My friends and family know that life with me is always unexpected. I thrive on catapulting into new adventures on a regular basis. My husband and I were planning a major house renovation back in the fall, and I could tell by his face it was weighing on him. I reflected on that for a few days and decided that I couldn’t stand to see him so stressed, so I did what I often do. I made a bargain with him.
The Bargain
I casually said to him one afternoon, “how about we forget the remodel for this year and instead I enter a beauty pageant?” The look of amusement and relief came over his face as he slowly nodded, “Okay?” Yes, I realize at fifty-three this was an atypical announcement, but he is pretty used to me being atypical. Hee Hee.
Mrs. USA Earth Bound
On October 15, 2021, I was crowned Mrs. Illinois Earth! That is a story in itself which you can watch on my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/TXanKdJCZpk What this additionally meant was that I had ten weeks to get myself ready for a national pageant. Mind you, I was fifty-three AND had only been in one local pageant. When I was eighteen years old. That’s a long hiatus, folks!
Pageant Prep
There is no way I can put into an abbreviated blog the amount of preparation that I got myself into! One of the things I love most about the Miss Earth USA pageant system, is the professionalism in production. With that, I will also say the expectations of challenges and requirements are steep. I had four weeks to put together an environmental project that many took months to plan. I decided to do a community trash pick-up on Halloween day, post trick or treating in my local town. That Halloween plan brought that deadline down to two weeks. I had to write a professional biography sheet for the pageant to summarize, submitted an optional entry for talent, as I am a singer, and obtain a professional national pageant-worthy headshot. All in FOUR weeks. A five hour Amtrak trip, weekend in Chicago, and the photoshoot was done and headshot obtained. (Thank you, Eva Flis!) https://www.evaflisphotography.com/ We were additionally given social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram, and were challenged every week to produce content. And lastly, in the middle of meeting all the four week deadlines, I got the stomach flu for a week. Three IV bags later, I was on the street with my Garbo Grabber trash picker upper, and multiple submissions in by the skin of my teeth. My head was literally laying on my desk as I tried to read the details for submission and do it properly. I’m going to blame it on the electrolyte loss, but I immediately received a notification that I did not do one as instructed. DANG! Tears. “Get up, Trish. Rally.” Probably points off, but I finally had everything required in and now self prep was to begin.
The making of a national pageant delegate
I want to emphasize here, most pageant queens have more time, but I did this to myself. I choose to proceed, knowing there was very little time, but it was now or never in my mind. And now I was down to six weeks until the actual pageant. Six weeks to turn this fifty-three year old grandma, into a ready to appear on a televised national pageant stage contestant. I was blessed to have one in-person walking session with the talented and lovable, Derrick Scepter, on my weekend photo trip to Chicago, and then an additional zoom session. I also was blessed to work with the amazing Gisselle Boon in two zoom sessions, who shared her talents with me trying to teach me, complete runway virgin, “how to walk.” I laugh myself at that statement, but pageant walking is its own beast, and for this minister’s daughter who had spent my life NOT sashaying my hips, it proved to be quite the feat. I threw myself on the ground in despair after one practice, iced my sore hips and made a self soothing TikTok about it! But I forged on. Ha! If you would like to see the pouting TikTok, you can view it here: https://www.tiktok.com/@thatssotrishy/video/7041642889151188270?
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Hours preparing for a five minute interview!
When I was interviewed for Mrs. Illinois Earth, I quickly found out that my belief that I had always interviewed well for my career, did not necessarily equate in a pageant interview. I am the first to tell you now, if you are preparing for any kind of professional interview, GET A PAGEANT INTERVIEW COACH. No one can prep you like they do! I am a good self-assessor, and knew I needed professional guidance. I contacted Commit to the Crown https://www.committothecrown.com/ and did a session with the amazing Jackie Schiffer. To say it was memorable, is an understatement! My son unexpectedly facetimed in, after not hearing from him for three weeks at boot camp, in the middle of my session. I awkwardly asked if I could pick his call up and proceeded to squall my eyes out in front of one of the premier trainers in interview professionalism. I kid you not. Bahahaha. I signed up for three more sessions, and was SO blessed to train with Catherine. Catherine got me. She was tough, professional, super kind, and smart as all get out. She stretched me mentally and I loved her. It’s not enough to just think about hundreds of topics you may have never thought about and to form an opinion authentically your own, but to answer every questions concisely, briefly, & interestingly enough that they will ask you more, all in thirty seconds per answer!
Interview day, isolation and the wardrobe
I continued my sessions of interview prep over the next three weeks and frequently drove down the highway talking to myself (I was that lady at the red light!) as I answered podcast interview questions for practice. Every day putting on make-up, also meant a YouTube video was playing prompting me questions. Alas, interview day came and I was still trying to chose my outfit the night before. The interview was five minutes long via Zoom, and on December 4, 2021, I gave it my best shot for five, thirty seconds questions with a panel of five well-known judges. Our bags were already packed, as we were driving a vehicle down to Florida, and we were off to our snow bird home to get out of the winter Illinois cold. It also allowed me to contemplate and over-analyze for sixteen hours how I could have answered each question better. (EEK!) We were now down to three weeks before the pageant, and I was ordering and returning and re-ordering a multitude of pageant wear. (My husband later joked in good fun, the remodel might have been less costly-haha.)I brought my “stripper shoes” aka pageant shoes to Florida and tried to master “isolation” of my abdomen with my pageant walk amongst our streets of snow birders. When our neighbors quizzed me as to what I was doing, the mostly above seventy crowd, cackled and cheered as I told them my pageant prep tales. I continued my practice and exercise in Florida, riding my three wheeled bike daily (because that’s what the cool kids do in Florida) and I found myself at the end of the trip nine pounds down, healthy and hoping to walk that stage soon with confidence. I made a publicity stop to one of our headline partners, Hotworx Fort Myers, visited Corkscrew Sanctuary in Naples to learn more about wetlands, and soon it was time to head back to Illinois to get a few more work days in before returning to Florida, for the national pageant, Mrs. USA Earth, in Orlando, Florida.
Departure Day-A change in plans!
I got a few chuckles on my social media at my being “extra” with my six white matching suitcases for the pageant, but I was okay with it! What I was NOT okay with, was the airline cancelling our flight at the last minute. Flights were being cancelled by the hundreds due to the weather and illness call-ins and we had a decision to make. Okay, I was crying again, but I ALWAYS get back up stronger. It is okay to cry. (That should be a blog title.) My husband’s resiliency and ability to make everything right saved the day again and we joked and yelled to ourselves, “We ride at dawn!” We decided to drive ANOTHER vehicle down to Florida unexpectedly instead of risk it with another flight and possibly miss the pageant. Out the door at 4am, and now thirteen more hours to think and over analyze. Did I bite off more than I can chew this time? Can I really do this at fifty three years old? Will I fall in the stripper shoes and it be eternally recorded on national television???? Part 2…to be continued! Subscribe and come back to hear the tales and see the gowns!
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