You know it's coming. There's just no escaping it. If you're a local or state titleholder, at some point your director's going to call you to tell you they've scheduled a mock interview. You're absolutely dreading it. Pageant directors schedule mock interviews to be helpful. But it often doesn't feel that way. You've been through this before. The mock judges don't understand pageant competition, have conflicting opinions about your interview skills, and it feels like they nitpick you to death. When one of my VIP Coaching contestants tells me their director has scheduled them for a mock interview I take a deep breath, assure them that's it's going to be okay, and walk them through How to Survive a Pageant

Back in the day, contestants did one or maybe two pageants a year. They'd compete in their local pageant, and then 6 months or so later, they'd compete in the state pageant. That was then; this is now. Today's contestants often compete multiple times a year. Why? Because when you only compete twice a year, it's hard to improve your pageant skills. You're just not competing enough. But to compete more often, you're probably going to need to consider competing in different pageant systems. Which brings us to the handy topic of What to Look for in a Practice Pageant. Of course, a practice pageant is a real pageant, but you're using it to practice and improve your pageant skills. You're not 100% focused

The onstage question is one of the most dreaded parts of any pageant competition. Contestants worry they’ll be asked questions about political or controversial topics and that they’ll bomb their answer. But at this year’s Miss USA pageant the contestants were up to the challenge. It was without a doubt the best group of Top 5 answers at a national pageant in several years. Here’s a summary of the answers and how I would score them. There are several techniques that you can borrow to nail your next onstage question. Question 1: “The 2020 election is right around the corner. What is one issue you would like all candidates to address and why?” Alejandra Gonzalez of New Mexico: “Being from a border state and