrayu stands 1.65m tall and will represent her country at Miss World 2014 in London this November.

The first runner-up was Miss Papua Barat, Ellen Rachel Aragay and the second runner-up was Miss Jawa Timur, Hanna Sugialam. The top 7 were completed by the delegates from Aceh, Jawa Tenggah, Lampung, and DI Yogyakarta.

NANA MERIWETHER'S MODEL BEAUTY!

Source: Access Hollywood

Miss USA 2012 Nana Meriwether helped get the party started at Fashion Week in New York City.

Healthy Hollywood celebrated with Nana and kicked off the weeklong fashion fest in style and with the right attitude, as I got invited to attend the Carrie Hammer show which spotlights “role models, not runway models.” Instead of gorgeous amazons sashaying down the runway, the designer had real women with a mind for business walking in her line of career-oriented fashion. Along with Nana, media executives, entrepreneurs and a host of other savvy women took to the catwalk.

“We are looking for role models, not models. This show has women who have worked hard to get where they are and are still aspiring to do big things,” Nana explained to Healthy Hollywood. Nana, who is friends with the designer, is busy these days with her non-profit organization called The Meriwether Foundation. The foundations run health, education, nutrition, and empowerment programs in impoverished villages in southern Africa. “I have been inspired all throughout my life to give back. The change I want to see in the world is to see that everyone is treated equally and has equal access to better health and a long life,” states Nana.

As a former beauty pageant contestant, she’s also concerned about young women and their sometimes harsh judgments of themselves. “I think too often we compare ourselves to other girls and that can only eat you alive. It’s really important to start building yourself and not look to next person and be jealous or catty. It’s a hard lesson to learn. When I was competing in Miss USA it was really hard not to say ‘I want her hair’ or ‘I want her eyelashes’ or ‘I want her dress.’ But, it is the woman who is mentally strong and competent and ambitious that usually wins Miss USA (or other competitions),” reveals Nana.

While the 28-year-old has let go of her beauty pageants ambitions, she’s still very conscious of looking and feeling good inside and out. “I do a lot of juicing and try to work out at least four times a week. Even if you have 10 minutes, go on a jog for 10 minutes and come back. It really does change your body and your outlook. You’re more awake, your energy is better. I’m a very big advocate of working out.”

For more on Nana’s do-good work, check out www.meriwetherfoundation.org.

-- Terri MacLeod

Miss United States 2012 Is Trading Her Crown For A Black Belt

by Sammi Mazza

People often wonder what happens to titleholders once their reign is over. Sometimes it seems to be they simply fall off the face of the Earth, but this is not the case for Miss United States 2012, Whitney Miller. The former Miss Texas U.S., who is pursuing her Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, is already competing in events around the country, winning medals along the way. “Sometimes its horrible and I just want to go cry in a little corner,” Miller said in a recent promotional video. “I definitely do that, but you just have to keep going and keep pushing through all of those challenges.” When pursuing something new or exciting in life, your family and friends may react in different ways. Ways you are not always prepared for, Miller says, “When I told my family I was going to go into combative sports, that was a trip to say the least, my mom was crying. My dad is an old Texas banker and he said it was stupid.”

Currently fighting out of Austin, Texas, Miller has trained with UFC fighter Cub Swanson and fellow MMA fighter, Tessa Simpson. Swanson is currently ranked fourth in the promotion’s featherweight class, so he knows what it takes to succeed in the Octagon should Miller want to parlay her BJJ training into a mixed martial arts career.

She hopes her story will motivate others. “What I want to show is you can go out there and do anything. If a beauty pageant queen can go earn a jiu jitsu black belt, you have no excuses.”

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Ashley Durham Engaged To Canuck David Booth

Source: The Huffington Post

It must be February, because love is definitely in the air with the news that Vancouver Canuck forward David Booth got engaged to girlfriend (and Miss Tennessee USA 2011) Ashley Durham.

It was Miss USA 2011 Alyssa Campanella who broke the news, tweeting her excitement on Tuesday. Turns out she was the one who introduced them in the first place. Nice matchmaking skills!
Durham took to Instagram to give us a glimpse of her happiness, sharing a photo of her and her maid of honour.

And only a few days before the engagement, Booth posted a photo of him and his love on Instagram, quoting country singer Justin Moore's "My Kind Of Woman": "Knew that was my kind of woman first time I saw her She's good with a cane pole good with a gun she's my kind of woman good as they come."

Pillow fight! Manny Pacquiao vs. Miss USA Erin Brady

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Barceló Bavaro Beach Resort to host 2014 Miss U.S. Latina Pageant

PRLog (Press Release)

The Miss U.S. Latina™ Pageant returns to the Dominican Republic for its 26th edition, this time to take place at the luxurious Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe in Punta Cana. The Finals Show and Coronation will be held Saturday, August 30 at the Gran Teatro Bavaro. The event itself will begin on August 24 with the arrival of the contestants for the week-long schedule of preliminary competitions, rehearsals and other pageant and fun activities. “We are thrilled to return to this amazing resort which hosted our world finals in 2011 and it was an incredibly wonderful experience for all,” said pageant president and founder Acirema Alayeto. “This is our 15th anniversary with Barcelo Hotels & Resorts and we could not celebrate it at a better location than this one, where the first Barceló hotel in Latin America was built in 1985.” Ms. Alayeto went on to note that Barcelo Hotels & Resorts continuously play an important role in the travel & tourism industries’ worldwide environmental efforts.  For years, this luxury resort complex in Punta Cana has been dedicated to meet the highest international standards in regards to the environment, conservation and corporate social responsibility, earning it Green Globe certification in 2013. That same year, the Barcelo Bavaro Beach Resort received the Check Safety First (CSF) Award for its operations' high quality standards.

“We are proud to be associated with the worldwide Barceló hotel chain and the excellence they represent, given that our program also promotes high standards as we seek participants who fit our motto of “More than a model…a Role Model™,” added Ms.Alayeto. Miss U.S. Latina is the first national pageant system established in the country in 1983 exclusively for Latinas. It continues to be the only one whose winner advances to a world competition – the Miss Latin America of the World pageant. Single women of Latin or Hispanic heritage between the ages of 19 and 27 are showcased in this national competition that encourages academic pursuits, personal development, cultural awareness and community service. Contestants are selected from across the USA through affiliate state pageants.

Ashley Garner of El Paso, Texas is the current Miss U.S. Latina titleholder and she will be crowning her successor in Punta Cana. Ashley, who is of Mexican and Afro-American heritage, was crowned last summer at the Barcelo Maya Beach Resort in Riviera Maya, Mexico. She went on to win Third Runner-up placement at the world finals last year, so the parameters for the 2014 contestants are high.
Previous Miss U.S. Latina titleholders have come from Arizona, California, Florida, Kansas, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah and Washington, D.C., and they have been of Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Guatemalan, Costa Rican, Colombian, Brazilian, Peruvian, Bolivian, Nicaraguan and Dominican descent, reflecting the wide diversity of nationalities that comprises the large Latino population living in states all around this country.

Miami-based Organización Miss America Latina Inc. produces the Miss U.S. Latina national pageant, as well as the Miss Latin America of the World international pageant. Over the years, the Miss U.S. Latina Pageant has been hosted by various Latin American countries, such as Argentina, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Mexico.
All eligible Latinas are encouraged to participate in their state preliminary for the chance at living this amazing experience. Interested contestants can get more details visiting http://www.missuslatina.com. Find information on Barcelo Hotels & Resorts at http://www.barcelo.com.

Miss USA Nana Meriwether to Compete in Wildfox Model Beach Volleyball: "Maybe I'll Spread Rumors or Something"

By Kat Bein (New Times Miami)

Right now, New York City is floundering in icy, slushy chaos. The high hardly breaks 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

Meanwhile, everything here at home is perfect blue skies and sunscreen on sandy beaches. It's no wonder Miss USA 2012 Nana Meriweather can't wait to get her butt down here. The former Olympically-trained volleyball player will brush up on her spiking skills and try to lead her team of gorgeous bodies to victory in the fifth-annual Wildfox Model Beach Volleyball tournament. It's competitive sports for a good cause, with support for the Irie Foundation -- but watching all those models compete is worth it alone, right?

Meriweather is no stranger to good-deeds. Her family has been working with South African communities her whole life, and she recently founded her own foundation toward that goal. We spoke to her via phone to learn more about her philanthropic efforts, her sneaky game-plan, and her unfair advantage.

New Times: What have you been up to? Nana Meriwether: I was Miss USA last year, and I gave up my title in June. I continued to live in New York City, and I work in development and fundraising for Meriwether foundation which is a non-profit organization that I helped co-found. We work in rural and very urban communities in Southern Africa. We've grown now to five countries. We're in South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi. I'm passionate about it, and I love to do it, so that's what I do during the day. But at night, I still do events and appearances out of New York.

I'd love to hear what drew you to that cause in the first place. My mom was born and raised in South Africa. My father is an American doctor and in the early 1980s, my mom was studying in the states and she met my dad. They moved to South Africa, they were supposed to stay a year and they ended up staying eight years. I was born during this time. My dad was working in the local hospital, and my mom would help empower women through small business, such as organic farming. They ended up helping over half a million people while they were there for eight years, and that's what this is based off of. We continued working, traveling back and forth, but we started work with the nonprofit in 2007.

Have you ever participated in this crazy Wildfox model volleyball competition? I have not. This is my first time. Actually, my first time in Miami was during Art Basel, this past one. I loved it. I'm very excited.

Are you naturally sporty? Have you played volleyball before? I have. I played volleyball for UCLA, and then I played in Puerto Rico and trained for the Olympics. I retired soon after that, so I haven't touched a ball since 2006. We'll see how this weekend goes.
You could be the sleeper cell! You could just come through and wreck it.But I haven't played in a while.

Do you know what team you're playing on? Are you cooperating with a certain modeling agency? I think the first day, they randomly pick names out of a hat and then you're matched with that team. I think there's 12 teams, and all the people participating are models, not people.

Well models are people, too. Yeah, they're a special breed of people. That's what makes this event amazing. They're really competitive, and they'll bring attention, and it's all for a good cause. It's a very uniquely-structured event that I'm looking forward to.

You brought up a good point, that models are very competitive in nature. At first, you think of a bunch of models playing volleyball, you think all these skinny girls are going to be running around in their bikinis, but I bet they're going to be really serious and really go for the throat. Probably even more so than the coaches. All the coaches are pretty professional or current volleyball players. They have the same nature, I think, when it comes to competition. I think it's going to be a very exciting weekend.

There are coaches. Does that mean you guys are going to have a chance to practice with one another and come up with a game plan? I think so. I believe that we may even play a game against each other. This weekend is full of surprises. There's going to be a bunch of celebrities and volleyball players. It's a great mix of different worlds coming together for a god cause.

Last year Jamie Fox performed, and that was a big surprise. Anything can happen. There's a stage and a DJ. It's like five degrees in New York. I can't wait to go to the beach in the sun. It's going to be a fun weekend. Is there actually a champion team that will rise out of this competition? What do the winners get? Yes! I think the champions get a prize. It's a big gift with all the sponsors, so there's something to work towards.

Other than just bragging rights, which are pretty good.I think that's way more valuable than the prize package. The agency who wins can just brag for a year. I can't wait to see if there's briberies. I'll learn more when I hit the ground, start asking around. Maybe I'll spread rumors or something to bring the competition down.

The 5th Annual Wildfox Model Beach Volleyball Tournament. Hosted by Miss USA 2012 Nana Meriwether. Saturday, Feb. 8, and Sunday, Feb. 9, at 8th and Ocean Dr., Miami Beach. The event begins at 10 a.m. daily and is free and open to the public.

All Hail The Asparagus Queen!

by NPR STAFF

Forget Miss USA and Miss Universe. Think you've got what it takes to be the Asparagus Queen?
Mainstream beauty pageants still get tons of applicants every year (even after the dip in participation during the 2008 recession). The same can't be said for the rural festival pageant circuits, The Wall Street Journal's Lindsay Gellman tells Audie Cornish on All Things Considered. 

Be it pecans, asparagus or watermelons, many farming communities have also had a tradition of granting their prized commodity crops their very own monarchs. However, interest among young women is waning and the crop of candidates is dwindling, says Gellman, who covered the phenomenon in a recent story. The reason is partly financial strain — the tab for the dress, jewelry and professional makeup services can easily add up to hundreds of dollars. Gellman adds that there may also be a changing attitude toward pageants that makes them less appealing for younger women.

"The participation level is [also] an important indicator of the strength of the community engagement and pride in the cultural commodity it's tied to," says Gellman. Take, for example, the annual pageant held by the National Asparagus Festival in Oceana, Mich.But local communities aren't giving up on the traditions just yet. And many have turned to changing the rules to spice up the competition. For years, the title of Mrs. Asparagus was traditionally reserved for farmers' wives. But there wasn't much of a competition two years ago when one of only two participants dropped out at the last minute. By default, the crown went to the one remaining candidate.

"The goal of this pageant is to select a farmer's wife-type to represent the asparagus industry," Gellman says. "And so to not have a choice of women is very awkward." So organizers decided to throw out the wedding ring requirement, change the title to Asparagus Queen and open up the competition to both single and married women. They're not the only ones, though. Other pageants are also finding ways to garner more interest: The Ohio Beef Queen has become the gender-neutral Ohio Beef Ambassador; Ms. Kumquat is now crowned alongside a Mr. Kumquat in Dade City, Fla. And the board members of Louisiana's Shrimp and Petroleum Festival are personally calling up qualified young women to compete. The number of applicants for the Shrimp and Petroleum Queen rose because, Gellman says, "It's very hard to turn down a personal telephone invitation."