PageantLIVE's Red Carpet Award of the Week goes to National American Miss Pre-Teen Shayla Montgomery

National American Miss Pre-Teen

by Shayla Montgomery

I am a fun, intelligent and super friendly 13 year old. I live in Portland, Oregon with my parents, Chris & Sheila and our two dogs. I love to go to church and play volleyball. My goal is to make a difference in our world by ending bullying and spreading my message to "Be Brave and Be Yourself"!

Around February of 2014, I received a postcard in the mail, it was an invitation to an open call for National American Miss. I remember my dad saying, "Shay, do you want to try pageants?" I wasn't interested. A few weeks later, my dad said "Shay they are having the open call this weekend for the pageant do you want to check it out?" I said sure. I remember my mom being totally against me getting involved, however, she went with me and my dad to the open call. I received a letter in the mail from my state director, Matt Leverton inviting me to the state competition. I didn't take it seriously and did not prepare for my very first pageant. I

had fun. I loved meeting girls and doing casual wear. I placed in photogenic and casual wear and was in the top 10. I was so upset that I didn't win. I know crazy for it being my first pageant and me not practicing. I said I would never do pageants again as we drove home. My parents told me that they were super proud of me and I remember my dad saying to me what do you expect you didn't take it seriously and you didn't practice. The next day I told my dad I am going to go back next year and win. I loved everything about NAM. I loved the staff and I loved the girls that I had build relationships with during the weekend. My dad went crazy and signed me up for several pageants to give me practice. All I could think about was getting back to National American Miss.

Over the next year, I practiced with my dad a lot. Some days I would get frustrated with him because I didn't want to practice. He would remind me of my goal and I would do what he was asking me to do. My dad found another person who could also coach me Netty McKenzie. I worked hard over the year. I won the High Point Queen at my very next pageant which was Regal Majesty. I then went on to another pageant system and not understanding how you compete at Nationals went up an age division to Jr Teen and won state! We thought if we won at state and I turned 13 that I would have to compete at Nationals as a junior teen so my dad wanted me to compete with girls in the next age division. We met Andrea Walters there and I had a few coaching sessions with her. I lived, ate and slept pageants the past year. I worked with all three coaches my dad, Chris Montgomery, Netty and Andrea. Right before state we purchased another dress and I love that the owner, Aaron of Simply Grand by Aaron Michaels says to me "you won state in a David's Bridal gown". Which is true. I laugh at that now. We didn't know anything about pageants let alone where to buy a dress.

My hard work paid off and I remember when I was on stage and they were calling the runner ups and it got down to who they were going to call to be the queen and seeing some amazing girls still standing out of the top 10 and thinking either I got the same place as I did last year which was top 10 or I am about to be queen. When they called my name as the Miss Oregon Pre-Teen tears filled my eyes. I was so excited to represent my state.

My mom obviously came to love NAM. She loved that they had an emphasis on volunteering, that there was not a swimsuit competition and that they believe girls need to dress age appropriately including no makeup in my division. She also loved that I was being able to express myself individually and developing my speaking. I went from being a shy girl last year into a girl who is confident and able to talk to anyone this year.

Winning state I knew I would be going to Nationals and my goal was to win nationals. NAM was all I talked about. I watched Bralyns video of being queen every night before I went to bed. I stopped playing volleyball so I could focus on NAM. Life revolved around volunteering and practicing for nationals. I spent countless hours practicing with my dad. In September, we found Greg Solomon and I began having interview coaching online every week. It was so tiring to be asked question after question after question for an hour straight. There were days I would say do I have to do interviewing today and would be reminded of my goal and gladly I would face-time my coach. Thankfully, I was able to work with Andrea the month before going to Nationals too as she helped me fine tune what I had wrote for my introduction and my spokes-model.

Arriving at Nationals I was excited. I did not feel anxious. I felt I was prepared. I just wanted to have fun and build life long friendships with girls from around the United States. I had a lot of fun touring Hollywood, going to Disneyland, spending Thanksgiving with my family and participating in casual wear and spokes-model as well.

I will never forget the moment I looked on the wall to see who made top 5 in optionals. When I saw my name listed for Spokes-model tears filled my eyes and I fell to the ground. My speech was a personal story in which I was very vulnerable. We were not sure if it was going to be age appropriate for NAM yet I made the decision that I wanted to share for nothing else than to possibly help another girl. We re-competed and then when they called out the runner ups and then said my name as the National Spokes-model I was elated.

The life long memory didn't end there. I continued bonding with some amazing girls and then it came to our finale. I was sad that the week was ending. I had a lot of fun doing our opening numbers. Top 10 was called and I was excited when they called my name. Next they called out the top 5. I began to cry. I was in shock and walking around crying with such joy. I was ecstatic that out of all the girls in our country I was in the top 5. I will never forget the next moments. It was down to Miss Nebraska and me. I reached to hug her and then we held hands. When they called first runner up Nebraska. All I could do was thank God. I held on tight to my crown (my crown fell at state and I didn't want it to happen again) as I walked around thanking the judges and looking out at all of my family who came to watch me from Oregon and all around California.

There have been many who have been against "pageants" and often times it is due to a lack of understanding and thinking it is like toddlers and tiaras. I love to get to explain to them what pageants are all about and that a part of my score comes from volunteer service and then the rest is from my interview score, formal wear and personal introduction. These are core skills that we all need to be successful in life whether it is public speaking or interviewing for a school or a job.

Being queen to me is more than just a crown and a sash to sit upon my shelf. Being queen means that I am a role model to other girls and I am a servant shed my light and love to my community. I strongly feel that if you bring a smile to others or help those in need that you are also bettering your own life. My favorite quote is kind words are short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless by Mother Theresa.

I plan to help spread the message of Continue to Find Kindness across the country to Stop the mean girl phenomenon and revolutionize kindness! Not only is this personally important to me as I was once a victim of bullying it also goes along with my career goal to become a psychologist for children!

You may contact Shayla for appearances at:

shaylamontgomery2015nampreteen@gmail.com

And follow her reign at :

https://m.facebook.com/pages/NAM-Oregon-Pre-Teen/1687451931484837

PageantLIVE's Note:

National American Miss is rated the #1 Pageant System in the United States.  Find out more information at:

http://www.namiss.com/
Unleash Your Potential

Michele Strom, star of WeTVs Obsessed with the Dress

Ask the Crown, Stephanie McGrane interviewed Michele Strom,  Mrs. Nebraska America 2007 - 2^nd runner up to Mrs. America 2007, Mrs. Nebraska United States 2009, top 12 at the Mrs. United States Pageant, owner of the Winning Crown Boutique and star of WeTV's Obsessed with the Dress.

How the idea of the show was born.

It was a typical day at work until Michele's shop received "another" call from Pie Town Productions.  One of her wardrobe specialist answered the call, (they had called a few times before), but Michele was never given the messages because the assistant thought the caller was trying to sell Michele pies! They has no idea who was calling!  Finally, after Michele heard about the project she decided to submit a video of the store and their employees. After seeing the video, the production company liked the dynamics of the Winning Crown Boutique and decided to go with them. 

Two years ago, the production company sold the show to WeTV and the show went went into production.  The crew and staff filmed all summer. Michele said that is was a bit stressful to manage a business and a household while being followed around by cameras, but she said it was worth every moment of it!

What makes the show a success?

The different characters: Are you on Team Beau or Team Tiffany? People also like to see what goes into picking a dress for girls who are competing in higher end pageants. It is also interesting to watch the thought process of exactly what goes into picking the perfect dress. 

The Cast:

Michele:  Owner of Winner Crown Boutique. She sells 360 pageant dresses a year. Michele also dressed the winner of Miss America 2011, Teresa Scanlan.

Sarah: Michele’s first employee. She is also a personal assistant to Michele. 

Beau:  Assistant manager of the store. He and Michele have a close relationship that other employees are a bit jealous of.

Tiffany:  She has tattoos, wears amazing shoes and you can always be surprised at what color her hair might be.  She has her own line called “Donna Faye” named after her grandmother and designs custom pageant dresses (which I would LOVE to wear one of her gowns!) And on a personal note, I like her the best! She is edgy and not your typical pageant gown designer.

Hannah: A senior in high school and  the girl who is not afraid to tell you how she sees it. You will always know where you stand with Hannah. If she does not like the dress, she is not afraid to tell you, no matter if it might offend you. She is the kind of girl I wish I could be like at times.

Gretchen:  How can you not love Gretchen? She is the girl that will always make you feel beautiful about yourself. In 2008, she won Miss Nebraska America. You can tell she is a store favorite.

What is it like to manage all the different personalities?

Michele doesn’t want to say she comes home to babysit her children, but now it feels like she comes home from babysitting children at the store.  They are all very interesting in their own regards. They all have such unique personalities and this is why Michele hired them.  Even Tiffany with her tattoos she does not fit the typical pageant mold!  But of course, together they create magic and for TV purposes, everyone is letting their inner diva come out!   They do make Michele laugh, and she tries not to take it too serious.

New Assistant Manager

So by now you  have all watched the show, and you know Beau is the new Assistant Manager and Tiffany will still be the designer. It will be exciting to see how it all plays out with Beau in charge when Michele is not around. Will he last?

On a personal note: Michele’s daughter competed in the natural part of a pageant. What are her thoughts about the “glitz” pageant systems?

Michele stated she is not a huge fan of the true glitz pageants. She doesn’t want to see kids wearing makeup, or fake hair or fake teeth or spray tans. Children are beautiful they way that they are. There are pageants for children that are keeping them as kids. One is National American Miss Pageant. She feels that is a pageant that promotes self-esteem for children, giving them life skills. Showing them how to speak in front of groups of people. In the Glitz pageant world, there is no interview or speaking on stage. Those are two valuable life skills that anybody who has ever competed in a pageant has gained from.  In her opinion, Michele does not believe you learn any life skills by being in a glitz pageant. She feels it is hurting our women and girls who are becoming women, their self-esteem and what they feel they need to look like.

Michele is proud of her daughter Emma, she did not put any makeup on her when she competed in the pageant. She let Emma compete as who she is.

Michele is also a Pageant Coach, she is a no holds-bar/brutal honest coach. Is that the best way to create winners?

Michele feels it is a good way to coach. People are coming to her either because they have not won, or they have been close, but have not won yet. She doesn’t feel it will do anyone any good if she sugar coats the issue. If in the past the client has picked poor wardrobe that is an easy fix. Wardrobe is the most common mistake a client makes. They are picking items they see in a magazine and it is not a good fit for them or their body type.  Michele is able to tweak that and help them find things that look good on them. 

In the interview training, Michele takes a completely different approach of what people think they should be doing in an interview. Michele is all about letting their natural stories of life come out, it’s all about building off your own life experiences and letting those judges know who you are. People have said that if you can get through the interview session with Michele, you will be fabulous in interview.

Miss America 2011 Teresa Scanlan

Who are some of Michele’s winners that she has coached or dressed?

Teresa Scanlan, Miss America 2011. She came to Michele when she was competing for Miss Nebraska. They were able to help her on a very small budget. She went on to win Miss Nebraska 2010, then on to win Miss America 2011. Teresa was one of the youngest in history to ever win Miss America at the age of 17. Michele was involved with her wardrobe, Michele custom designed her dress that she wore for Miss America. The goal for that dress was to make her look a little bit more mature since she was only 17. They wanted something that would stick to the theme of white, but made her look a bit older and mature.

Michele has dressed a lot of people in the National American Miss System, the College Pageant, Teen USA and Miss USA. They are involved in all the big pageants, and in the smaller pageant systems too.,,

What is one of the biggest mistakes pageant girls are making when they come in to purchase a gown?

Most have an idea in their head of what they want to look like, and it is hard to pull them away from that when it’s the wrong choice. Sometimes people come in, mostly with the Mrs. Contestants, where they are set on wearing a white dress, because they think white is the color that is going to win. Sometimes they do not look good in a white dress, so some of the time it is hard to talk people out of it. She has lost clients over it, but she is not going to give in and say “sure that looks great”, when she knows it is not.  If you are going to go to a coach and an expert in something i~ it is because you want their advice and opinion. It’s the same thing if your daughter was in gymnastics, you would not train them yourself, you send them to an expert.

Michele at Mrs. United States

Winning in white. Why do people think they need to wear white to win?

By statistics more women are wearing white, so your odds of winning in white are greater. There are certain people who look better in white.  Michele likes to wear white, black or red when she competes. People have the mindset that white wins and it is hard for them to get past that. However, if there is a black backdrop on a stage and someone comes out in a white dress with sparkles on it, you tend to notice that. White can look good on stage depending on what the backgrounds are.  Michele says pick the dress on the fit first and color second.

Obsessed with the Dress is not showing a negative light on pageantry. The drama comes from within the store. The show is about watching competitors come in and select a dress that will win the pageant.

Obsessed with the Dress is on WeTV every Friday at 10 PM EST.  Did you miss an episode? You can go to WeTV to get caught up on what is happening. You can also go to ITunes to watch the whole series. 

How to contact Michele:

Twitter- @MicheleMStrom or @winningcrown

Facebook-  Winningcrown or MicheleStrom

Website-  www.winning crown.com

See the Ask the Crown video by clicking here

"Momager" and Mrs. Lady Pageant Gal US 2013 - Janice Celeste

Janice Celeste, the reigning Mrs. Lady Pageant Gal US 2013... a super woman in her own rights-  a wife, a photographer, the author of three books, a philanthropist.  pageant queen and a “momager” mother of three daughter’s super-model Sessilee Lopez, fashion designer Kristian Loren and medical student, Latoya Mendez.

She clearly remembers the details of her daughter, Sessilee at the tender age of 12 shooting up to the height of 5’10’ and  how Sessile hearing a commercial for an Orlando open model call on the radio. Giving her mother all the information, Janice immediately said “NO!” After much thought and begging from Sessilee, Janice a single mother of 3 had a change of heart and decided to take make the trip a family vacation to the open model call in Orlando. Sessilee was not selected from this open call...making Janice more determined to see her daughter as a model.   Sessilee had (and still has) the exotic looks and height to make it the industry, the rejection made Janice even more determined for her daughter to succeed. 

Sessilee at 12

The "momanger was born, Janice conducted her research carefully on the internet on model.com website.  She decided Sessilee was only going to the top 10 modeling agencies with open model calls.  With Sessilëe in hand, they made that flight to NYC that changed their lives. Seen by a few agencies, when leaving IMG open call and walking out through the lobby, Janice received a call on her cell phone. The rest of the IMG team wanted to meet Sessilee - she was in!

That was it! A huge risk taker, Janice sold her 3 bedroom ranch-home in FL. and moved  a small third story apartment in NJ.  Three days later after their arrival, Sessilee signed with IMG and has been seen in top magazines including; Vogue, Elle, Allure and Essence just to name a few. She has also walked the runways in Manhattan, London, Milan and Paris for designers such as FENDI, Armani, Oscar De La Renta and the list goes on.

Sessilee IMG comp card

So how did Janice do it? People kept asking her how she was able to get her daughter seen by top modeling agencies. It was more that Janice could post on facebook, so she decided to write a book. Making A Supermodel: A Parent’s Guide. This book has a bit for everyone, but it is really a “how to and what to” expect book for parents.

The best advice she can give to parents is, “if the agency is asking for money it’s most likely not legit. No one pays to go to work.” Agencies will hire a photographer to take test shots, then the agency will send those photos outs. Once you get a job the photographer is paid back at that time. Also you need to be where the jobs are. Location is KEY. If you want high end modeling jobs, you need to live where the fashion is, NYC, Milan, Paris, London, Miami.   If you are under 5'7, look at LA for commercial print.  She also recommends when going out to a open call, Janice advises to wear nice jeans, Levi's will do if you can not afford a good pair of designer jeans, wear a shirt that is not too tight nor too big..show your shape, wear highs, boots, let them see how you look.  She does recommend having at least one designer item on - one.  It can be your footwear, purse, jacket, etc.   

We asked Janice how pageants can help with the modeling world. She told us that in pageant life you win some and you lose some. In the modeling world you get rejected too. But pageants teach you how to be rejected and handle it with poise and grace.

Aside from being a “momager” Janice also has a passion for her platform DIVA Dog. Participants in the DIVA Dog Pageants help to support no-kill animal shelters. DIVA Dogs also provide emergency help for animals who have been involved in natural disasters, such as the most recent tornados in OK.

On a personal note, I really want to enter my little Mimi in this dog pageant. If you have a dog you would like to enter check out the web site www.DIVAdogPageants.com

As Mrs. Lady Pageant Gal US 2013, Janice will also spend her year promoting Seat Belt safety, reminding everyone to buckle-up every time!

So, how do you get a copy of her book? Well it is on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and is also available on Kindle. Janice said that if you buy her book and still have questions you can contact her at either her web site www.JaniceCeleste.com, on her Facebook page or at   www.MakingASupermodel.com  

Beautiful Janice with  her beautiful daughters 

Super-model  Sessilee Lopez

Be sure to check out Janice's interview with Ask the Crown, Stephanie McGrane.  An amazing story for an amazing woman!

Need a Sponsor?

Do you need help finding sponsors? Here are a few tips on how YOU can be successful finding sponsors.

1.       We all know that our family and friends always want to help! Make a list and then ask your family and friends if they will be able to do a $20.00 sponsorship to help you. Let’s say you have a list of 30, it is safe to say that half of them will be able to help. You have now raised $300.00 by just asking the people you know.

2.       Local businesses, think small medium and big. Some ideas would be; Banks, accountants, doctors, dentist, attorneys, insurance agents and don’t forget about places you may not want to visit like a funeral home!

3.       If your pageant is a community based pageant think of the organizations out in the community that do a lot of services in your area. IE: Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, Woman’s Century Club, Kiwanis Club, Optimist, American Legions ETC…

Now that you have a list of who you are going to ask, GET OUT THERE AND ASK!!!

You can send letters or make phone calls, but the best way to get sponsors is to go out and ask in person. Be sure to dress the part of a queen. You may even want to call ahead of time to make an appointment. Make sure you take a letter with you that outlines what it is exactly you are asking for. You can have a letter drafted up that talks a bit about you, your platform or community service, the pageant system you are competing in and how much you are asking for. If you do not want to have a set amount you can always offer a GOLD, SILVER and BRONZE level of sponsorships. That way the company can decide on the amount they would like to donate to you.

Be sure you let them know what they will be getting in return for their sponsorship. If you have a GOLD sponsorship set at $500.00, be sure they will get $500.00 worth from you. It could be an ad page or a half a page, the company logo on a web site or blog, tickets to the pageant, or even appearances made by you at the place of business. Be sure you have these items listed on the sponsor letter to them.

Remember when going to places of business you think of it as a job interview. Be sure to dress professional, ask for the person in charge (if you have not made an appointment), be sure to talk to them with confidence. Look them in the eyes and be sure to smile.  

So what is the worst that can happen? They can say NO! If they do say no, at least you had the opportunity to share a bit about yourself, your platform and the pageant with them. You just gained valuable interview practice!

What is next after you receive the sponsorship? Be sure to follow through on all you have promised the business. Also be sure to send them a thank you card. A thank you card is a MUST, make it personal. Be sure to thank the person you spoke with and the company by name. Leave contact info in case they need to reach you for an appearance.

Now was that so hard to do? I hope this has helped, now get out there and find sponsors!