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I’m packing my bags for Miss USA as we speak, leaving in two days.

For the record, the flight from Sydney to Miami is going to take roughly 24 hours door-to-door, and that’s not even close to the longest flight I’ve had to take.

Got any ideas for BTS content you’d like to see?

Hit reply to this email and let me know.

A huge thanks to Thom Brodeur for the invite and for putting me up at the host hotel.

Adrian

PS as I’ll be in the USA for the next couple of weeks, we won’t have our scheduled mocks for the next two weeks. Apologies in advance - if you’re one of our VIP’s and have a pageant coming up before then, let me know and I’ll accommodate you however I can.

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Read the official statement from A Blaize Productions below:

I interviewed former Miss North Carolina USA Brittany Boltinhouse just last month, so you can imagine my surprise when the official statement announcing that her reign had been ‘concluded’ came through on my feed last week.

It often seems that the pageant industry only makes mainstream news when the latest scandal hits. I remember getting a text from a friend of mine late last year when the Miss Universe Organization seemed to be doing everything within its power to spectacularly implode on the global stage.

It now seems that Boltinhouse is considering taking legal action, posting a short video clip from her legal counsel on her social media.

Most of you will know that I don’t do drama, pageant or otherwise. I find it neither interesting nor entertaining. I’d much rather keep my head down, nose to the grindstone, and focus only on the things I can control.

That being said, given that my interview with Boltinhouse is both public and recent, it’s receiving a considerable amount of attention on YouTube, where there is no shortage of people willing to offer their opinion:

Predictably, it didn’t take long for the debate to become political. On the one hand, there were those contending Boltinhouse had been stripped of her title because of her use of the N-word in recently resurfaced social media posts. On the other hand, there were those contending she had been stripped because of her conservative religious and/or political views.

Here’s the simple truth:

None of us knows what happened.

Everything is conjecture and hearsay (at this point in time). In a recent interview, Boltinhouse said that she was bound by a confidentiality clause, leaving it unclear whether even she knew the exact reason(s) for her dethronement.

The temptation in situations such as these is to rush to a conclusion. To have an opinion.

Don’t.

Not publicly at least.

Rightly or wrongly, your reputation is everything in pageantry, and it can be ruined by one simple like, share, or comment.

Yes, it is your right to have an opinion, but you do not have an obligation to share it, especially on social media. Regardless of whether or not you think Boltinhouse’s dethronement was the right move, none of us have all of the pertinent facts to hand, and it is dangerous and intellectually lazy to jump to a conclusion.

The situation naturally raises some important issues to discuss, such as to what extent a titleholder should be held accountable for social media posts made or opinions expressed years ago, however those types of discussions are rarely held on social media. Have them with a pageant bestie, coach, or parent by all means, but not under someone else’s post.

You do not need to comment on every controversy. You do not need to pick a side before all the facts are available.

And you certainly do not need to sacrifice your own reputation just to prove that you have an opinion.

Adrian

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I got sent a message the other day from someone asking about taking legal action after a bad pageant experience.

And I get it.

When you feel like someone has lied, mishandled something, treated your daughter badly, changed the rules, played favourites, failed to deliver what was promised, or simply behaved in a way that feels wildly unfair, the temptation is obvious.

• You want consequences.

• You want someone to admit they were wrong.

• You want the situation fixed.

• You want justice.

The problem is that court is not really about justice in the emotional sense.

Court is about law.

Sometimes those two things overlap. Sometimes the legal outcome feels fair. Other times you look at a verdict and wonder how on earth that was the result.

But if you are thinking about suing a pageant director, coach, system, contestant, or anyone else in the pageant world, you need to understand that distinction clearly.

Because “this was unfair” is not the same as “I can prove a legal case.”

And most pageant drama lives in that messy middle.

A lot of what happens in pageantry is verbal, vague, badly documented, emotionally charged, or based on expectations that were never properly written down. Sometimes there is no contract. Sometimes there is a contract, but it is written so badly it looks like someone played lawyer after three glasses of wine and a motivational quote.

That might make you think the director is easier to go after.

Maybe.

But it can also make the whole thing harder to prove.

Because if you are standing in front of a court, the question is not whether your friends think you were wronged. It is not whether your daughter was devastated. It is not whether the whole thing felt shady.

The question is much colder than that:

• What were you promised?

• Where is that promise recorded?

• What did they fail to deliver?

• What evidence do you actually have?

Not vibes. Not rumours. Not “everyone knows.”

Evidence.

And that is where many pageant grievances begin to fall apart.

I am not saying people in pageantry always behave well. They absolutely do not. I have heard enough stories behind the scenes to know there are people in this industry who operate with very loose ethics and an impressive amount of self-importance.

But bad behaviour is not automatically a winning lawsuit.

That is the part people do not want to hear.

The other part is that court is expensive, draining, slow, and often miserable. Lawyers cost money. Letters cost money. Emotional energy costs money too, even if no one sends you an invoice for that part.

And in pageantry, you have to ask a very blunt question:

What exactly are you trying to win?

• Your entry fee back?

• A refund?

• An apology?

• The crown?

Do you really want to force a director to install you as titleholder after you have taken them to court?

How do you imagine that year is going to go?

There are fringe cases where legal action may be worth considering. If you have clear, objective, black-and-white evidence that you were promised something and denied it, or you were dethroned for a factually false reason that can be proven false, then maybe you speak to a lawyer.

Maybe.

Not definitely.

Maybe.

Even then, you need money, evidence, and the temperament to go through with it. Some people are fighters. Some people can handle confrontation, industry whispers, and the nonsense that comes with standing up in a small, messy world like pageantry.

Most people cannot.

That is not an insult. It is just something you should know before you pick a fight that could consume the next year of your life.

I wish pageantry had better standards. I wish contracts were clearer, directors were more accountable, and contestants had better ways to speak honestly about bad experiences without being punished for it.

But wishing does not make it true.

So my general advice is boring, blunt, and probably not what people want to hear.

In most cases, do not sue.

Get actual legal advice if you are seriously considering it. But do not confuse being hurt with having a case. Do not confuse unfairness with illegality. And do not assume court will give you the closure pageantry failed to give you.

Sometimes the better answer is to learn the lesson, take your licks, choose a different system, and move on.

Not because what happened was okay.

Because your life is worth more than staying stuck in the muck.

Adrian

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It feels like it’s the peak of pageant season madness at the moment, and so there’s a good chance you’ve just finished competing, or are about to compete very soon.

And, unless you’re competing in an incredibly small pageant (or one where the winner is appointed), there’s probably more than a ninety percent chance you’re going to lose.

(Yes, in this case any result other than winning is counted as losing.)

The question I’ve been asking myself recently, after seeing some of my clients endure some very painful losses:

Is pageantry still worth it?

I know I might be in a minority of one here as far as pageant coaches go, but something doesn’t feel right about encouraging you to pour your blood, sweat, and tears into something that has such a high chance of not being worth it.

And before you get on your high horse, I’m well aware that we often say it’s about the journey and not the destination, and in pageant terms that means we should be focussed on the personal growth and connections we make.

But let’s say that you spend somewhere between five and ten thousand dollars in total on your next pageant: gown, costumes, hair, makeup, travel, coaching, training, etc.

(That’s a conservative estimate, by the way.)

In terms of the “opportunities” that pageants supposedly give us, are we really so sure that we couldn’t create more opportunities for ourselves by using that money in other ways?

• Living expenses whilst you take an unpaid internship toward your dream job

• Travelling to do missionary work

• Legal expenses to start up your non-profit

• A business coach or software expenses to start up your side hustle

We’re not living in the 2000s anymore. Your ability to create opportunity for yourself, as an individual, is greater than at any other point in human history. Between the internet, social media, and AI, you could quite literally teach yourself anything you want to know, or start a multi-million-dollar business overnight.

Against that backdrop, what is the ‘opportunity’ that pageantry can give you that you wouldn’t be able to give yourself better, faster, and probably cheaper?

For myself, there are two and only two reasons that genuinely make pageantry worth it in today’s world, not the world of twenty to thirty years ago. I allude to them in this week’s video, but the point isn’t to copy my reasons.

The point is to find your own.

And if you haven’t found them yet, keep looking.

Maybe outside of pageantry.

Adrian.

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ABOUT HOLLY HUBER

After competing for nearly eight years, Holly Huber brought home the Miss Alaska USA title on June 28, 2026. Hailing from Juneau, she’s the first woman from her hometown to ever don this title.

Holly’s pageant journey began when she was just two years old, taking the stage at a Sunburst Pageant in Red Lodge, Montana. Since then, she’s competed her entire life, most notably as Miss Alaska Volunteer and now, Miss Alaska USA.

Her platform, “Stay Another Day” was founded in 2016 after she came home to find her own mother had made an attempt on her life, and her efforts were proven relevant once more when, in 2020, her brother died by suicide. Holly’s efforts have been taken nationwide as she serves on the board of Directors for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. She’s lobbied with both state and federal agencies to ensure that Americans get access to mental health resources freely and without judgement.

Now, she prepares to take the Miss USA stage and show everyone just what the last frontier has to offer.

FOLLOW HOLLY HUBER

👉 https://www.instagram.com/kurramaas/

👉 https://tiktok.com/@kurramaas

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Your edge probably isn’t where everyone else is looking

If you have just finished competing and did not get the result you wanted, there is a good chance your brain is already doing the thing pageant brains do.

Planning the return.

Maybe you are giving yourself a week. Maybe a month. Maybe you are pretending you are taking a break while quietly scheming your next move.

I can respect that.

But if you are serious about coming back better next year, think carefully about how you are going to prepare.

Because if your plan is simply to do the same prep for next year as everyone else, with the same coaches, same advice, same mocks, same walking lessons, and same recycled pageant wisdom, I have a question:

Why would that make you stand out?

Pageantry has changed. Has your prep?

The world has changed dramatically in the past five years.

Social media has changed. AI has changed. Branding has changed. Communication has changed. The way people build influence, tell stories, share ideas, and create opportunity has changed.

Pageantry is not separate from that.

So if you are still getting the same advice that was being handed out five, ten, or twenty years ago, you need to ask yourself whether that advice is still enough.

Some of it may be. Good advice is good advice.

But if your entire strategy is built around what everyone in the pageant ecosystem already knows, you are probably not building an edge.

You are building sameness.

Pageant problems do not always need pageant solutions

Need better interview? Get an interview coach.

Need better walk? Get a runway coach.

Need better wardrobe? Get a stylist.

And yes, those things can help.

But they are not the only options, and they may not be where your biggest breakthroughs come from.

If you want to get better at interview, why would you only practise pageant interview?

Start a podcast. Do straight-to-camera videos. Go live. Take acting classes. Try improv. Do public speaking.

Put yourself in situations where you have to communicate, think, adjust, recover, and hold attention in real time.

That is interview training.

You are training the skill UNDERNEATH the skill.

Do the thing that makes the pageant skill easier

A great pageant interview is not just about answering questions.

It is presence. Warmth. Timing. Listening. Storytelling. Persuasion. Self-awareness. The ability to think under pressure without becoming a robot.

You can develop those things in coaching.

But you can also develop them by hosting conversations, speaking on camera, doing theatre, performing stand-up, or learning how to keep an audience engaged.

Same with runway.

If you want a stronger walk, pageant runway coaching may help. But so might modelling. Dance. Ballet. Salsa. Anything that builds body awareness, rhythm, confidence, and comfort being seen.

If you want to become truly fluent in a language, you don’t just take one lesson a week and call it a plan.

You go live in the country for twelve months.

So why are you treating pageant prep differently?

Your coach should not be your only practice

This is where a lot of contestants get it wrong.

They say they are practising because they see their coach once a week.

That is not enough.

Coaching is not a substitute for practice. Coaching should help you see what to work on, correct what is not working, and check whether you are improving.

But the actual improvement happens in the reps you do outside coaching.

If interview scares you, do not hide inside comfortable coaching sessions. Speak on camera. Go live. Answer questions under pressure. Watch yourself back.

Learn what your face does. Learn what your voice does. Learn what happens when your heart is in your throat and you still need to communicate clearly.

That is the REAL game.

Create an overlap no one else has

The goal is not to make your practice random for the sake of being different.

The goal is to build a COMBINATION of experiences that makes you genuinely harder to compare.

Pageantry plus podcasting.

Pageantry plus modelling.

Pageantry plus acting.

Pageantry plus stand-up.

Pageantry plus sport.

Pageantry plus leadership, media, music, business, dance, advocacy, or whatever else you bring to the table.

That overlap becomes your edge.

Not because you can say, “I am unique,” which means almost nothing.

But because your preparation, confidence, presence, and perspective are coming from places your competitors may not be looking.

If you are brand new, learn the fundamentals.

But if you are already competitive and looking for the next level, stop assuming the answer is more of the same.

You will not find your edge by copying the same prep path as everyone you are trying to beat.

Try something different.

Then make it count.

Adrian.

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ABOUT JOSEPHINE BØTTGER

Josephine Bøttger, 25, is a professional ballet dancer and childcare worker from Denmark. After moving abroad alone at 17 to pursue her ballet career, she graduated from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts and later joined Junior Ballet Antwerp in Belgium.

Born with a congenital heart condition, Josephine is passionate about supporting children and families living with heart disease through her work with the Danish Heart Foundation’s Children’s Club. As Miss World Denmark, she hopes to inspire others by proving that our greatest challenges can become our greatest strength.

FOLLOW JOSEPHINE BØTTGER

👉 https://www.instagram.com/josephinebottger/

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ABOUT BRITTANY BOLTINHOUSE

Brittany Alondra Boltinhouse is Miss North Carolina USA 2026, a proud Latina woman with Honduran roots, entrepreneur, and community advocate. As a business owner in the flooring and turf industry, she is passionate about inspiring women to step into leadership, build confidence, and pursue their dreams regardless of their age, background, or past.

What makes Brittany’s journey unique is that she had never competed in a pageant before earning the title of Miss North Carolina USA. Her experience is proof that you don’t have to wait until you feel qualified to chase a dream. She hopes her story reminds others that your past does not define you, experience should never limit your potential, and with faith, hard work, and the courage to take the first step, anything is possible.

FOLLOW BRITTANY BOLTINHOUSE

👉 https://www.instagram.com/Espino.Sosa/

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Stop collecting opinions

It’s crunch time.

For some of you, your pageant is days away. For others, it’s close enough that every tiny detail now feels bigger than it probably should.

That is exactly why you need to be careful about who you let inside your head.

The final stretch before your pageant is NOT the time to ask ten more people what they think of your walk, wardrobe, platform, interview, onstage answer, hair, makeup, talent, opening statement, or entire existence.

At some point, more input stops helping.

It becomes noise.

And if you keep listening to noise this close to your pageant, don’t be surprised when you cannot hear yourself think.

Advice has an expiry date

I’m not saying advice is bad.

Obviously.

I’m a coach. People pay me for my opinion.

But timing matters.

If someone had serious concerns about your preparation, the time to raise them was months ago.

Not the night before. Not the week of. Not when you are already nervous, tired, emotional, and trying to hold yourself together.

People love saying, “I’m only trying to help.”

Fine.

But the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

If your “help” puts doubt into someone’s head right before she needs to perform, you’re not helping. You’re hurting.

Stop outsourcing your brain

Here is the bigger problem.

Some contestants get so used to asking everyone else what they think that they stop developing their own judgment.

They ask their coach. Their mum. Their director. Their pageant friends. Random people online.

Then, when you ask them what they think, they say:

“I don’t know.”

No. I don’t believe that.

You probably do know.

You’ve just trained yourself to believe your opinion doesn’t count until someone else validates it.

That is dangerous.

Because when you are onstage, no one can think for you. When you are in interview, no one can sit beside you and whisper the “right” answer.

At some point, you need to be able to say:

This is what I think.

This is what I want.

This is what I’m doing.

That does not mean you ignore good advice.

It means you stop treating every outside opinion as gospel.

A coach can see things you cannot see. A coach can challenge you. A coach can sharpen your strategy, interview, delivery, mindset, and preparation.

But your coach is not God.

If you are dependent on someone else to tell you what to think, what to wear, what to say, how to feel, and whether you are doing well, that is not confidence.

That is dependence.

And dependence does not make a strong titleholder.

Lock in

The closer you get to your pageant, the more selective you need to become.

Not everyone gets access to your head.

Not every comment needs to be processed, analysed, defended, debated, or cried over.

Some of it is just chatter.

“You should have been Top 2.”

“The judges had no idea what they were doing.”

“Your dress should have been different.”

“Your answer was too much.”

Noise.

The more attention you give to that, the more unfocused you become.

Your job in the final stretch is not to become available to every opinion.

Your job is to lock in.

Know what you have worked on. Know what you bring to the table. Know what you want to show. Know what kind of woman you want to be when you walk into that room.

Then use that as your compass.

Decide what you want

Before your pageant, ask yourself:

• What do I want to show the judges?

• What energy do I want to bring?

• What have I worked on hardest to improve?

• Which voices help me perform better?

• Which voices make me spiral?

Then act accordingly.

Listen to the people who make you clearer, calmer, stronger, and more prepared.

Block out the people who make you doubt yourself.

And yes, that might include people who love you.

Love does not automatically make someone useful in your final stretch.

Final thought

Pageantry is subjective.

Different panel, different day, different result.

That does not mean preparation doesn’t matter.

But if your only measure of success is the crown, you are putting yourself in a fragile position.

The better question is:

Did I become better through this process?

More self-aware. More disciplined. More courageous. More articulate. More capable of thinking for yourself.

That is the part no judging panel can take from you.

So stop asking everyone what they think.

Ask yourself what you want.

Then lock in and go get it.

Adrian.

The Beginner’s Guide to Pageantry - Everything You Need to Compete in Your First Pageant With Confidence... Even If You’re Starting From Zero:

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To book your spot, go to pageantmock.com and enter the code at checkout.

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Session Details

• Date: Thursday 16 July 2026

• Time: 8 pm ET · 7 pm CT · 6 pm MT · 5 pm PT

• Australia: Friday 17 July, 10am AEST

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Stop turning one bad mock into a disaster

I made this video because one of my private clients is competing in her dream pageant in roughly two weeks.

She has worked hard for close to six months. She has practised. She has improved. She has put in the time.

Then she had one mock interview that she felt went badly.

And suddenly, in her mind, everything was falling apart.

No.

That is catastrophizing.

One bad mock does not erase six months of work. But panicking over it can absolutely stop you from accessing the skills you have built.

That is the real danger.

You did not suddenly forget how to interview

If you have genuinely worked on a skill for six months, you have improved.

You may not perform perfectly every time. You may have an off day. You may get nervous. You may tighten up under pressure.

But you did not suddenly lose the skill overnight.

Unless you hit your head and developed retrograde amnesia, your interview ability is still there.

The issue is not always skill.

Sometimes the issue is that you are so far inside your own head that you can no longer access the skill.

That happens in sport all the time. Athletes train brilliantly, then fall apart under pressure. The ability did not disappear. Their state changed.

And if your performance suddenly gets worse two weeks before the pageant, that timing is not random.

The pageant is closer.

The stakes feel higher.

You are making it bigger in your head.

Stop making one bad performance mean everything

A bad mock means you had a bad mock.

That is it.

It does not mean:

• you are hopeless at interview

• your preparation has failed

• you are not ready

• you have wasted six months

• you are going to lose

You are the one adding that meaning.

And once you do, you create a much bigger problem.

Now you are practising from fear. You are questioning everything. You are adding more talking points. You are trying to control every sentence. You are rehearsing harder while becoming less natural.

Then you wonder why interview feels worse.

You are allowed one freak-out.

Cry. Rant. Complain. Be dramatic for five minutes.

Then stop.

Because catastrophizing is not preparation. It is emotional self-sabotage.

More practice may make it worse

Your first instinct will probably be:

I need to practise more.

Maybe you do.

But if you have already been practising constantly, more of the same may be exactly what you do not need.

If the problem is pressure, repeating more answers in a comfortable room will not fix it.

If the problem is overthinking, adding more notes will not fix it.

If the problem is exhaustion, another late-night practice session will not fix it.

If the problem is that you have made the pageant feel like life or death, memorising another talking point will not fix it.

Stop automatically assuming the answer is more work.

You need to work on the right problem.

Ask yourself:

• Was I tired?

• Was I distracted?

• Did one question throw me off?

• Was I trying to remember too much?

• Have I practised only when I feel comfortable?

• Have I made this pageant so important that I can no longer think properly?

That is diagnosis.

“I just need to practise harder” is not diagnosis.

If pressure is the problem, practise pressure

Once you understand the cause, do something specific.

If pressure makes you freeze, introduce pressure into practice.

If one type of question rattles you, practise that type of question.

If you are too rehearsed, stop scripting and learn to talk.

If you are distracted by something happening in your life, deal with it or learn to compartmentalise.

If you are exhausted, fix your sleep, food, and recovery.

Do not keep hammering away at interview mechanics when the real problem is psychological.

This is why I keep saying pageantry is 80% psychology and 20% mechanics.

Your talking points do not matter if panic stops you from accessing them.

Your preparation does not matter if you convince yourself it has all been pointless.

Your skill does not matter if you turn the interview into a threat.

Interview is not life or death

You cannot communicate well when you are treating every answer like a survival test.

When your brain thinks you are under threat, it does not care about warmth, connection, humour, or persuasion.

It wants to escape.

That is why you freeze, rush, ramble, forget obvious things, or give answers that sound nothing like you.

The contestants who interview best are not usually the ones trying hardest to be perfect.

They are the ones who enjoy communicating.

They prepare. They practise. They watch themselves back. They confront their weaknesses.

But they do not walk into the room thinking the judges are there to execute them.

They talk.

They connect.

They persuade.

What to do now

After a bad mock:

1. Stop catastrophizing.

2. Work out what actually went wrong.

3. Fix that specific problem.

That is it.

Do not turn one bad performance into your identity.

Do not tell yourself the entire pageant is over.

Do not spend the next two weeks panicking and call it preparation.

The mock did not erase your ability.

The panic might stop you from using it.

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Peyton’s back from Miss Volunteer America 2026 where she placed second runner-up, and tells us all about her experience, including winning preliminary talent, and the lessons she learnt along the way.

--

Pageants & Tangents is an irreverential and honest take on modern-day pageantry, hosted by Adrian Kwan, Founder of The Pageant Project.

Got a pageant issue or question you want us to discuss? Submit it here:

👉 https://pageantpod.com

OUR CO-HOSTS:

Morgan Morgan:

👉 https://www.instagram.com/morganmorganbonafide/

👉 https://www.morganmorganfitness.com/

Peyton Christen:

👉 https://www.instagram.com/peytonkaynec/

👉 https://www.instagram.com/missgavol/

Kenzie Hansley:

👉 https://www.instagram.com/kenziehansleyy/

👉 https://www.instagram.com/kenzieleecoachingg/

Geanna Koulouris:

👉 https://www.instagram.com/geannakoulouris/

For all media and sponsorship enquiries:

👉 info@thepageantproject.com

“The Beginner’s Guide to Pageantry” - Everything You Need to Compete in Your First Pageant With Confidence... Even If You’re Starting From Zero:

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To book your spot, go to pageantmock.com and enter the code at checkout.

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Session Details

• Date: Thursday 9 July 2026

• Time: 8 pm ET · 7 pm CT · 6 pm MT · 5 pm PT

• Australia: Friday 10 July, 10am AEST

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ABOUT NOELIA VELAZQUEZ

Noelia Velazquez of Greenville, North Carolina is the reigning Miss Teen All American. She is currently a rising Junior at High Point University, where she is pursuing a Bachelors degree in Entrepreneurship. On campus, she serves as a the Vice President for the Class of 2028, Social Media Ambassador, Director of Social Media for Alpha Gamma Delta, 2024 CoHort representative for the LIFT Fellowship Program, and an anchor for HPU Vision, the university’s student-led news program.

Noelia began her community work at just 11 years old, helping hurricane victims in Puerto Rico, which has now evolved into her now internationally recognized platform, Girl Strong by Noe. Through this initiative, she has led over 50 workshops locally, nationally, and internationally, encouraging young girls to lead with confidence, compassion, and resilience.

With strengths in public speaking, storytelling, and leadership, Noelia brings energy, empathy, and impact to every project she takes on. She is especially passionate about mental health advocacy, female empowerment, and using her social media platform as a tool for change.

Outside of the spotlight, Noelia loves fashion, traveling, connecting with new people, and filming podcast episodes with empowering women of all backgrounds for her Instagram series, “Girl Talk by Noe.” Her ultimate goal is to own her own Couture Dress Store.

FOLLOW NOELIA VELAZQUEZ

👉 https://www.instagram.com/iam_noeliavelazquez/

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AI generated pageant headshots are officially here and making waves. In this episode we’re discussing our thoughts on this and other AI-related pageant matters.

--

Pageants & Tangents is an irreverential and honest take on modern-day pageantry, hosted by Adrian Kwan, Founder of The Pageant Project.

Got a pageant issue or question you want us to discuss? Submit it here:

👉 https://pageantpod.com

OUR CO-HOSTS:

Morgan Morgan:

👉 https://www.instagram.com/morganmorganbonafide/

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The AI conversation pageant girls need to have

I wanted to talk about AI this week because it has been popping up again in the pageant space, most recently around AI-generated pageant headshots.

And, as expected, people have opinions.

Some of those opinions are thoughtful. Some are not. But what worries me is that much of the conversation seems to stop at the most obvious, surface-level question: Are AI pageant headshots good or bad?

That is a valid question. But it is also a very narrow one.

Because the bigger issue is not whether one contestant should or should not use an AI-generated headshot. The bigger issue is whether pageant girls are actually learning how to use AI intelligently, or whether they are dismissing it before they understand it.

And that, I think, is a much more important conversation.

You are probably already using AI

One of the strange things about the AI debate is that many people talk about AI as though it is some completely separate, futuristic, morally suspicious thing that only exists inside ChatGPT.

But if you use GPS, you are using AI. If your phone unlocks with your face, you are using AI. If you use FaceTune, skin smoothing, Instagram filters, background removal, auto captions, or many of the tools already sitting inside your phone, you are using some version of AI.

So the question is not really whether pageant girls should use AI.

The better question is:

How can pageant girls use AI well?

That distinction matters, because “AI bad” is not a serious strategy. Neither is “AI good.” Both are lazy positions. The real skill is learning what the tool is good for, what it is not good for, where the ethical lines are, and how to use it in a way that actually improves the quality of what you are doing.

The headshot debate is not as simple as people want it to be

For the record, I do not think AI-generated headshots should be used for photogenic awards. If contestants are being judged on a headshot, and the headshot is not actually a real photo of them, then I think that creates an obvious fairness issue.

But this is where the conversation gets more complicated.

If the argument is that AI headshots are bad because they are “not real,” then we need to be honest about how much of pageantry already involves altering appearance.

Heavily edited photos are not exactly “real” either. Neither is FaceTune. Neither is aggressive Photoshop. Neither is contouring that changes the structure of someone’s face. Neither are certain cosmetic procedures.

That does not mean all of those things are the same. They are not. But it does mean the conversation requires more nuance than pretending there is a clean line between “real” and “fake.”

In pageantry, as in most of life, the line is often messier than people want to admit.

The real risk is refusing to learn

My concern is not that every contestant needs to start using AI for everything. Please do not use AI to turn yourself into a generic pageant robot. We already have enough of those.

My concern is that a lot of smart, capable, ambitious young women are going to leave an incredibly powerful tool on the table because they have decided, often without much experience, that AI is bad.

And I think that is a mistake.

AI is going to affect almost every industry. Business. Marketing. Media. Medicine. Law. Education. Coaching. Content creation. Your platform. Your career. Your future business.

Whatever direction you go in, you are going to be competing with people who know how to use AI. And the danger is not that they will “cheat.” The danger is that they will move faster, create better, learn quicker, communicate more effectively, and build things that you still think are impossible.

That is why I think the real risk is not using AI badly.

The real risk is refusing to learn it.

Using AI well is still a skill

One of the laziest criticisms of AI is that using it is lazy.

And yes, it can be.

But that is true of almost any tool. A contestant can use AI badly. A business owner can use AI badly. A coach can use AI badly. A creator can use AI to churn out generic rubbish that no one asked for.

But using AI well is different.

You still need taste. You still need judgment. You still need to know what good looks like. You still need to know what you are trying to say, who you are trying to serve, and what kind of output is actually useful.

AI does not magically make someone excellent.

It magnifies what is already there.

That is why someone with real skill who learns how to use AI properly is going to become very difficult to compete with. Not because the AI replaces their ability, but because it allows them to extend it.

Why this matters beyond pageants

Pageantry is not separate from the real world. The same skills that help you succeed in pageantry often help you succeed in life: communication, confidence, leadership, personal branding, storytelling, adaptability, emotional intelligence, and the ability to learn quickly.

AI can help with a lot of that.

Not by replacing your personality. Not by writing fake answers for you. Not by giving you some soulless script to memorize. But by helping you practice better, organize your thoughts, sharpen your message, develop your platform, build your story bank, and get feedback when you would otherwise be sitting alone in your own head.

That is the opportunity here.

The point is not to become dependent on AI.

The point is to become more capable because you know how to use the tools available to you.

Free resource: interact with my pageant book

In the video, I show you how to use NotebookLM to interact with my pageant book.

Instead of reading the entire book from start to finish, you can ask questions and get answers based on the material inside it. For example, you could ask what I say about pageant interview, stage presence, onstage question, psychology, mindset, or the biggest mistakes contestants make.

This is completely free to use.

The book itself is not free, but I am giving you access to the NotebookLM version so you can explore the ideas in a more interactive way.

Link:

👉 https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/ee31985c-2814-435f-9eb5-3d1c5a02afa7

Final thought

You do not need to agree with every use of AI. I certainly do not.

But please do not make the mistake of refusing to learn it.

The contestants, coaches, creators, business owners, and leaders who learn how to use this properly are going to have an enormous advantage. Not because AI makes them good, but because they are already good, and AI helps them move faster.

So watch the video, try the free NotebookLM resource, and ask yourself honestly:

Where am I dismissing AI because I do not understand it yet?

Adrian.

Paid subscriber bonus: onstage question practice prompt

For paid subscribers, I have also included a copy-and-paste AI prompt you can use to practice onstage questions.

This is not a generic “ask me pageant questions” prompt. It is designed to act more like an onstage question coach. It will ask difficult questions, keep you within the kind of pressure you would feel onstage, and help you if you get stuck.

Fair warning: it is hard.

Get it here:

👉 https://www.thepageantproject.com/p/paid-subscriber-bonus-onstage-question

The Beginner’s Guide to Pageantry - Everything You Need to Compete in Your First Pageant With Confidence... Even If You’re Starting From Zero:

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Your job is not just to ask me random pageant questions. Your job is to help me build the deeper skill underneath strong onstage answers: self-awareness, values clarity, critical thinking, and the ability to explain what I believe under pressure.

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ABOUT JODIE WHITEHEAD

Jodie Whitehead is the current Miss Lincolnshire International. She is preparing to compete in Miss International UK in July, and has competed for the title a few times, coming first runner-up last year. Jodie has lots of hobbies and talents and wants to inspire the women around her to never settle on their goals and dreams.

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The Beginner’s Guide to Pageantry - Everything You Need to Compete in Your First Pageant With Confidence... Even If You’re Starting From Zero:

Get it on Amazon

A lot of you are deep in prep at the moment.

Not casual prep.

Not “I’ll get around to it” prep.

I mean the kind where you are waking up early, recording answers, watching videos back, going to the gym, overthinking your wardrobe, questioning your walk, questioning your interview, questioning your ent…

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Session Details

• Date: Thursday 2 July 2026

• Time: 8 pm ET · 7 pm CT · 6 pm MT · 5 pm PT

• Australia: Friday 3 July, 10am AEST

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