Robots and Rhinestones

From the outside looking in, you might think that my road to competing in the Miss Plus America pageant was natural or seamless. Just like trying anything else for the first time, participating in my first pageant took months of planning, learning, and preparation. I want to highlight how I prepared for pageant life and what I learned, so other women can follow in my footsteps if they wish to!

The Basic Requirements

Thanks to the organization of Miss Plus America pageants being so focused on promoting plus-sized beauty, the first requirement is that all contestants are women size 14W or greater. Contrary to your traditional pageant, where contestants may be hyper-focused on dieting and making a specific weight leading up to the pageant, my focus was allowed to be on being healthy and preparation.

The only other requirement at the state level for Texas is that you live, own property, were born, or have some connection with Texas. I am a Texas girl, so this was an easy one to check off the list! Once the preliminary requirements were all squared away, all I had to do was submit my application. That’s when the work really began!

Creating a Meaningful Platform

The focus of the pageant is twofold: promote confidence in plus-size women and give plus-sized contestants an avenue to bring awareness to their cause or platform. I knew leading up to the pageant I would need to do some work to ensure my message and cause were represented well!

My volunteer and mentorship work with children in robotics and the sciences over the last several years impacted me greatly. I knew that making the sciences more accessible to young women was a worthy cause and would be my focus for the pageant.

Being a plus-sized woman who is in STEM, I wanted to focus my platform on showing young women that you can dare to be different and follow a more unorthodox path. By showing up as a pageant contestant, I would be paving a new way forward for young women everywhere to see a little bit of themselves in me. However, any time you are carving out a new path, you want to make sure it’s done right.

So this experience prompted the launching of my Robots & Rhinestones pages on Facebook and Instagram. Robots & Rhinestones was the perfect name to encapsulate in a few words the mission of my platform and message. The idea that you can be proudly feminine and a proud member of the science and tech community was of utmost importance to me.

This also prompted the hashtag behind my platform, #STEM4UandMe. This hashtag perfectly represents my aspirations in competing in the pageant; by spreading my message and encouraging young people, we can make STEM accessible to everyone. The sciences are for you and me and everyone around us. That’s a theme that is central to my mission when mentoring my students in the sciences.

Thankfully, my platform and message resonated. The hard work and preparation I put in earned me the title of Mrs. Heart of Texas Plus America!

Going National

Although I did not win the overall title of Mrs. Texas Plus America, I was still super happy to have received the accolades I had from this special organization. I knew I would proudly wear my sash and dress to public appearances like STEM conferences to further spread the platform and to keep up on my commitment to community service as Mrs. Austin Plus America.

However, I never thought I’d be going to nationals! I was elated to hear that I had been invited to the Miss Plus America pageant in July as Mrs. Heart of Texas Plus America. It seemed my road to pageant queen was starting all over again, but this time on the national stage.

Excited, nervous, overjoyed… all these emotions rushed through me! I was ready to take on my next milestone in spreading the word about my platform, the pageant and gaining even more powerful friendships in this sisterhood of women.

In the months leading up to July, I have been focusing on remaining totally engaged with the STEM community and beyond. I have been strengthening my bonds with the sisterhood of women involved in Miss Plus America by supporting their causes as well. When one wins, we all win!

Community Engagement

Since earning the title of Mrs. Heart of Texas Plus America & Mrs. Austin Plus America and being invited to nationals, I’ve kept up with community engagement. In April, I used my platform to attend and invite others to attend Q.U.E.E.N.’S Day Austin to emphasize the importance of caring for nature just in time for Earth Day!

Another exciting event I got to attend as Mrs. Austin Plus America was Girlstart’s Girls in STEM 2022 conference. Getting the opportunity to support this organization that does so much that aligns with my platform was wonderful! I’ve participated in other fun opportunities, like judging the Belles in Bows pageant, as well. The title of Mrs. Austin Plus America has opened so many doors for me to take advantage of these opportunities and connect with great organizations that are doing work that is near and dear to me.

At the same time, I am still actively engaged with the volunteering work I started long before I got the sash. In late April, I attended remotely the FIRST robotics championships and got to see all the hard work and collaboration these young people have put into their robots. I have been involved with FIRST robotics for many years as a volunteer and always am proud of the great work going on at FIRST.

In addition to my volunteering efforts, I keep up with my job in technology. By attending webinars and conferences, like Forrester’s B2B tech summit I went to in early May, I am learning the newest and most innovative ideas in the tech landscape today. I apply these ideas to my professional career as well as in my work with youth in STEM.

Looking forward, this May I am coordinating a collection of personal hygiene supplies and socks for the local domestic valence shelter Hope Alliance. I am also participating in a volunteer event for the Girls Empowerment Network. Then, I will be preparing for a large toy drive for Austin Police Operation Blue Santa I will be sponsoring in June.

I plan on continuing my volunteering and mentorship with high school robotics students this fall. I hope by competing in these pageants, I will further encourage the high schoolers I work with to embrace their true selves. In particular, I hope I will encourage young women to break the mold and try something new. I always look forward to these opportunities to advocate for and help young people break into the sciences!

Looking Ahead: Nationals

As I prepare and look ahead to nationals, I feel so blessed to be given the platform to amplify female voices in STEM and set an example for young women. On top of that blessing, I have been so lucky to meet the supportive sisterhood of amazing women via my pageant experience. Having such a positive experience at Miss Texas Plus America has made me even more excited to take this to a national stage and spread my platform even further!

I would have never had some of these experiences and opportunities if I hadn’t put myself out there and joined the pageant world. Of course, it was scary at first! Looking back now, I couldn’t imagine my life if I hadn’t challenged myself to do the pageant. If I hadn’t gone through with it, I would have never been able to see my platform reach a national stage and audience. I would have never been able to meet such a brilliant community of women. I would’ve missed out on so much!

This is just to show you that if you feel called toward something, even if it’s scary or different at first, it’s always worth it to give it a try.

If you can put your faith over your fears and believe deeply in yourself - anything is possible. Pushing yourself and the boundaries of what you think you can do is always a wise choice. You will be rewarded if you just have faith and stay true to yourself! I look forward to the national Miss Plus America pageant and all the blessings I am sure it will bring me. The pageant will be at the beautiful Omni Hotel in Houston, Texas on July 1 & 2. I hope to see you there!