Monday, June 17, 2013

Today's American Queen of Queens 2013 Kim Poulin's

Kim Poulin, the reigning Today's American Woman Queen of Queens 2013, joined Stephanie to discuss the challenges she has had to overcome, and how pageantry provided her the inspiration to become the woman she is today.


Kim is a wife, mother, teacher and founder of “TA-DA” Totally Accepting Different Abilities. She lives her platform and uses it to teach others to never stop reaching for their goals. At the age of two, Kim fell into a lawnmower leaving her with serve injuries  For the next three years she lived at the Shriner’s Hospital where she had her left arm reattached (it was mostly pins and plastic under her skin) and her left leg fused straight...causing the left side of her body to grow 1.5 inches shorter than her right side. To this day, she walks with a limp and lives with scaring on both knees and hips from all the painful surgeries and skin grafts.


Skin graft on Kim's left knee
 Even with what Kim went through as a small child things even become more challenging.  When she began school the outside scaring also became inside scaring. Kim was abused by her peers on a daily bases, it went was pushed further than your typical name calling bullying.  Kim remembers one event during Christmas, a few of the bullies started a lawnmower in her front yard and sang “Kimmy got ran over by a lawnmower”. She was called “peg leg”, “gimp”, and “lamer”.  Kim even had a gym teacher who told her not to even bother to dress down if she was not going to run right!!


To complicate matters more, when she was entering middle school at the tender age of 12,  her mother forced her to have reconstructive surgery to her knees. For the next four months she would have to go to school with tissue expander's that looked like breast implants on her knees.The physical pain was nothing compared to the abuse from her peers who would tease her about the “boobs that should be put where she really needed them”.

Kim today scars from the colostomy bag

The challenges did not stop there, at age 14 Kim had two bowel obstructions and a colostomy bag for a period of time.  Just another thing for her peers to tease her about. People would hold their nose and move away from her as if she were a germ.  






One day a new girl at school was talking about different pageants she had won. Hoping to find a friend , Kim attempted to talk to her to hear more about pageants. Instead the girl said “Why do you ask? You could never do a pageant…. You limp”.  Those words went straight to Kim's soul filled with so many other things she had endured. 

Telling her father the story, he decided to put her in the Massachusetts Most Beautiful Teen pageant.  Guess what, Dad was right - Kim finished 1st runner up.  He was the diamond in the rough and was going to polish it!!  An amazing accomplishment for anyone, and with that, Kim caught the pageant bug.  She FINALLY found a positive outlet that would allow her to go and flourish as a young woman. The more crowns she won, the less the words of her bullies hurt her.  She was finally surround by accepting, caring group of people where age who had the smarts and heart to know real beauty is on the inside not out.

As Kim matured she realized she had to give back.  Pageantry had changed her life and she wanted to help other who are being bullied or have been bullied like her.  At that time, she developed and founded “TA-DA”, Totally Accepting Different Abilities. 


To get her story out, Kim started speaking at schools, hospitals, and support groups about her experiences.  Her platform has now been adopted into part of the Community of Caring lesson as a months worth of anti-bullying lesson every October. October is also Anti-Bullying Awareness Month.  

One person can make the difference and so can you!  If you would like to have Kim make an appearance as a titleholder at your function or be a speaker guest at your event to discuss Anti-Bullying, please contact her:

Kim on Facebook search AllieMay PageantPower or email at PageantPower@yahoo.com or SCPageants@hotmail.com.  

Questions for Kim?  Post them in the comments section of this blog and she will answer them! 



The successful and beautiful, Kim Poulin
Today's American Woman Queen of Queens 2013


Watch the entire interview!



Share:

2 comments

  1. Note to Kim from Paige and Pamela- Each time I read your story tears swell up in my eyes Life is a journey and you had rough ride in the beginning....

    Who is laughing now, Kim? You're amazing!!! Thank you for sharing your story.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh thank you. My hope is that not only are they laughing at how how silly they were as kids, they are are now seeing what they did hurt, and so are teaching their own children. We learn from our chilhood mistakes...that is why it is called "growing pains."
    Be kind & Happy 4th
    Kimmy

    ReplyDelete

Blogger Template Created by pipdig