Running for Miss Tall International pageant - My First Pageant! Blog Post

My first pageant... ever.

Tall Clubs International has been running pageants for YEARS. In years past there has been up to 20 different ladies competing for the crown. In recent years, there have been fewer women, but it still makes the competition no less stiff. I had to compete first for the Vancouver BC, Sea to Sky Peaks crown, then continue on to Miss TI. So I guess technically I won two pageants!

If I would have told my 17 year old self that I would be running in a beauty pageant...well... let's just say I surprised myself. In high school, I was the wanna be rock star who ran around in a biker jacket, band t-shirts, tight jeans and army boots. I abhorred anything I didn't deem as 'cool' and had a permanently reserved seat on the back of the school bus.

Needless to say, I remember the local girls running for pageants and I thought it was ridiculous. Boy, was I superficially judgemental and wrong! While I am certainly not the princess type, I seriously underestimated what a wonderful growth opportunity participating in a pageant would be.

I realized in the past few years that pageants, while historically focused on looks to some extent, are actually so much more. It's toastmasters public speaking, a talent portion and the ability to think on your feet while being questioned, all rolled up into one. While I am fortunate that I have been a performing musician for 25 years and have worked hard to develop that as a career, there are still no guarantees that translates into a win. Putting myself out there several times month to play in front of people is different than speaking and being influential, though undoubtedly that fear of getting up in front of people is lessened.

It also gave me an opportunity to think through all my points of view. I had to ask myself how I can be bigger and better than I have been in the past, a real leader. I actually spent some time video taping myself.. wow, what a learning that was, I am a fast talker and I needed to slow myself down.

Thank goodness I did because all that time and work paid off and I won!

Up until the announcement I really had no idea that I was going to win. The competition was excellent and I was so thankful for that. This was a real growth opportunity for me and a chance to expand my comfort zone while representing my local Vancouver BC Canada, Sea to Sky Peaks Club and eventually North America as Miss TI.

The announcement itself was exciting. It is such a funny thing to hear your name being called. It's like time stops for a second and you look around to see what's happening. Then you survey the room and almost automatically begin to say thank you.. to my competition, the judges and the wonderful group of people who had chosen me... Then there is the flash bulbs and smiling until you think your face has frozen into position :)

Then there is the crown, which is surprisingly heavy and needs to be attached pretty creatively using bobby pins and clips. I can say it's something I can get on and off quite easily now. Getting through door jams without getting it bumped off my head is another thing entirely.

Overall, it has been a really fun life experience so far. Little girls love to come up and ask me questions, in fact it's quite something to go out with it on. I've had to get over a bit of the 'why is everyone staring at me'.. feeling. I would encourage anyone (single and tall club member) who is even thinking about running to sign up. It's a wonderful life experience to even run

Learn more about Tall clubs  at http://www.tall.org